British scientists from the University of Cambridge have identified how comets can contribute to the origin of life on other planets and what conditions must be observed in this case. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Proceedings of the Royal Society A (RSPA).
Using various mathematical modeling methods, experts determined that comets can provide the compounds necessary for the emergence of organisms only under certain scenarios. For planets orbiting a star similar to our Sun, the mass of the planet must be low.
According to their calculations, the main criterion for the safe delivery of building blocks for future life remains the comet’s speed. The object needs to be moving slower than 15 kilometers per second, otherwise when it hits the surface the heat will cause important compounds to break down.
The most likely places where comets can move at the required speed are in systems where planets are close to each other. In these, a celestial body can “jump” from one orbit to another, losing speed with each “hop”.
Previous studies have confirmed that many comets contain a number of compounds essential for the emergence of life. Samples from the Ryugu asteroid analyzed in 2022 showed that they contained intact amino acids and vitamin B3. Other comets contain large amounts of hydrogen cyanide (HCN), another important prebiotic molecule.
“It’s entirely possible that the molecules that make life possible on Earth came from comets, so the same could be true for planets elsewhere in the galaxy,” said Richard Anslow, lead author of the study.
According to astronomers, the results of their work could be useful in determining where to look for life outside the solar system.
Previous scientists to create Evidence for extraterrestrial origins of life in samples taken from asteroid Bennu.