Scientists detect Ethyl Alcohol and Simple Sugar from gas emitted by Comet Lovejoy

Team of scientists have discovered two complex organic molecules that are considered asbuilding blocks of life and will provide important clues to the hypothesis that a falling comet collided with earth, leading to the origins of life.

The molecules were Ethyl alcohol and a simple sugar known as glycolaldehyde on a comet.

These molecules were discovered on Comet Lovejoy from gas emitted by a comet by scientists from NASA, the Paris Observatory and other organizations.

• The research was done using a 30-metre long telescope at the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimetrique locaed in Sierra Nevada in Spain.
• The scientists found that Comet Lovejoy was releasing as much alcohol as in five hundred bottles of wine every second during its peak activity.
• They also had detected 21 different organic molecules in gas released from the comet along with the ethyl alcohol and simple sugar.