NASA Finds Ancient Organic Material, Mysterious Methane on Mars

Re:NASA Finds Ancient Organic Material, Mysterious Methane o... by havemylife on Thursday June 07, 2018 @04:22PM (#17259895)

So... I didn't know what kerogens were so I looked it up. Classified as solid organic matter in sedimentary rock. It is formed by the degredation of living matter.

So wouldn't this discovery relating to Mars further hint that it may have supported life in its past?

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Re:NASA Finds Ancient Organic Material, Mysterious Methane o... by ianai on Thursday June 07, 2018 @07:01PM (#17261134)

I’m curious about that as well. The wiki showed that kerogen looks very similar to chlorophyll. So how is it not safe to conclude it was made by life? Are there any non living sources of it?

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Re:NASA Finds Ancient Organic Material, Mysterious Methane o... by elorant on Thursday June 07, 2018 @04:40PM (#17260046)

Why only in the past and not in the present? Methane could be produced from living organisms.

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