“We find a set of data that strongly implies the presence of complex organic molecules in the outer solar system.”

— Carl Sagan

The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God (2006)

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American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science ed… 1934–1996

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“It is, I think, very interesting that we have a world in the outer solar system that is loaded with the stuff of life.”

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Context: The organic molecules found in the gas phase in the atmosphere of Titan by Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft include hydrogen cyanide, cyanoacetylene, butadiene. cyanogen, propylene, propane, acetylene, ethane, ethylene, Methane, likewise. And the principle constituent of the atmosphere, there as here, is molecular nitrogen. It is, I think, very interesting that we have a world in the outer solar system that is loaded with the stuff of life.

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