Extraterrestrial amino acids in the Murchison meteorite
Aminoácidos extraterrestres en el meteorito de Murchison
- Date
- caída en 1969; análisis en 1970 · confidence high
- Place
- Murchison, Victoria, Australia
- Credited to
- Keith Kvenvolden, James Lawless and colleagues (NASA Ames)
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
A carbonaceous chondrite fell at Murchison in September 1969 and was soon analysed for organic molecules. It contained non-terrestrial amino acids and other compounds, showing that the building blocks of life form in space.
Later analyses identified tens of thousands of distinct organic compounds. Terrestrial contamination was ruled out by the presence of non-protein amino acids and by the racemic mixture.
What it led to
- astrochemistry and prebiotic origin of organic molecules
- studies of homochirality in meteoritic amino acids
- presolar grains found in the same meteorite