Comet chemistry is not as simple as we thought. A recent study led by the expert Nicolas Biver of the Paris Observatory (France) has discovered that Comet Lovejoy releases large amounts of ethyl alcohol (the same as found in alcoholic beverages) into space as well as glycoaldehyde molecules , a sugar (monosaccharide ). The finding has been published in the journal Science Advances .
Lovejoy, one of the brightest and most active comets since Comet Hale-Boop (called the Great Comet of 1997), passed very close to the Sun on January 30, 2015, at which time the comet’s atmosphere appeared much brighter. and also more active. And it is that the light from the Sun gives energy to the molecules of the comet’s atmosphere, making them shine at specific microwave frequencies for each one of them (and if microwave waves are visible, each frequency would look a different color), for what the astronomers were able to identify each type of molecule thanks to its different coloration. Analyzing this entire range of frequencies simultaneously allowed astronomers to determine the types and quantities of many different molecules in the comet despite having a short period of observation.
The results revealed that the comet released as much alcohol into space as about 500 bottles of wine every second during its peak of activity. In all, the researchers found 21 different organic molecules in the comet’s gas, including those mentioned above, ethyl alcohol – in staggering amounts – and glycolaldehyde, a simple sugar (monosaccharide).
This discovery further deepens and supports the hypothesis that comets could have been a source of complex organic molecules necessary for the emergence of life . “The result definitely promotes the idea that comets carry very complex chemistry,” says Stefanie Milam of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and a co-author of the study.
” The next step is to see if the organic material found in comets came from the primordial cloud from which the solar system formed, or if it was created later, within the protoplanetary disk that surrounded the young sun,” explains Dominique. Bockelée-Morvan, co-author of the study.
