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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 02/14/2009 : 13:25:44
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According to Science Daily: Astronomers Unveiling Life's Cosmic Origins
ScienceDaily (Feb. 13, 2009) — Processes that laid the foundation for life on Earth -- star and planet formation and the production of complex organic molecules in interstellar space -- are yielding their secrets to astronomers armed with powerful new research tools, and even better tools soon will be available.
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"We've identified more than 720 spectral lines in this collection, and about 240 of those are from unknown molecules," Remijan said. He added, "We're making available to all scientists the best collection of data below 50 GHz ever produced for the study of interstellar chemistry," Remijan said.
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"This is a major change in how we search for molecules in space," Remijan explained. "Before, people decided beforehand which molecules they were looking for, then searched in a very narrow band of radio frequencies emitted by those molecules. In this GBT survey, we've observed a wide range of frequencies, collected the data and immediately made it publicly available. Scientists anywhere can 'mine' this resource to find new molecules," he said. |
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2009 : 15:03:38 [Permalink]
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| I've always wondered about this-- how much of what's found on earth is "representative" of chemical compounds that we can reasonably expect to find. I guess there's still a lot out there that's completely alien to this planet... |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2009 : 15:29:52 [Permalink]
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It's especially interesting to me that they now have hundreds of spectral signatures of compounds that have not yet been identified, but which should soon be, using those fingerprints.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 02/14/2009 15:30:28 |
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Astronomers find more complex compounds in galaxy
