Speculative Fact #316: Life Giving Molecule of Deep Space

Propylene oxide (CH3CHOCH2): a key component in DNA and proteins. The stuff of life. The way that it's expressed in organic life determines a great deal. Their "handedness" regulates what forms of life are compatible in a given environment. So, lifeforms with "left-handed" properties would be completely incompatible with something that has "right-handed" properties of propylene oxide.  Organisms originating on Earth are left-handed (thought to be the possible result of a meteor impact).  We could probably only live on a planet that shared those properties, even if it was filled with organic life.  

 Dr. Carroll, and his co-author Brett McGuire have found massive quantities of Propylene oxide in Sagittarius B2, a cloud of interstellar dust about 28k light years away and the "holy grail" of astrobiology.  Your explorers, might be on the hunt for just the right planet that must meet these specifications. Or maybe they fly right through Sagittarius itself. 

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