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takyon writes:

Astronomers have compared the amount of phosphorus in two nebulae, finding much more in Cassiopeia A than the Crab Nebula. As phosphorus is an important element for Earth-based life, forming the molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP), areas of the cosmos with sparse phosphorus could have less life or life based on a different set of chemical compounds:

When astronomers look for parts of the galaxy that could contain life, they generally search for elements like oxygen and carbon. But another element essential to life could be the key to finding systems in the Milky Way that have the right conditions for living organisms. [...] Phosphorus is relatively rare in the universe, the rarest of the six elements required for life as we know it. It is created in trace amounts in some stars' natural evolution, but the majority of the universe's phosphorus is fused in supernovae. The element, atomic number 16, only accounts for about 0.0007 percent of all matter.

Greaves and fellow Cardiff astronomer Phil Cigan are presenting new research at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science in Liverpool that compares the amount of phosphorus in the stellar dust of two supernova remnants—Cassiopeia A (Cas A) in the constellation Cassiopeia, and the Crab Nebula in the constellation Taurus. The early results suggest that the Crab Nebula contains significantly less phosphorus than Cas A.

The discrepancy comes as a surprise, as computer models suggested the two collections of stellar dust, created by the same type of supernova, should contain similar amounts of phosphorus. Understanding this difference could help us understand how levels of this crucial element are distributed across the stars. [...] If unknown processes cause some stellar explosions to produce more phosphorus than others, then life could be isolated to phosphorus-rich areas of the galaxy. At this point, however, only Cas A and the Crab Nebula have been studied with telescope spectroscopy to determine their chemical compositions. "As far as I know, phosphorus has not been looked for in any other supernova, of any type," says Greaves.

Also at Phys.org (Royal Astronomical Society).

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