Giant Comet C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein) Provides New Evidence for Cometary Panspermia
Open Access
- 1 January 2022
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Scientific Research Publishing, Inc. in International Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Vol. 12 (01), 1-6
- https://doi.org/10.4236/ijaa.2022.121001
Abstract
The discovery of a giant comet (C/2014 UN271) at a distance of 29 AU in October 2014 and the later discovery in September 2021 of a dramatic brightening episode offers an ideal opportunity for verifying the predictions of a “biological” comet. The eruptions of the comet at a heliocentric distance of 20 AU are plausibly explained as due to high pressure venting of the products of microbial metabolism in radioactively heated subsurface lakes. The standard non-biological model of comets is woefully inadequate to account for eruptions at such large distances from the sun where surface temperatures are as low as 60 K.Keywords
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