Astronomers Find Vinegar In Distant Space Cloud

MADISON, Wisconsin: Scientists have found ordinary vinegar in a stellar cloud 25,000 light years from earth, a discovery that may help explain the formation of life. Radio astronomers from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, found faint traces of vinegar, or acetic acid, in a cloud of gas and dust named Sagittarius B2 North. Ammonia was discovered in interstellar space more than 25 years ago, which makes it plausible, according to one of the scientists on the Illinois team, that molecules of ammonia and acetic acid linked up to form basic amino acid. Amino acids, which are the basic building blocks of life, form the proteins and DNA that make up all living organisms. The Sagittarius cloud is believed to be similar to the cloud which formed our solar system. This latest discovery, according to the scientists, could back up the theory that comets and asteroids, carrying biologically important chemicals, descended on earth to help form life. It is also possible the chemicals were present on earth when it first formed. The scientists will now focus on finding glycine -->