Comet caused the "explosion of life" on Earth

Over the next 10 years, humanity has embarked on amazing missions to the Moon and Mars, culminating in research on the "Red Planet" to explore life moments. At the same time, however, the following key question remains unanswered: How did life on Earth begin? A team of astronomers is close to answering the big unanswered question, as they have discovered that life, or even the "materials" that make it up, are in the "tails" of comets, which run through the Universe, carrying -obviously "their precious materials in a multitude of worlds each.

Astronomers studied Comet Catalina, which passed through our "neighborhood" in 2015. It was found that the comet's icy tail was rich in carbon, the element on which every living organism on our planet is based. Based on the data gathered by scientists, it is very likely that the carbon was transported from the icy tails of comets to Earth, resulting in the "explosion of life" that followed.

The study of Comet Catalina

The University of Minnesota team of researchers has been studying Comet Catalina since 2016 to determine if and to what extent the amount of carbon it carries in its tail could have "fallen" to Earth billions of years ago. The data not only confirmed their study, but were so "solid" that they did not hesitate to make it public.

"Carbon planets appear to have had a large source of material to create life as we know it on our planet," said lead researcher Charles Woodward.

In 2016, Comet Catalina arrived in our solar system from the Oort Nebula, which is considered the birthplace of comets. Scientists have been studying the celestial body for some time before it crosses our solar system and continues its intergalactic journey.

Through a telescope, they observed that the materials from its icy tail, and especially the carbon, are distributed to the worlds it passes through. The time when the Earth was "fertile" and "ready" to create life, the passage of a comet at a relatively short distance, most likely triggered the "explosion" of life that followed on our planet.

Comets like Catalina have been crossing space since ancient times. The data gathered by scientists pave the way to prove how life was created on Earth, how it evolved and how - possibly - life began even on Mars, which man is currently researching.

Observations have shown that Comet Catalina is rich in carbon, suggesting that it formed in the outer regions of the primordial system.

While carbon is a key component of life, it cannot survive over time in a very hot world.

Early Earth and other terrestrial planets in the inner solar system, such as Mars and Venus, were so hot during their formation that elements such as carbon were lost or depleted.

The ... intervention of Zeus

Conversely, colder gas giants such as Jupiter and Poseidon could support coal, while the size of Jupiter could have heavily blocked coal.

The big mystery, then, was how did Earth and the other rocky planets retain the carbon they had in their original materials?

According to the researchers, a small change in the orbit of Jupiter allowed small, early comets to "transfer" carbon to planets such as Earth and Mars.

The carbon-rich composition of Comet Catalina explains how the planets formed in the hot, carbon-poor regions of the early solar system evolved into life-supporting planets, the researchers said in their study.

"All rocky worlds are subject to the effects of comets and other small bodies, which carry carbon and other elements," Woodward added.

"We are approaching an understanding of how exactly these effects on the early planets can trigger the process of life," he said, adding that much research is ongoing and that evidence from many more celestial objects will be gathered.