Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-15T17:36:21.387Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Organic molecules in the interstellar medium

from Part II - Astronomical and geophysical context of the emergence of life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2011

Cecilia Ceccarelli
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique, Grenoble, France
José Cernicharo
Affiliation:
Centro de Astrobiología, Madrid, Spain
Muriel Gargaud
Affiliation:
Université de Bordeaux
Purificación López-Garcìa
Affiliation:
Université Paris-Sud 11
Hervé Martin
Affiliation:
Université de Clermont-Ferrand II (Université Blaise Pascal), France
Get access

Summary

Introduction

At one end, the Earth, we have complex molecular structures giving rise to life; at the other end, the diffuse interstellar medium (hereinafter ISM), we have atoms floating in an almost empty space. How, when and where did the transition from unbound atoms to complex molecular structures occur? Had it occurred already in the dense molecular-cloud phase of the ISM and/or during the formation and evolution of the protosolar nebula? These are the questions whose answers will help in understanding whether, as the Nobel prizewinner C. De Duve wrote, ‘The building blocks of life form naturally in our galaxy and, most likely, also elsewhere in the cosmos. The chemical seeds of life are universal’ (De Duve, 2005). What we know for sure is that a long process, of a few billions years, brought matter from the diffuse state of the ISM to the condensed state of planets (Earth), comets and meteorites (see Chapter 7 of this volume). We also know that primitive meteorites, the oldest fossils we have from the Solar-System formation aeons, contain the ‘seeds of life’ that De Duve alluded to: amino acids.

In this chapter we will show that the formation process of solar-type stars, while bringing matter from a diffuse to a condensed state, also leads to increasing molecular complexity. Although solar-type star-forming regions are not the only places in the ISM where organic molecules are found, two reasons lead us to focus here on them: (1) they are among the places with the richest harvest of organic molecules; and (2) they are regions similar to our Solar-System progenitor, so that the organic chemistry observed there is directly linked to the possible inheritance of terrestrial life from the ISM.

Type
Chapter
Information
Origins and Evolution of Life
An Astrobiological Perspective
, pp. 85 - 97
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×