Bouncing comets carrying seeds of life can infuse life into other cosmic bodies

Washington DC, United States

In a quest to unravel the mysteries of the origin of life, a team of researchers have come up with a model which suggests how life came into existence on Earth. 

As per scientists, there are two theories regarding how life came on Earth - one suggests that the ingredients for life came from a primordial soup on the planet and the other states that the molecules required for life, were brought from elsewhere, and were "seeded" on the Earth by the cosmos.  

A team of scientists, while keeping the second theory in mind, came up with a model which explains how the ingredients of life may have been delivered on the Earth and how it is likely to happen on other planets outside our solar system. 

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In a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A, the authors stated how "bouncing" comets are likely to have distributed the raw ingredients for life, which are known as prebiotic molecules, across the star systems which are similar to our system. 

Study emphasised on simulating rocky exoplanets

Throughout the study, the team emphasised simulating rocky exoplanets which orbit around sun-size stars.

"We're learning more about the atmospheres of exoplanets all the time, so we wanted to see if there are planets where complex molecules could also be delivered by comets," said Richard Anslow, an astronomer at the Cambridge Institute of Astronomy, in a statement. 

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"It's possible that the molecules that led to life on Earth came from comets. So the same could be true for planets elsewhere in the galaxy," he added. 

"It's exciting that we can start identifying the type of systems we can use to test different origin scenarios. It's a different way to look at the great work that's already been done on Earth. What molecular pathways led to the enormous variety of life we see around us? Are there other planets where the same pathways exist? It's an exciting time, being able to combine advances in astronomy and chemistry to study some of the most fundamental questions of all," Anslow stated. 

(With inputs from agencies)