Far from any galaxy, icy grains of dust in deep space may be able to form organic molecules, a new preprint study finds.
一項新的預印本研究發現，於深太空中，遠出自任何星系的冰冷塵埃顆粒，或許能形成有機分子。
圖1. 在這張詹姆斯韋伯太空望遠鏡的圖像中，一縷藍色的分子氣體雲，於遙遠恆星的光芒下發光。這片雲具有迄今被偵測到的最冷冰狀物。
A wispy blue cloud of molecular gas glows from the light of distant stars in this James Webb Space Telescope image. This cloud contains the coldest ice ever detected.
Complex organic molecules, like those that act as the building blocks of life, may form in the vast, cold depths of space on tiny grains of dust, a new study suggests.
一項新研究暗示，複雜的有機分子，像那些充當生命構材的分子，可能形成於太空廣大、寒冷深處的微小塵埃顆粒上。
These enriched dust grains are then swept up into newly forming stars and solar systems, eventually becoming part of planets like Earth. The new study shows that the complex chemistry that fuels life doesn’t require an injection of energy or an exotic process to get going.
這些豐富的塵埃顆粒，之後被捲入新形成的恆星及太陽系中，最終成為像地球之行星的一部分。該項新研究顯示，為生命提供能量的複雜化學物質，不需要注入能量或奇特的過程，來啟動。
Galaxies are great at building the fundamental elements. Hydrogen and helium have been around since the first few minutes of the Big Bang. Sun-like stars fuse hydrogen into more helium, and near the ends of their lives these stars turn that helium into carbon and oxygen.
星系擅長建構基本元素。打從大爆炸的最初幾分鐘以來，氫及氦一直存在。 類似太陽的恆星，將氫融合成更多的氦，且在其生命接近尾聲時，此些恆星將那氦轉化成碳及氧。
Larger stars keep the fusion chain going, producing potassium, nickel, iron and more. And lastly, titanic supernova explosions fill out the rest of the periodic table.
較大的恆星使核聚變鏈持續運轉，產生鉀、鎳、鐵等。最後，多次泰坦尼克超新星爆炸，填滿了元素週期表的其餘部分。
Some elements bind together easily and naturally. For example, hydrogen and oxygen are both very common and enjoy binding together, even in the depths of space, making water an incredibly common molecule.
有些元素輕易且自然地結合在一起。譬如，氫及氧皆很常見，即使在太空深處，也樂於結合在一起，這使得水成為一種極其常見的分子。不過，創造出生物，需要遠比水更複雜的分子。
Now, many of those molecules on Earth are made as byproducts of biological reactions, but for life to get started on our planet billions of years ago, there must have been at least some complexity in that primordial soup to get going.
目前，於地球上那些分子，諸多是以生物反應的副產品被產生。不過，對於數十億年前，在我們星球上開始的生命而言，在那原始湯中，至少必須有些錯綜複雜的事物，來啟動。
圖2. 美國航太總署及國際研究人員們發現，從龍宮小行星收集的樣本，富含有機分子。
Samples collected from asteroid Ryugu were rich in organic molecules, NASA and international researchers found.
Astronomers have recently identified complex organic molecules — molecules rich in carbon and oxygen — in many unexpected places. Saturn's moon Titan contains vast seas of hydrocarbons. Dust grains pulled from comets and asteroids are rich in organic molecules. We've even observed traces of organic molecules embedded deep within interstellar gas clouds.
最近，天文學家們在許多意想不到的地方確認了，諸多富含碳及氧的複雜有機分子。土星的衛星─泰坦星，具有巨大的碳氫化合物海洋。從彗星及小行星獲得的塵埃顆粒，富含有機分子。我們甚至已經觀察到，深埋於星際氣體雲內部的有機分子蹤跡。
Now, in a new paper, uploaded Oct. 23 to the preprint server arXiv, a team of astronomers is discovering the origins of these organic molecules. Unlike previous work, which looks to higher-energy events and locations as a source of synthesizing new molecules, the team examined whether the conditions of deep space would be enough to create the molecules.
目前，在一篇於(2023年)10月23日，上傳到預印本arXiv伺服器(一個收集物理學、數學、計算機科學、生物學與數理經濟學的論文預印本的網站)的新論文中，一支天文學家團隊正在探索，此些有機分子的起源。與先前朝高能量之事件及場所，作為合成新分子來源的方向不同。該團隊探究了深太空的條件，是否足以產生分子。
The team ran computer simulations of the chemical relationships between elements found in the depths of space. There, tiny grains of dust get cold enough that they enshroud themselves in a layer of ice. Floating among this dust are carbon atoms, ejected from stellar explosions thousands of light-years away.
該團隊進行了，於太空深處發現之元素間，化學關係的電腦模擬。在那裡，微小的塵埃顆粒變得夠冷，以至於它們將自己隱藏於一冰層中。漂浮於此塵埃中的是，從數千光年外之恆星爆炸中，噴射出的碳原子。
The team found that the carbon atoms quickly react with frozen water, forming a simple molecule containing carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, designated as carbonous acid. Because this molecule has open electron spots, it is highly reactive and immediately begins combining and reacting with other elements and molecules in the dust.
該團隊發現，碳原子與冰凍的水快速反應，形成一種具有碳、氧及氫，被稱為碳酸的簡單分子。由於該分子具有開放的電子點，因此具有高度反應性，且立即開始與此灰塵中的其他元素及分子結合，並發生反應。
For example, the reactive carbons can find nitrogen to make the base for cyanides, or oxygen to make carbon monoxide. These can then go on to form methanol, considered the "mother" of organic molecules, the researchers wrote. Other reactions can produce ethanol, methanimine and methanediol, which play a variety of roles in biological chemistry.
譬如，此些活性碳能找到氮，來為氰化物產生鹼基，或找到氧來產生一氧化碳。此些研究人員記述，之後此些能繼續形成，被認為是有機分子之"母"的甲醇。其他反應能產生，於生物化學中，發揮多種角色的乙醇、甲亞胺及甲烷二醇。
In other words, all that's needed to jump-start life is incredibly cold atoms interacting with each other in the vacuum of space.
換句話說，助推啟動生命所需的是，令人難以置信地，冷原子於太空的真空中，相互交互作用。
網址：https://www.livescience.com/chemistry/building-blocks-of-life-may-have-formed-on-dust-in-the-cold-vacuum-of-space
翻譯：許東榮
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