%0 Journal Article
%T Giant Comet C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein) Provides New Evidence for Cometary Panspermia
%A N. Chandra Wickramasinghe
%J International Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
%P 1-6
%@ 2161-4725
%D 2022
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/ijaa.2022.121001
%X 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 ˇ°biologicalˇ± 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.
%K Comets
%K Cometary Activity
%K Bacteria and Viruses
%K Panspermia
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=115114