Optical Detection of Anomalous Nitrogen in Comets

In article ,
Jonathan Silverlight writes:
In article ,
Jonathan Silverlight writes:
I can't help feeling that Chandra Wickramasinghe is going to like that
observation.

I don't see why. PAH's are widely accepted as dust constituents
these days, and there is no indication they are biological. Quite
the contrary, I should think. Their structure is multiple "benzene
rings." (Visualize those small hexagonal bathroom tiles.) Are such
structures known in biology?

That was my point! Hoyle and Wickramasinghe claimed that the spectra
they recorded were biogenic, rather than just organic, for instance. And
the nitrogen-containing macromolecules _are_ suggestive of "interesting"
molecules.

I'm aware of H&W's notions, but I don't understand why you think the
PAH's might be biogenic. The PAH's we know on Earth are not, as
another poster pointed out.

--
Steve Willner Phone 617-495-7123
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
(Please email your reply if you want to be sure I see it; include a
valid Reply-To address to receive an acknowledgement. Commercial
email may be sent to your ISP.)