--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We're pretty sure there's plenty of…" description: "\"We're pretty sure there's plenty of organic material on Pluto. The atmosphere is largely methane, and in sunlight, methane builds organic molecules. We..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/950/david-grinspoon-5141_atmosphere_we-re-pretty-sure-there-s-plenty-of-orga_2313863.jpg" --- # We're pretty sure there's plenty of organic material on… ![“We're pretty sure there's plenty of organic material on Pluto. The atmosphere is largely methane, and in sunlight, methane builds organic molecules. We see reddish stuff on the surface that we think is organic material.” quote by David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/950/david-grinspoon-5141_atmosphere_we-re-pretty-sure-there-s-plenty-of-orga_2313863.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/950/david-grinspoon-5141_atmosphere_we-re-pretty-sure-there-s-plenty-of-orga_2313863.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/950/david-grinspoon-5141_atmosphere_we-re-pretty-sure-there-s-plenty-of-orga_2313863.jpg) > “We're pretty sure there's plenty of organic material on Pluto. The atmosphere is largely methane, and in sunlight, methane builds organic molecules. We see reddish stuff on the surface that we think is organic material.” [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Methane on Pluto, under sunlight, can form complex organic compounds, suggesting a chemically active surface. **In simple terms:** Methane can create organics on Pluto. Key Takeaway Consider planetary chemistry when studying alien worlds. Themes science planetary chemistry exploration organic matter Mood curious inquisitive Type scientific educational When to use this quote - space missions - educational outreach - science curricula - public talks Key Concepts astrobiology photochemistry planetary geology Questions to Reflect On - How does this affect our view of life elsewhere? - What missions could verify organic presence? A Different Perspective Evidence is indirect; confirmation requires future missions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Pluto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pluto/) [Sunlight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sunlight/) ## Related quotes > [The organic material, as the laws of chemistry state, can neither be created nor destroyed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dixie-lee-ray/the-organic-material-as-the-laws-of-chemistry-state-can-neither-be/) [Dixie Lee Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dixie-lee-ray/) > [Even if you could use all the organic material that you have--the animal manures, the human waste, the plant residues--and get them back on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-borlaug/even-if-you-could-use-all-the-organic-material-that-you-have-the/) [Norman Borlaug](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-borlaug/) > [They fail to recognize the broad biological principle that organic material is constantly being recycled. Everything has a time of being - a birth,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dixie-lee-ray/they-fail-to-recognize-the-broad-biological-principle-that-organic/) [Dixie Lee Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dixie-lee-ray/) > [“The "old school" of wastewater treatment, still embraced by most government regulators and many academics, considers water to be a vehicle for the routine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-c-jenkins/the-old-school-of-wastewater-treatment-still-embraced-by-most/) [Joseph C. Jenkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-c-jenkins/) > [If you build up the soil with organic material, the plants will do just fine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-harrison/if-you-build-up-the-soil-with-organic-material-the-plants-will-do/) [John Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-harrison/) > [I think Pluto has to be considered among the places in the solar system that are possible homes for life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/i-think-pluto-has-to-be-considered-among-the-places-in-the-solar/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [We explore because we are human and we want to know. I hope that Pluto will help us on that journey.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hawking/we-explore-because-we-are-human-and-we-want-to-know-i-hope-that-pluto/) [Stephen Hawking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hawking/) > [We sat in silence, both of us looking up at the stars. He was probably envisioning a machine headed for Pluto. I wished i…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-chandler/we-sat-in-silence-both-of-us-looking-up-at-the-stars-he-was-probably/) [Elizabeth Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-chandler/) > [“Nafasi yako peponi itapotea iwapo utamruhusu Pluto (kiongozi wa ahera) akukaribishe bazarai (makao makuu ya ahera) kwa kuchukua maisha yako mwenyewe. Kujiua ni kujipenda…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enock-maregesi/nafasi-yako-peponi-itapotea-iwapo-utamruhusu-pluto-kiongozi-wa-ahera/) [Enock Maregesi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enock-maregesi/) > [The Stone trembled and threw herself outward bound, toward Saturn. In her train followed hundreds and thousands and hundreds of thousands of thousands of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/the-stone-trembled-and-threw-herself-outward-bound-toward-saturn-in/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [“Pluto was part of their mental landscape, the one they had constructed to organize their thinking about the solar system and their own