Scientists have just found organic molecules on the Ceres, the dwarf planet hidden in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The find is particularly exciting because this is the very first, unambiguous detection of organic molecules on an asteroid. This new discovery was just announced by team of planetary scientists led by Maria Cristina De Sanctis, an astrophysicist at the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in Rome. The scientists used data from NASA's Dawn space probe, which was launched in 2007 and is currently in orbit around Ceres. The discovery was announced today in the journal Science. "We see a lot of interesting chemistry on Ceres," says De Sanctis, and "this is the first time we have seen such a clear [organic] signature on an extraterrestrial body." Read more here - http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/solar-system/news/a25235/ceres-organics/
