Comet Lovejoy Releases Sugar And Alcohol, About '500 Bottles Of Wine Every Second,' Study

Researchers discover that Comet Lovejoy releases huge amounts of alcohol and sugar, which are a couple of "complex organic molecules, or building blocks of life", according to hngn.

Now this gives credence to an extraordinary theory---that comet could have seeded life on Earth!

It is interesting and surprising that the comet releases ethyl alcohol, used in alcoholic drinks, and the "simplest monosaccharide sugar glycolaldehyde" in gas. There are 21 of those organic molecules that emerge from the comet.

"We found that comet Lovejoy was releasing as much alcohol as in at least 500 bottles of wine every second during its peak activity," said lead researcher Nicolas Biver of the Paris Observatory. The team published their results Oct. 23 in Science Advances.

The molecules were detected when the comet went into a field close to the sun on Jan. 30, 2015 and began to release water at the rate of 20 tons per second, according to phys.org.  Sunlight too powered the released molecules and made them glow at "specific signature microwave frequencies. The researchers noted and analysed them with "detectors" that were mounted on a strong telescope at Pico Veleta, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Spain.

Most comets have some of the oldest and most ancient material in the solar system. Some feel that in the past, comets struck earth and released signs of life.

"The result definitely promotes the idea the comets carry very complex chemistry," said co-author Stefanie Milam of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "During the Late Heavy Bombardment about 3.8 billion years ago, when many comets and asteroids were blasting into Earth and we were getting our first oceans, life didn't have to start with just simple molecules like water, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen. Instead, life had something that was much more sophisticated on a molecular level. We're finding molecules with multiple carbon atoms. 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. These can start forming much easier than beginning with molecules with only two or three atoms."