Key organic chemicals found circling another star
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028780
Science : Chemical compounds that are potential precursors for biological life have been detected in the protoplanetary disk surrounding a nearby star. The finding implies that the organic chemistry of our solar system is not unique, according to Karin Öberg of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and her colleagues, whose paper appears in Nature. The compounds consist of three complex organic molecules in the cyanide family. Cyanides are toxic to life, but they are also key to the synthesis of abiotic amino acids. Although the researchers have not yet spotted any nascent planets in the star’s protoplanetary disk, they say that either it is too early in the star system’s formation for any planets to have coalesced or current measurements don’t have high enough resolution to detect them.
