Life's Building Blocks Found On Asteroid 24 Themis

Hugh Pickens writes "The LA Times reports that scientists analyzing infrared light reflected by 24 Themis, one of the largest asteroids in the solar system, have discovered evidence of water ice as well as organic compounds — findings that bolster a leading theory for the origins of life on Earth that the essential building blocks of life came from asteroids. 'Up until now there was no sign that asteroids had any abundant organics or ice on them,' says Joshua P. Emery, a planetary astronomer at the University of Tennessee. Typically, ice on the surface of an object such as 24 Themis would quickly vaporize and vanish, says planetary scientist Richard Binzel. 'Seeing freshly exposed ice on the surface, now that's a surprise. It has to be replenished from below, somehow.' The possibility that water could have come from asteroids adds weight to the theory that water and organic molecules may not have originated on Earth because the Earth did not become conducive to water or organic molecules until relatively recently."

Little green toilet

[Anonymous Coward]

My theory: some little green men got caught short and had to take a dump.

Re:lots of crashes

[silverglade00]

Great, now I'm gonna spend all day doing the dimensional analysis to get from X asteriods of water to Y Libraries of Congress. I'll let someone else dig up the relevant xkcd link.

Re:lots of crashes

[dotancohen]

how many asteriods must have crashed into the earth to get all the oceans???

Minimum seven, if each one falls into a different ocean.