Using data from the Spitzer space observatory, Dr. Susana Iglesias-Groth, a researcher from The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has found evidence for the existence of the amino acid tryptophan in the interstellar material in a nearby star-forming region. The research is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

This article summarizes findings showing that the Spitzer telescope has observed the spectral signature of tryptophan in an extrasolar system.

This isn’t the first instance of amino acids found extra-terrestrially (previously found on asteroids), but is the first found outside our solar system. Tryptophan has a very strong and very clear spectral signature (it is ubiquitously used in life sciences for example).

doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad1535

  • interolivary@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Huh, that’s interesting. I wonder if life elsewhere (assuming we’re not the only planet in the universe with life, which sounds unlikely but not impossible) would tend to use tryptophan, and if there’s other amino acids floating around

  • ragica@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    The thing that amazes me is that the article says the stuff is at 7 degrees celsius. How much of the stuff does there have to be to be detectable at such a distance, and how can it average out at 7 degrees. Mind boggling stuff.