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| Paper: |
Detection of Amino Acids in Comets |
| Monograph: |
10, HWO25 Proceedings Part I: Community Science Case Development Documents |
| Page: |
591 |
| Authors: |
Ana I. Gómez de Castro; Ana I. de Isidro-Gómez |
| DOI: |
10.26624/RZZM8747 |
| Abstract: |
While life is widespread on Earth, its potential ubiquity across the Galaxy and long-term sustainability on
astrophysical timescales (i.e., comparable to stellar evolution) remain unresolved. Amino acids—fundamental
prebiotic molecules—have been identified in interstellar ices, but current detections primarily rely on in
situ sample-return or impact-based analyses, which are observationally limited and statistically sparse. The
enhanced sensitivity of the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) will enable remote spectropolarimetric
detection of amino acids in the numerous comets transiting within 1 AU of Earth. Alanine, the second most
abundant amino acid after glycine, is chiral and exhibits optical activity. Its enantiomer-specific spectral sig-
nature can be unambiguously detected via its characteristic imprint in the linear polarization of UV radiation,
particularly within the 140–220 nm bandpass. These measurements will also provide critical constraints on
the astrophysical origins of enantiomeric excesses observed in meteoritic samples and potentially on prebiotic
asymmetry mechanisms relevant to the origin of homochirality on Earth.
This article is an adaptation of a science case document developed for HWO. |
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