Woah: Newly-discovered comet spews sugar and alcohol

In a study published in the journal Science Advances earlier this week, astronomer Nicolas Biver and fellow researchers detail that, all in all, their study of comet Lovejoy’s atmosphere during its flyby of the Sun revealed as many as 21 distinct organic molecules.

The comet, observed with the 30-meter diameter radio telescope at Pico Veleta in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Spain, was recorded in late January when it was closest to the sun and giving of 20 tons of water a second.

A comet is releasing large amounts of alcohol as well as a type of sugar into space, according to new observations by an worldwide team. Composed at least partially of ice, every time a comet nears the sun, it heats up and releases a cloud of gas, creating their famous trails.

This is the first time the same kind of alcohol that’s in alcoholic beverages has been observed in a comet, and the aptly named Comet Lovejoy is releasing a whole lot of it. They believe that comets could hold clues about how the solar system evolved.

However, this new study about Lovejoy is not really considered as solid proof if comets did carry organisms and elements that brought about life on the planet.

Presently, most comets reside on the outer edges of the solar system, however occasionally a gravitational disturbance will send one into an orbit that brings it closer to the Sunday. Another theory would also involve that this organic material could form from a protoplanetary disk that surrounded the infant Sunday.

“The presence of a major complex organic molecule in comet material is an essential step toward better understanding the conditions that prevailed at the moment when life emerged on our planet”, said astrophysicist Dominique Bockelée-Morvan from the French National Center for Scientific Research.

Around 3.8 billion years ago the Earth got attacked by comets and they may have scattered around a few of their molecules. “Instead, life had something that was much more sophisticated on a molecular level”, she said. So now you can see where sugars start forming, as well as more complex organics such as amino acids-the building blocks of proteins-or nucleobases, the building blocks of DNA.

Aside from the ethyl alcohol, the specialists say they found traces of glycolaldehyde, which they describe as a simple sugar.

Comets are the remnants of exploded star and planet. The steamy ambiance of a comet is what distinguishes it from asteroids. The recent discoveries of Comet Lovejoy’s emissions came during an exceptionally rare window of opportunity.