Giant Comet C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein) Provides New Evidence for Cometary Panspermia

作     者：N. Chandra Wickramasinghe N. Chandra Wickramasinghe

作者机构：Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology University of Buckingham Buckingham UK Centre for Astrobiology University of Ruhuna Matara Sri Lanka National Institute of Fundamental Studies Kandy Sri Lanka Institute for the Study of Panspermia and Astroeconomics Gifu Japan 

出 版 物：《International Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics》 (天文学与天体物理学国际期刊（英文）)

年 卷 期：2022年第12卷第1期

页      面：1-6页

学科分类：07[理学] 070401[理学-天体物理] 0704[理学-天文学] 

主　　题：Comets Cometary Activity Bacteria and Viruses Panspermia 

摘      要：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.