New Scientist.com reports of a possible amino acid found in space. This will certainly add to the debate of potential life outside our planet. The article can be accessed here.

 

An amino acid, one of the building blocks of life, has been spotted in deep space. If the find stands up to scrutiny, it means that the sorts of chemistry needed to create life are not unique to Earth verifying one of astrobiology's cherished theories.

Its interesting how we can study the emitted radio waves and deduce the contents of the origin.

spectrometry is great.

 

It's also how helium was first discovered actually, by looking at the spectral absorption lines in the sun (hence the name helium, derived from the word helios) since at the time, helium hadn't even been found on the earth, and they thought it was something that just existed in the sun.

That would be a long way to go to fill your balloons.

 

Where is helium found on earth? Does it have to be 'refined', so to speak?

Helium is typically found in natural gases, where it composes around 7% of the total volume. It's then isolated and purified. Other sources (atmospheric, uranium ores, etc) are not nearly as abundant.