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Comment by seccess | Hacker News Reader

"Scientists are analyzing the data to see whether the organic compounds detected by Philae are simple ones—such as methane and methanol—or a more complex species such as amino acids"

I feel like there is a big difference between finding methane and finding amino acids on the comet. Surely, finding methane isn't all that interesting.

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The aminoacids (and even more complex molecules) can be formed without life when the UV-rays hit simpler molecules and they rearrange "randomly".

For example, you can read:

In dirty ice like comets: http://www.astrochem.org/sci/Amino_Acids.php

In interestelar clouds: http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2003/aug/11/amino-a...

Glycine has been found on comet Wild 2, so chances are good Philae found amino acids.

It would have interesting implications if it was produced by microorganisms. I don't know enough to comment further, but I'm guessing that's what the article was suggesting.

Organic compounds are just molecules that have carbon atoms in them. You don't need anything that is 'living' to produce them.

All life we have discovered on earth is based on carbon. So, finding these building blocks of life in space is interesting because it is solid proof you don't need to be on earth to produce them (something that might or might not seem intuitively obvious but in science you can't use intuition as proof, only as a guide). However, while making it a tiny bit more likely, it does not mean anything is alive out there.

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