Artist's impression showing the planet-forming disk around the star V883 Orionis. (Image credit: ESO/L. Calçada/T. Müller (MPIA/HdA))
Astronomers have discovered vital elements that are the building blocks of life orbiting a distant young star, suggesting that life in space is far more common than previously thought.
The substance, found orbiting the protostar V883 Orionis, located 1,300 light years from our planet in the constellation Orion, includes 17 complex organic molecules, including ethylene glycol and glycolonitrile, precursors of elements present in DNA and RNA.
The discovery, published July 23 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, may prompt scientists to rethink the prevalence of life's chemical precursors. Although similar compounds have been found elsewhere in the universe, astronomers previously thought that many would be destroyed in the frenzied process of star formation, leaving life's seeds only in the rare planetary systems capable of reproducing them.
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Sourse: www.livescience.com
