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Very interesting! I don't know much about this and the article did not go into detail: What does "organics" mean specifically?

dieselgate 3y ago
To me it basically means carbon-based Edit: didn't see any academic paper linked in the article (assume they're still working on it all) but the following is mentioned > In a preliminary analysis of some of the dust, Lauretta said scientists hit the jackpot with a sample that is nearly 5 percent carbon by mass and has abundant water in the form of hydrated clay minerals.
Fezzik 3y ago
Organics would be compounds containing carbon.
spindle 3y ago
Good question. In astrobiology (and I think also in biology and most of chemistry) it means any molecules that contain carbon, with a few exceptions (exceptions include carbon dioxide and diamond - they don't count as organic). Strange definition, perhaps, but I'm certain that's what it means in astrobiology. Organic molecules are not necessarily in living things and, indeed, interstellar dust clouds contain huge quantities of amino acids and other organic molecules which most astronomers believe have never been near a living thing.
- jcranmer 3y ago
  There's no terribly good definition of organic molecules in chemistry. The traditional definition is something that required a living organism to produce it, until inorganic synthesis of organic urea ruined that idea. The typical rule of thumb is an organic compound contains C-C and C-H bonds, but there's a whole host of exceptions to that rule (including urea, which lacks both C-C and C-H bonds). The best I can come up with is that organic chemistry is the study of the interactions of a set of common structural motifs (called functional groups), and an organic molecule is something that contains those functional groups.
- jameshart 3y ago
  Be grateful these astronomers even made that distinction. They might have just said this stuff (or at least the parts of it that aren’t Hydrogen) was ‘metallic’ and left it at that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallicity Seems like asteroid astrophysicists like to be a bit more specific about this stuff than their stellar and galactic astrophysicist colleagues.
  - dylan604 3y ago
    being technically right is good, but if you want funding, it has to be way more sexy sounding than that.
  - spindle 3y ago
    Yes! Happily, it's become okay for them to talk about astrobiology. It was mostly taboo until a few years ago. (Just speculating here, but I think it was the discovery of lots of exoplanets that caused astrobiology to become permissible.)
- 10g1k 3y ago
  Correct, this is the definition throughout all of biology, chemistry, and physics. Merely molecules with carbon atoms.
starbase 3y ago
Unspecified in this article, but organics we've found in meteorites (fallen asteroids and comets, mostly) include the same carbohydrates, fatty acids, nucleic acids, and amino acids that all known life is built from. In the broadest sense, organics could refer to any molecule of carbon and hydrogen, however I don't think that's how it's used here.
jcranmer 3y ago
As best as I can tell, it means that the sample is 5% carbon, with no indication of whether that carbon is contained in glucose or in carbonate.
acchow 3y ago
Organic compounds. Generally, containing carbon and carbon-hydrogen bonds.
- qwertox 3y ago
  I'd also go with this one. > Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_chemistry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_chemistry or > In chemistry, many authors consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds, however, some authors consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_compound https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_compound
rand0mx1 3y ago
Hydrocarbons and it's derivatives not specifically carbon containing compound.

dieselgate 3y ago

To me it basically means carbon-based Edit: didn't see any academic paper linked in the article (assume they're still working on it all) but the following is mentioned > In a preliminary analysis of some of the dust, Lauretta said scientists hit the jackpot with a sample that is nearly 5 percent carbon by mass and has abundant water in the form of hydrated clay minerals.

Fezzik 3y ago

Organics would be compounds containing carbon.

spindle 3y ago

Good question. In astrobiology (and I think also in biology and most of chemistry) it means any molecules that contain carbon, with a few exceptions (exceptions include carbon dioxide and diamond - they don't count as organic). Strange definition, perhaps, but I'm certain that's what it means in astrobiology. Organic molecules are not necessarily in living things and, indeed, interstellar dust clouds contain huge quantities of amino acids and other organic molecules which most astronomers believe have never been near a living thing.

jcranmer 3y ago
There's no terribly good definition of organic molecules in chemistry. The traditional definition is something that required a living organism to produce it, until inorganic synthesis of organic urea ruined that idea. The typical rule of thumb is an organic compound contains C-C and C-H bonds, but there's a whole host of exceptions to that rule (including urea, which lacks both C-C and C-H bonds). The best I can come up with is that organic chemistry is the study of the interactions of a set of common structural motifs (called functional groups), and an organic molecule is something that contains those functional groups.
jameshart 3y ago
Be grateful these astronomers even made that distinction. They might have just said this stuff (or at least the parts of it that aren’t Hydrogen) was ‘metallic’ and left it at that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallicity Seems like asteroid astrophysicists like to be a bit more specific about this stuff than their stellar and galactic astrophysicist colleagues.
- dylan604 3y ago
  being technically right is good, but if you want funding, it has to be way more sexy sounding than that.
- spindle 3y ago
  Yes! Happily, it's become okay for them to talk about astrobiology. It was mostly taboo until a few years ago. (Just speculating here, but I think it was the discovery of lots of exoplanets that caused astrobiology to become permissible.)
10g1k 3y ago
Correct, this is the definition throughout all of biology, chemistry, and physics. Merely molecules with carbon atoms.

starbase 3y ago

Unspecified in this article, but organics we've found in meteorites (fallen asteroids and comets, mostly) include the same carbohydrates, fatty acids, nucleic acids, and amino acids that all known life is built from. In the broadest sense, organics could refer to any molecule of carbon and hydrogen, however I don't think that's how it's used here.

jcranmer 3y ago

As best as I can tell, it means that the sample is 5% carbon, with no indication of whether that carbon is contained in glucose or in carbonate.

acchow 3y ago

Organic compounds. Generally, containing carbon and carbon-hydrogen bonds.

qwertox 3y ago
I'd also go with this one. > Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_chemistry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_chemistry or > In chemistry, many authors consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds, however, some authors consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_compound https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_compound

rand0mx1 3y ago

Hydrocarbons and it's derivatives not specifically carbon containing compound.