Primordial Molecules Found In Galaxy 250 Million Light Years Away

Ithaca, NY (AHN) - For the first time, astronomers from Arecibo Observatory radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, have detected two molecules that build life-forming amino acids in the galaxy Arp 220 some 250 million light years away.

The molecules methanimine and hydrogen cyanide, when combined with water, form glycine, the simplest amino acid and a building block of life on Earth, Cornell University said on its website.

The Arecibo Observatory is part of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, a national research center operated by Cornell for the National Science Foundation.

The astronomers used the 305-meter, or 1,000-foot diameter, Arecibo radio telescope, the world's largest and most sensitive.

"We weren't targeting any particular molecule, so we didn't know what we were going to find - we just started searching, and what we found was incredibly exciting," said Tapasi Ghosh, an Arecibo astronomer.

"The fact that we can observe these substances at such a vast distance means that there are huge amounts of them in Arp 220," said Emmanuel Momjian, a former Arecibo astronomer, now at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, N.M.