Discovery News at http://news.discovery.com archive February 15th, ‘Meteorite crammed with millions of organic compounds’ … One of the Carbonaceous chondrites that Bill Napier alludes to in his article (see post yesterday) that may have fallen to earth in swarms, actually fell on the town of Murchison in Australia in 1969, a 100g space rock that is still being analysed as new methodologies arise. Carbonaceous chondrites, via modern spectroscopic tools, have provided scientists with information about specific carbon based organics and chemicals. Over 14,000 specific compounds including 70 amino acids have been identified in the Murchison meteorite – and it also seems to contain literally millions of different organic compounds. Similar compounds are known to exist on comets and asteroids which presumably indicate it’s particular origin.