place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-brown/pluto-was-part-of-their-mental-landscape-the-one-they-had-constructed/) [Mike Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-brown/) > [Imagine we could accelerate continuously at 1 g-what we're comfortable with on good old terra firma-to the midpoint of our voyage, and decelerate continuously…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/imagine-we-could-accelerate-continuously-at-1-g-what-we-re/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [It used to be said that Pluto is a misfit. But now we know Earth is the misfit. This is the most populous class…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-stern/it-used-to-be-said-that-pluto-is-a-misfit-but-now-we-know-earth-is/) [Alan Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-stern/) > [Of course Pluto is a planet: It's massive enough to have its shape controlled by gravity rather than material strength, which is the hallmark…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-stern/of-course-pluto-is-a-planet-it-s-massive-enough-to-have-its-shape/) [Alan Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-stern/) > [“I am Pluto. You can break me, reject me, and hurt me but I will never stop being a human being.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angelina-sedlacek/i-am-pluto-you-can-break-me-reject-me-and-hurt-me-but-i-will-never/) Angelina Sedlacek ## More by David Grinspoon > [I think the best SF writers are very aware of what we, in the scientific community, are doing, thinking, and discovering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/i-think-the-best-sf-writers-are-very-aware-of-what-we-in-the/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [If we gutted NASA Earth Science, it wouldn't be NOAA or some other agency that would take the lead. It would be the Chinese…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/if-we-gutted-nasa-earth-science-it-wouldn-t-be-noaa-or-some-other/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [When you think about alien intelligences making art, you then have to think about what art is and how bound up it is in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/when-you-think-about-alien-intelligences-making-art-you-then-have-to/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [What if life is not carbon-based? Can life exist as a gas or a plasma? Could planets or stars in some sense be alive?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/what-if-life-is-not-carbon-based-can-life-exist-as-a-gas-or-a-plasma/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [What I'm interested in is the conversations going on about the Anthropocene and what it means to view ourselves as a part of Earth's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/what-i-m-interested-in-is-the-conversations-going-on-about-the/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [I do comparative studies of climate evolution, and the interactions between planetary atmosphere and surfaces and their radiation environment, and try to understand the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/i-do-comparative-studies-of-climate-evolution-and-the-interactions/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [I'd been politically active ever since my parents wheeled me in a stroller in a 'ban the bomb' march in Boston in 1963.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/i-d-been-politically-active-ever-since-my-parents-wheeled-me-in-a/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [Through space-based climate studies, my colleagues and I have learned that a stable and comfortable climate is not something to take for granted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/through-space-based-climate-studies-my-colleagues-and-i-have-learned/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [We have all this very clever technology and all these abilities to manipulate the world in all these ways, yet we are faced with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/we-have-all-this-very-clever-technology-and-all-these-abilities-to/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [The planet Mars - crimson and bright, filling our telescopes with vague intimations of almost-familiar landforms - has long formed a celestial tabula rasa…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/the-planet-mars-crimson-and-bright-filling-our-telescopes-with-vague/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [Certainly for me, as an astrobiologist, science fiction has played an important role. One of the quandaries of our field is that we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/certainly-for-me-as-an-astrobiologist-science-fiction-has-played-an/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [Time and time again, our species has escaped existential threats by reinventing ourselves, finding new skills not coded in our genes to survive new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/time-and-time-again-our-species-has-escaped-existential-threats-by/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [I think that an advanced planetary civilization will modify their own planets to be more stable, to prevent asteroid impacts and dangerous climate fluctuations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/i-think-that-an-advanced-planetary-civilization-will-modify-their-own/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [Responsible global behaviour is ultimately an act of self-preservation of, by, and for the global beast that modern technological humanity has become.