Stuff of Life In Milky Way Space Clouds

"I would not rule out the existence of simple life in space," said John A. Ball, research fellow at the Observatory and a member of a team that recently discovered two organic compounds in space.

Ball announced the discovery on Friday of formic acid and ethyl alcohol-organic compounds Ball called "much more complex than any other molecules discovered in space."

Organic compounds are present in all living substances. Formic acid is contained in the urine, blood, and perspiration of humans.

Ball does not think it will be possible for life as we know it to form in space without being destroyed by ultraviolet rays.

Interstellar Clouds

Ball's team discovered the compounds in a cloud near the center of the Milky Way galaxy. "We are slowly getting hints of the chemistry of interstellar space clouds," he said.

Although the compounds are among the simplest of the organic compounds, Ball hopes that the experiments will lead to the discovery of more complex compounds.

"Within a few years the prospects are fairly good for discovering amino acids-if they are there," Ball said.

The discoveries were made by bouncing radio waves off the clouds and analyzing the returning waves.

The most difficult step of the experiment was finding the microwave frequencies of the compounds, Ball said. "We had to find the frequency that the molecule gave off in the lab first so that we could know what to look for on the return of the wave."

Other members of the team from Harvard were Carl A. Gottlieb, a fellow at the Observatory, and Arthur E. Lilley, professor of Astronomy. The team worked at the National Observatory in Greenback, West Virginia.