By Breaking Belize News Staff (HP): For generations, people in Belize have looked up at some of the darkest, clearest night skies in the region. Long before telescopes, the ancient Maya carefully tracked the movements of the sun, moon, Venus and stars, building sites like Caracol and Cahal Pech with structures linked to celestial events.
Now, new research is changing one of science’s long held ideas about what came from those skies.
A study published in the journal Scientific Reports suggests comets probably did not deliver the ingredients for life to early Earth, as scientists have believed since at least the 1960s.
Researchers ran computer simulations of Earth’s early history 100,000 times. More than 4 billion years ago, Earth may have been struck by over 100,000 comets larger than 100 metres. But the study found those comets hit too fast for fragile organic molecules to survive.
The team focused on hydrogen cyanide, a chemical found in many comets, including Halley’s Comet, that can help form amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The extreme heat and pressure of impact would have destroyed most of it.
In 54% of the simulations, no comet delivered its organic material intact. Lead author Richard Anslow said comets “don’t seem to be as useful” for early life chemistry as once thought.
Other scientists say comets may still have played some role, since some compounds could have formed before impact and survived.
The post New study says comets likely did not bring life to Earth, and Belize’s skies tell part of the story appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Breaking Belize News Staff (HP): For generations, people in Belize have looked up at some of the darkest, clearest night skies in the region. Long before telescopes, the ancient Maya carefully tracked the movements of the sun, moon, Venus and stars, building sites like Caracol and Cahal Pech with structures linked to celestial events.
The post New study says comets likely did not bring life to Earth, and Belize’s skies tell part of the story appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
