National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Building Blocks of Life Detected in Distant Galaxy


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A Chandra X-Ray Observatory image from 2000 shows the unusual galaxy Arp 220—the product of a collision between two Milky-Way-size galaxies.

Now scientists say they have detected large amounts of the building blocks of glycine, the simplest amino acid, in the far-flung galaxy—suggesting that life may be possible throughout the universe.

Image courtesy NASA/SAO/CXC/J.McDowell