Titan
WEIRD DISCOVERY ON TITAN
A newfound molecule has raised hopes that Saturn’s largest moon hosts the building blocks needed for life
Reported by Nina Notman
© Tobias Roetsch
Are we alone in the universe? Humanity has been pondering the answer to this question for many years now, but no evidence has been found that we aren’t – at least not yet. But it’s not for lack of trying. Recent decades have seen us employ increasingly sophisticated telescopes and space missions in the search for alien life. We use tools able to listen out for radio and light messages that may be being sent from intelligent life forms. And other instruments are able to hunt celestial bodies, in our Solar System and beyond, for molecules that could potentially indicate the presence of any plant or animal life.
Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is an enticing location for molecule hunters. Both telescope measurements and space missions, most recently Cassini, have found that its atmosphere and surface are a treasure trove of organic molecules. These chemical compounds, composed of both carbon and hydrogen, form the basic building blocks of all living things on Earth. “We are looking for the LEGO blocks that you could use to build up more complex molecules,” explains astronomer Conor Nixon from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Cyclopropenylidene is one such small organic molecule recently spotted by Nixon’s crack team of molecule hunters. This finding was published in a paper in the Astronomical Journal. The finding of cyclopropenylidene is particularly exciting because it’s the second structure with a closed loop to be found in this locality. The first was the sixmembered ring benzene in 2003. Closed loops are exciting finds because the nucleobases – the A, C, T and G – which make up the rungs of the ladder in our own DNA molecules are themselves sixmember rings. DNA is the code of life; it contains the instructions for the development and function of all living things.