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/responsible-global-behaviour-is-ultimately-an-act-of-self/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) > [Venus and Mars are our next of kin: they are the two most Earth-like planets that we know about. They're the only two other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-grinspoon/venus-and-mars-are-our-next-of-kin-they-are-the-two-most-earth-like/) [David Grinspoon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) [Explore all 103 David Grinspoon quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-grinspoon/) ## More Atmosphere quotes > [“The global population of Earth are involved in the following corporate government experiments: The long term effects of - 1. Nuclear bomb fallout radiation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-magee/the-global-population-of-earth-are-involved-in-the-following/) [Steven Magee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-magee/) > [If I had my brothers I think with just a little bit of the correct marketing, I'd like to be almost exclusively in small…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-bozzio/if-i-had-my-brothers-i-think-with-just-a-little-bit-of-the-correct/) [Terry Bozzio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-bozzio/) > [My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/my-mind-rebels-at-stagnation-give-me-problems-give-me-work-give-me/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [Man will not always stay on Earth; the pursuit of light and space will lead him to penetrate the bounds of the atmosphere, timidly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/konstantin-tsiolkovsky/man-will-not-always-stay-on-earth-the-pursuit-of-light-and-space-will/) [Konstantin Tsiolkovsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/konstantin-tsiolkovsky/) > [Pause before you get home and prepare your heart. A peaceful heart leads to a peaceful atmosphere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-burns/pause-before-you-get-home-and-prepare-your-heart-a-peaceful-heart/) [Jim Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-burns/) > [Sometimes a minute is really the difference between success and failure. There are times when you finish with ten seconds left, and one extra…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-symon/sometimes-a-minute-is-really-the-difference-between-success-and/) [Michael Symon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-symon/) > [Christianity does not oppose debauchery and uncontrollable passions and the like as much as it opposes... flat mediocrity, this nauseating atmosphere, this homey, civil…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soren-kierkegaard/christianity-does-not-oppose-debauchery-and-uncontrollable-passions/) [Soren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soren-kierkegaard/) > [Washington bureaucrats have classified the very air we exhale as a pollutant and have gone unchallenged in this incredible assertion. The logical consequence is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-paul/washington-bureaucrats-have-classified-the-very-air-we-exhale-as-a/) [Ron Paul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-paul/) > [“Atmosphere" is a massive song. A lot of people say it's their favorite Joy Division song, but it's not mine; it reminds me too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-hook/atmosphere-is-a-massive-song-a-lot-of-people-say-it-s-their-favorite/) [Peter Hook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-hook/) > [Establish an atmosphere that energizes you. Some creative people flourish in confusion; others need to be free from interruption. Many prepare themselves for work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nita-leland/establish-an-atmosphere-that-energizes-you-some-creative-people/) [Nita Leland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nita-leland/) > [Each year we pump at least six billion tons of heat-trapping carbon into the innermost layer of our atmosphere, whose outer extent is only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-gelbspan/each-year-we-pump-at-least-six-billion-tons-of-heat-trapping-carbon/) [Ross Gelbspan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-gelbspan/) > [It was clear to me that the White House's solemn atmosphere would not civilize Trump. But the merciless nepotism with which he conducts politics,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-schulz/it-was-clear-to-me-that-the-white-house-s-solemn-atmosphere-would-not/) [Martin Schulz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-schulz/) > [“Bjerknes had come up with equations capable of describing the behavior of the atmosphere. The state of the atmosphere at any point could be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heidi-cullen/bjerknes-had-come-up-with-equations-capable-of-describing-the/) [Heidi Cullen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heidi-cullen/) > [What one thing does the world need most today-apart, that is, from the all-inclusive thing we call righteousness? Aren't you inclined to agree that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-c-forbes/what-one-thing-does-the-world-need-most-today-apart-that-is-from-the/) [B. C. Forbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-c-forbes/) > [ Jowett, in his day, did probably more than any other single man to let some fresh air into the exhausted atmosphere of the \[Oxford\]… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-jowett/jowett-in-his-day-did-probably-more-than-any-other-single-man-to-let/) [Benjamin Jowett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-jowett/) Browse all 1,572 Atmosphere quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We're pretty sure there's plenty of organic material on Pluto. The atmosphere is largely methane, and in sunlight, methane builds organic molecules. 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