The scientists from the Nasa-Ames Research Center in California took some of the simple chemicals that are found in space. They simulated space conditions by creating a vacuum, lowering the temperature and shining intense ultra-violet light on them. They found complex carbon compounds were formed. Scientists believe enough of these compounds could be created in space to play a role in the start of life on Earth. How the first organisms arose on Earth remains a mystery, but raw materials were needed and space may be the only place where sufficiently large enough amounts could have been produced.
Vast clouds Scattered throughout our galaxy are vast molecular clouds, tens of light years in size.
These clouds of gas and dust may be the chemical factories which produced the basic building blocks of life. Astronomical observations show that these clouds contain complex molecules, especially at their cores. Here, the murky gas can shield the molecules from the heat of stars' radiation. This allows reactions to take place that would not be possible outside the cloud's core. However, other scientists are not so sure that life got started with a meteorite delivery from space.