Podcaster: Dr. Al Grauer
Title: Travelers in the Night Eps. 63 & 64: Space Rocks Bearing Vitamin B3 & Brings Life’s Ingredients To Earth
Organization: Travelers in The Night
Link : Travelers in the Night ; @Nmcanopus
Organization: Travelers in The Night
Link : Travelers in the Night ; @Nmcanopus
Description: Today’s 2 topics:
- A number of years ago Dr. Sandra Pizzarello at ASU discovered Vitamin B3 in the Tagish Lake Meteorite. Vitamin B3 can form on ice crystals in deep space.
- Dr. Christopher Herd of the U. of Alberta found that the Tagish Lake meteorites contained varying amounts of different kinds of amino acids.
Bio: Dr. Al Grauer is currently an observing member of the Catalina Sky Survey Team at the University of Arizona. This group has discovered nearly half of the Earth approaching objects known to exist. He received a PhD in Physics in 1971 and has been an observational Astronomer for 43 years. He retired as a University Professor after 39 years of interacting with students. He has conducted research projects using telescopes in Arizona, Chile, Australia, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Georgia with funding from NSF and NASA.
He is noted as Co-discoverer of comet P/2010 TO20 Linear-Grauer, Discoverer of comet C/2009 U5 Grauer and has asteroid 18871 Grauer named for him.
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Transcript:
49E – 63 – Rocks From Space Bearing Vitamin B3
Vitamin B3 is also known as niacin. It is a precursor to the formation of the amino acids. Amino acids in turn are important components of molecular proteins. These complex molecules allow living cells to perform the vast spectrum of functions which make life as we know it possible.
Conditions on Earth long ago would have allowed Vitamin B3 to form as a result of naturally occurring chemical processes. However, it appears likely that this important building block for life was also deposited by celestial objects which impacted our planet. A number of years ago Dr. Sandra Pizzarello at Arizona State University led a team which discovered Vitamin B3 in the Tangis Lake Meteorite. Recently, Karen Smith, a graduate student at Penn State University, headed up a team which discovered Vitamin B3 in 8 different meteorite samples. These researchers state that it is unlikely that the niacin in the meteorite samples comes from terrestrial contamination since they found it in combination with other chemicals not present in living structures. Further the concentration of Vitamin B3 in the meteorites is related to conditions on the parent asteroid. This is situation is unlikely to be mimicked by Earthly contamination.
Research indicates that Vitamin B3 can form on ice crystals in deep space. From there asteroids and comets can bring it to Earth. How rocks from space play into life as we know it remains a mystery for us to ponder.
50E – 64 – Asteroid Brings Life’s Ingredients To Earth
A unique opportunity occurred in January of 2000, when a large meteoroid exploded and rained down pieces onto the frozen surface of Tagish Lake in British Columbia.
Dr. Christopher Herd of the University of Alberta said that the first Tagish Lake samples were quickly collected from the frozen surface. They are the best preserved meteorite in the world. Dr. Michael Callahan of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center commented that they are the closest thing in purity to those collected in a space sample and return mission.
The team which analyzed these meteorites published a paper on their work in the Journal Science. They found that the meteorite pieces from the same fall contained varying amounts of different kinds of amino acids. These organic compounds are the building blocks of life on Earth. The fact that the isotope of Carbon found in the meteorite amino acids is rare on Earth but common in space provides evidence of its extraterrestrial origin. The diversity of amino acids appears to have been caused by varying amounts of water in the parent asteroid.
Dr. Herd concluded, Our results provide perhaps the first clear evidence that water percolating through the asteroid parent body caused some of the molecules to be formed and others to be destroyed. The Tagish Lake meteor provides a unique window into what was happening to organic molecules on asteroids four-and-a-half billion years ago. We have no conclusive evidence that life on Earth originated or was stimulated from space. However, one does have to wonder about what might be out there given the diverse chemistry that we know exists in the Universe.
For Travelers in the Night this is Dr. Al Grauer
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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