Their presence has been detected by the Alma radio telescope. Several complex organic molecules have been discovered in the Milky Way and would have contributed to the birth and evolution of life on our planet.
Some complex organic molecules have been discovered in the Milky Way that contain the structure responsible for joining amino acids into proteins. This may have contributed to the birth and evolution of life on Earth. The results of the observation have been published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics by an international team led by Laura Colzi of the Center for Astrobiology in Madrid, with the participation of researchers from the National Institute of Astrophysics (Inaf). The detection took place thanks to the powerful antennas of the radio telescope Alma, Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, which is located in Chile.
Proteins in the Milky Way
The researchers pointed Alma toward one of the richest regions of the galaxy from a chemical point of view, that of star formation G31.41+0.31. So the presence of “several molecules with the nitrogen-carbon-oxygen structure was detected – explained Colzi, who is also an associate at Inaf in Florence – such as isocyanic acid, formamide, methyl isocyanate, and also more complex species such as acetamide and N-methylformamide. These molecules were first observed together in the disk of our Galaxy, outside the Galactic Center.” Their abundance was then compared to that of other star-forming regions, along with theoretical model predictions of how these molecules may arise in space. The results indicate that these atoms would have formed by evaporation from the surface of interstellar dust grains during the early stages of star formation.
The same environment in which the Solar System formed could be similar to the massive star-forming regions we observe today, such as G31.41+0.31. Because of this, according to Colzi, the study “provides very useful insights into the molecules that allowed the wonderful leap from prebiotic chemistry to biology on early Earth.” The research was carried out as part of the larger Guapos (G31 Unbiased Alma sPectral Observational Survey) project, and the study of prebiotic molecules in galactic gas may allow astrochemists to understand how the basic ingredients of prebiotic chemistry formed in interstellar space and how they might have arrived on early Earth.
In the meantime, another group of scientists, thanks to a simulation, has speculated that there may be life at the edge of the Milky Way.
Stefania Bernardini