Posted on 12/31/2005 1:32:58 AM PST by neverdem
Partial Ingredients For DNA And Protein Found Around Star NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered some of life's most basic ingredients in the dust swirling around a young star. The ingredients - gaseous precursors to DNA and protein - were detected in the star's terrestrial planet zone, a region where rocky planets such as Earth are thought to be born.
The findings represent the first time that these gases, called acetylene and hydrogen cyanide, have been found in a terrestrial planet zone outside of our own.
"This infant system might look a lot like ours did billions of years ago, before life arose on Earth," said Fred Lahuis of Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands and the Dutch space research institute called SRON. Lahuis is lead author of a paper to be published in the Jan. 10 issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Lahuis and his colleagues spotted the organic, or carbon-containing, gases around a star called IRS 46. The star is in the Ophiuchus (pronounced OFF-ee-YOO-kuss), or "snake carrier," constellation about 375 light-years from Earth. This constellation harbors a huge cloud of gas and dust in the process of a major stellar baby boom. Like most of the young stars here and elsewhere, IRS 46 is circled by a flat disk of spinning gas and dust that might ultimately clump together to form planets.
When the astronomers probed this star's disk with Spitzer's powerful infrared spectrometer instrument, they were surprised to find the molecular "barcodes" of large amounts of acetylene and hydrogen cyanide gases, as well as carbon dioxide gas. The team observed 100 similar young stars, but only one, IRS 46, showed unambiguous signs of the organic mix.
"The star's disk was oriented in just the right way to allow us to peer into it," said Lahuis.
The Spitzer data also revealed that the organic gases are hot. So hot, in fact, that they are most likely located near the star, about the same distance away as Earth is from our sun.
"The gases are very warm, close to or somewhat above the boiling point of water on Earth," said Dr. Adwin Boogert of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. "These high temperatures helped to pinpoint the location of the gases in the disk."
Organic gases such as those found around IRS 46 are found in our own solar system, in the atmospheres of the giant planets and Saturn's moon Titan, and on the icy surfaces of comets. They have also been seen around massive stars by the European Space Agency's Infrared Space Observatory, though these stars are thought to be less likely than sun-like stars to form life-bearing planets.
Here on Earth, the molecules are believed to have arrived billions of years ago, possibly via comets or comet dust that rained down from the sky. Acetylene and hydrogen cyanide link up together in the presence of water to form some of the chemical units of life's most essential compounds, DNA and protein. These chemical units are several of the 20 amino acids that make up protein and one of the four chemical bases that make up DNA.
"If you add hydrogen cyanide, acetylene and water together in a test tube and give them an appropriate surface on which to be concentrated and react, you'll get a slew of organic compounds including amino acids and a DNA purine base called adenine," said Dr. Geoffrey Blake of Caltech, a co-author of the paper. "And now, we can detect these same molecules in the planet zone of a star hundreds of light-years away."
Follow-up observations with the W.M. Keck Telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii confirmed the Spitzer findings and suggested the presence of a wind emerging from the inner region of IRS 46's disk. This wind will blow away debris in the disk, clearing the way for the possible formation of Earth-like planets.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech. JPL is a division of Caltech. Spitzer's infrared spectrograph was built by Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. Its development was led by Dr. Jim Houck of Cornell.
For graphics and more information about Spitzer, visit http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer . For more information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit http://www.nasa.gov/home/ .
Editor's Note: The original news release can be found here.
This story has been adapted from a news release issued by National Aeronautics And Space Administration.
Actually, they were initially involved up to their eyeballs, but decided to back out, apparently over a dispute regarding their "fellows," who were to be expert defense witnesses, having their own (meaning DI's) attorneys present during depositions, instead of just relying on the TMLC attorneys, who represented the Dover School board. When TMLC insisted they alone represent the deponents, DI backed out and took a couple or more of their experts with them.
Additionally, DI filed an amicus brief with the court, even after withdrawing its witnesses, so it is fair to say they were heavily involved, but backed out partially.
All of which just goes to show that DI is exactly like the wacko Eco-nazi organizations, including looking for opportunities to get involved in litigation.
Amazing how much work people will do for money, and not just intellectual preening or curiosity. :-)
Happy New Year.
...and all the best to you, too!
And how little appreciated it is by a certain highly vocal group.
How many times do we see that fallacious argument? Life is more complicated that a watch/car/computer/airplane, and we don't question that a watch/car/computer/airplane was designed, so life must have been designed.
Watches/cars/computers/airplanes don't reproduce (imperfect) copies of themselves, though!! If they did, one might legitimately call into question whether their original origin was that of design...
(redundancy error noted)
Some here are merely "self important", so they can be ignored. [/sarc]
DOESN'T THIS STAR KNOW THAT ITS GAS CLOUD IS VIOLATING THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS!!!
The ingredients - gaseous precursors to DNA and protein - were detected in the star's terrestrial planet zone, a region where rocky planets such as Earth are thought to be born. The findings represent the first time that these gases, called acetylene and hydrogen cyanide, have been found in a terrestrial planet zone outside of our own.
as someone who believes in creation/ID I have never been a big fan of the whole watch analogy. I, too, do not think it is very relevant. On the other hand, the evolutionist's comparison of evolution with the law of gravity is just as weak. they have virtually nothing to do with one another.
Both example are nothing more than illustrations which prove absolutely nothing.
SHUT UP! What if one of the robots in Detroit milling axles or cutting and shaping sheet metal has an Internet connection, reads this, and realizes that what it's doing is impossible? If word gets out to the other robots you could bring the entire automotive industry to a screeching halt!
We usually compare evolution to the THEORY of gravity, not the LAW of gravity, in order to explain why the THEORY of evolution is "only" a theory.
In case you missed it, a scientific theory explains the mechanisms of how something works. I.E. gravity is real, as is evolution. But the THEORY of gravity and evolution are different things. The theory of gravity, despite the fact that we can observe it everywhere is actually not well understood. I believe one of the current theories of gravity relates to warping of space.
The theory of evolution is quite a bit more settled science, in that we understand "survival of the fittest", and DNA mutations, etc.
The bottom line is that evolution is both a fact (because it happens), and a scientific theory. Just like gravity.
DNA is a chemical, essentially a polymer of four deoxyribonucleic acids. Big molecules have smaller ones as precursors. It doesn't matter if they are from living systems or not. Chemicals are chemicals and they exhibit the same properties regardless of origin.
Drawing something with software on a computer screen, or movie frame doesn't take much resolution. But the information contained in a real, full sized compound curve of a car fender with polished surface would be astronomical.
Uh, but the robots actually DO it. And they aren't programmed with "astronomical" amounts of information.
Yup. And the surface they leave is rough, requiring buffing and polishing at least.
The original point was the amount of information in a car. A real car. Which means you must numerically describe the shiny surface of the metal. The multiple layers of the paint. And result in something measurably identical to a real car.
THAT is numerically impossible.
The reason I'm making that comparison is I'm studying how to do software 3D rendering now, and I'm recognizing the serious limitations involved.
You seem to be saying that the Thoery of 'evolution is pretty much guess work.
Numerically impossible placemarker. ;^)
And imagine the level of detail required to make the no-line bifocal type lenses people wear. THat's where precision curvature and optics come together.
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