Molecules of Life can be formed before the Planet

JAKARTA, - astronomers holds that planets form when dust from the protoplanetary disk (made up of gas and dust) forming chunks of rock and gradually build up into larger spherical planet.

Earth and other planets in the Solar System formed by the same process. Expected, the formation of the Earth and another planet is 4.5 billion years ago.

Previously, astronomers thought that the molecules of life after the planet formed. However, recent modeling suggests that the molecules of life could have formed before the planets.

Fred Ciesla geology from the University of Chicago and Scott Sandford of NASA Ames Research Center in California are the scientists who conducted the computer modeling.

Based on the modeling, both said that the dust in the protoplanetary disk can be exposed to ultraviolet rays to form organic compounds.

Organic compounds are compounds found in living things. These compounds include amino acids, protein, carbohydrates, and also the nuclear bases of nucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA).

Previously, Sandford mnelakukan experiment with UV exposure to the dust grains are covered with ice. He found, UV can break the bond on the material and allow the formation of complex molecules.

Problems at the time, Sandford was not sure that the same mechanism could work in the dust in the protoplanetary disk thus allowing the formation of organic molecules.

Modeling carried out to prove that the mechanism can occur. Dynamic enough so that the protoplanetary disk of dust could be carried to the edge of the dish and exposed to UV from the star.

"These results are impressive because it's so natural. We do not have to create special conditions in our modeling. We found all that we expected to work perfectly," Ciesla said as quoted by Space, Thursday (29/03/2012).

According to Ciesla, dynamics and processes that not only happen in the Solar System, but also that other planetary systems in general.

However, the modeling results have not been able to answer how organbik compounds can reach the Earth. New view that organic compounds carried by the asteroid.