“Phosphorus is essential for life as we know it,” says Kathrin Altwegg from the University of Bern. Phosphorus is one of the basic building blocks of life and is also present in DNA and in cell membranes. Phosphorus monoxide is a key part in the puzzle of the origin of life. But how did phosphorus get to earth when life was born here four billion years ago?
Insight thanks to ALMA
Researchers with the participation of the University of Bern were able to answer this question using the giant telescope ALMA in the Chilean Atacama Desert. The observations have now shown for the first time that phosphorus-containing molecules form when new stars are formed. To track the interstellar journey of phosphorus monoxide, the researchers combined the ALMA data with data from the Bern mass spectrometer ROSINA, which had collected data from the comet Tschuri on board the ESA space probe Rosetta. “Comets have most likely brought large amounts of organic compounds to Earth,” says Altwegg. The documentation of the journey of phosphorus monoxide showed the connection between comets and life on earth. (Kn).
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