Space rock yields carbon bounty.

Link Source BBC

Formic acid, a molecule implicated in the origins of life, has been found at record levels on a meteorite that fell into a Canadian lake in 2000.

Cold temperatures on Tagish Lake prevented the volatile chemical from dissipating quickly.

An analysis showed four times more formic acid in the fragments than has been recorded on previous meteorites.

The researchers told a meeting of the American Geophysical Union that the formic acid was extraterrestrial.

Formic acid is one of a group of compounds dubbed "organics", because they are rich in carbon.

"We are lucky that the meteorite was untouched by humans hands, avoiding contamination by organic compounds that we have on our fingers," said Dr Christopher Herd, the curator of the University of Alberta's meteorite collection.

Samples of the meteorite totalling 850 grams were collected from Tagish Lake in Canada, purchased in 2006 by a consortium including the Royal Ontario Museum and recently subjected to chemical analysis.

The scientists found levels of formic acid four times higher than had previously been recorded on a meteorite. Studies have until recently focused on the Murchison meteorite that landed in a town of that name in Australia in 1969.

'' The particular types, or isotopes, of hydrogen that are found in the formic acid show that it most likely formed in the cold regions of space before our Solar System existed.

On Earth, formic acid is commonly found in the stings of insects such as ants, but Professor Sephton it is likely to have been an important "ingredient in the kitchen" on Earth before life began. ''

So, if this 'rock' was created befor our solar system, how on earth did it end up here? This rock must have come from a place and travelled here. Sure , just a rock landing on earth, I cant get.. ( im not so smart.)

Cool find

Before we had planets orbiting the sun, we had dust and space debris gravitationally collapsing in on itself. From that debris, we got the sun and the planets (afaik, anyways).

So by saying the rock is "older than the solar system," I think that simply means it was a piece of that pre-solar system space debris that was never used for making a planet or the sun.

Correct me if I'm wrong, somebody.

reply to post by Kaytagg


I cant correct you, I think not even the Scientist or astronomers can, they have sayd so many times lately : 'Ohh, we didnt know that' and 'This changes everything we thought we knew about the magnetosphere'.

I take what these people are sying with some salt, and try mixing Sciense News with some older 'knowledge' .

Where iron comes from for the space rocks
Star fission up to iron, then the Star explodes taking the lower
elements and combinations with the large chunks of iron to make
planets like Earth.

Where carbon comes from.
Carbon already formed when iron come along.

The both have been together until the star explodes.
Thats how Earth got its iron core and carbon and all the rest
above iron on the periodic chart or star chart or earth chart
or cosmic rock chart.

A lot of carbon and its element combinations helped make the Earth
live but there is no life on a space rock.

This thread already exists here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by cautiouslypessimistic


So it seems.


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