A 40 year old meteorite that was found contains millions of organic molecules. Spectroscopy was used to detect a fraction of the molecules and, based on prior studies, it is reasonable to make the estimate that the ancient rock contains over 14,000 different organic compounds. The meteorite landed in Murchison, Australia in 1969.
Scientists believe the meteorite could have originated before the Sun was formed, 4.65 billion years ago. The scientists from the Institute for Ecological Chemistry in Neuherberg, Germany, say it probably passed through primordial clouds in the early Solar System, picking up organic chemicals.
This isn’t the first time a meteorite has shown to contain organic molecules, the necessary building blocks for life. The finding on this particular meteorite has further heightened the debate on where we came from and why primordial clouds might have contained the organic chemicals.