NASA’s Spitzer telescope casts new light on search for alien life
APR 13, 2009
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.023239
Los Angeles Times : A research team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore used the Spitzer infrared telescope to search for hydrogen cyanide in the dust and gas swirling around 61 young stars. Hydrogen cyanide is a component of a compound basic to DNA, which is found in every living creature on Earth.After breaking down the light of these stars with a spectrograph, the researchers found hydrogen cyanide in 30% of the yellow, sun-like stars. They found none around cooler, smaller stars, such as M-dwarfs and brown dwarfs.Assuming that life, if it forms, is based on DNA, “around cooler stars, there might not be enough hydrogen cyanide” to kick-start the complex chemical reactions necessary to form life, said Ilaria Pascucci of Johns Hopkins, lead author of the research, which is appearing this week in the Astrophysical Journal.
© 2009 American Institute of Physics
