Starlight found to be a key ingredient in forming the stuff of life

To have life, you first need organic molecules, but where did these come from? It’s a big question that isn’t easy to answer, but data from ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory indicates that ultraviolet light from stars may be a key factor in turning interstellar gases into complex molecules

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CrazyNeutrino said:

Starlight found to be a key ingredient in forming the stuff of life

To have life, you first need organic molecules, but where did these come from? It’s a big question that isn’t easy to answer, but data from ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory indicates that ultraviolet light from stars may be a key factor in turning interstellar gases into complex molecules

More…

Another goldilocks thing.

CrazyNeutrino said:

Starlight found to be a key ingredient in forming the stuff of life

To have life, you first need organic molecules, but where did these come from? It’s a big question that isn’t easy to answer, but data from ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory indicates that ultraviolet light from stars may be a key factor in turning interstellar gases into complex molecules

More…

> It’s a big question that isn’t easy to answer

No. Lately I’ve been refining “the big question”. The big question is of the “chicken and the egg” style. It is:

Which came first? Which came second? All five are necessary precurers for life as we know it.
. Proteins
. Enzymes
. Lipid bilayer
. AMP
. Polysaccharides

RNA isn’t on that list, because AMP had to come before RNA. “Lipids” aren’t on the list because we know they came first, and the challenge here is lipid self-assembly. Peptidoglycans (bacterial cell wall components) aren’t on the list because they came after polysaccarides. “Enzymes” is a catch-all term that includes complex inorganic catalysts as well.

> ultraviolet light from stars may be a key factor in turning interstellar gases into complex molecules

This was understood back in the mid 1950s.
It doesn’t have to be interstellar gases either, it can be planetary gases.

> Herschel mapped the amount, temperature, and movements of Methylidyne and CH+ in the Orion Nebula. The unmanned probe found there was CH+ in large quantities, but it was emitting light rather than absorbing it and was at a higher temperature than the surrounding gas. This was unexpected because CH+ requires energy to form and is very active, so the hydrogen in the vicinity should have destroyed it. This indicated that something is creating more CH+ on a regular basis.

This is the same process as the ozone of the ozone layer on Earth. UV light from the Sun is creating reactive ozone on a regular basis. The ozone is hotter than the surrounding gas.

> CH+ is created by the ultraviolet emission of very young stars in the Orion Nebula.

You know it makes sense.

> shock waves generated by exploding supernovae or young stars spitting out jets of gas. It was thought these shock waves would cause atoms to collide, making them ionize and then bond together to form molecules.

This recent hypothesis plays a significant role in the formation of asteroids, but even there is over-rated. For asteroids it looks like heating due to hypervelocity impact of chondrules with interstellar gas plays a larger role.

mollwollfumble said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

Starlight found to be a key ingredient in forming the stuff of life

To have life, you first need organic molecules, but where did these come from? It’s a big question that isn’t easy to answer, but data from ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory indicates that ultraviolet light from stars may be a key factor in turning interstellar gases into complex molecules

More…

> It’s a big question that isn’t easy to answer

No. Lately I’ve been refining “the big question”. The big question is of the “chicken and the egg” style. It is:

Which came first? Which came second? All five are necessary precurers for life as we know it.
. Proteins
. Enzymes
. Lipid bilayer
. AMP
. Polysaccharides

RNA isn’t on that list, because AMP had to come before RNA. “Lipids” aren’t on the list because we know they came first, and the challenge here is lipid self-assembly. Peptidoglycans (bacterial cell wall components) aren’t on the list because they came after polysaccarides. “Enzymes” is a catch-all term that includes complex inorganic catalysts as well.

> ultraviolet light from stars may be a key factor in turning interstellar gases into complex molecules

This was understood back in the mid 1950s.
It doesn’t have to be interstellar gases either, it can be planetary gases.

> Herschel mapped the amount, temperature, and movements of Methylidyne and CH+ in the Orion Nebula. The unmanned probe found there was CH+ in large quantities, but it was emitting light rather than absorbing it and was at a higher temperature than the surrounding gas. This was unexpected because CH+ requires energy to form and is very active, so the hydrogen in the vicinity should have destroyed it. This indicated that something is creating more CH+ on a regular basis.

This is the same process as the ozone of the ozone layer on Earth. UV light from the Sun is creating reactive ozone on a regular basis. The ozone is hotter than the surrounding gas.

> CH+ is created by the ultraviolet emission of very young stars in the Orion Nebula.

You know it makes sense.

> shock waves generated by exploding supernovae or young stars spitting out jets of gas. It was thought these shock waves would cause atoms to collide, making them ionize and then bond together to form molecules.

This recent hypothesis plays a significant role in the formation of asteroids, but even there is over-rated. For asteroids it looks like heating due to hypervelocity impact of chondrules with interstellar gas plays a larger role.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? neither, the rooster “came” first.

bob(from black rock) said:

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? neither, the rooster “came” first.

Which is why he’s sitting up in bed smoking?

roughbarked said:

bob(from black rock) said:

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? neither, the rooster “came” first.

Which is why he’s sitting up in bed smoking?

Which is worse, wanking or smoking?