Tonight, we have a comet tasting ? I bring the glasses and the corkscrew !
This sentence is not as absurd as it seems, since a team of researchers from the Paris Observatory have discovered the presence of alcohol and sugar on comet Lovejoy. During his visit in January 2015, comet Lovejoy delighted astronomy enthusiasts since it was visible to the naked eye for several nights. Today, the comet has revealed some of its secrets thanks to the radio telescope of 30 meters from the Institute of Millimeter RadioAstronomy (anger), near Granada in Spain.
— What is the link with this blog ? We come there… —
Alcohol and sugar trapped in ice cream from comet Lovejoy
The team of researchers was able to analyze the atmosphere that emanated from the ice of Comet Lovejoy as it passed near the sun - ice, it melts —. The radio telescope enabled researchers to identify 21 different molecules. "Among the molecules detected, we have for the first time discovered the presence of ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH) and glycolaldehyde (CH2OHCHO), a sugar, in the comet ", reveals Nicolas Biver, CNRS researcher at the Paris Observatory and co-author of the study.
Each second, this was the equivalent of the amount contained in 500 bottles of wine escaping, according to the researchers responsible for the study.
NASA's badass comment on Twitter:
Happy hour on a comet? Large amounts of alcohol being released into space by comet Lovejoy: https://t.co/EXmoqKZSCn pic.twitter.com/9zp7o6RS3R- NASA (@NASA) 23 October 2015
Comet – the possible origin of life on Earth
Comet Lovejoy was discovered by Terry Lovejoy, an amateur astronomer, in 2014. It originates from the far reaches of the solar system and like most of these stars, this is a vestige of his training. “Our discovery reveals the presence of increasingly complex molecules in comets. In addition to bringing water to Earth, they certainly brought to our planet elements that facilitated the appearance of other molecules, much more complex, like DNA for example "indicated Nicolas Biver.
As Horace said so well, "Wine is life ! "
Jean-Nicolas Mouretin
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