| Description |
1 online resource (232) |
| Contents |
Cover13; -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. Overview -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Cometary Panspermia -- 1.3 History of Panspermia -- 1.4 The Ultraviolet Problem -- 1.5 Resilience of Bacteria -- 1.6 Extremophiles -- 1.7 The Discovery of Organics in Cosmic Dust -- 1.8 Comets -- 1.9 The Origin of Life -- 1.10 Modern Advances -- 1.11 Protoplanetary Nebulae and Extra-solar Planetary Systems -- 1.12 Habitable Zone -- 2. Cosmic Dust and Life -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Constraints on Composition -- 2.3 Extinction by Spherical Particles -- 2.4 The Interstellar Extinction and Bacterial Dust -- 2.5 Infrared Evidence -- 2.6 Comet Dust and Biomaterial -- 2.7 The Identification of PAH and Biological Aromatics -- 2.8 Other Spectral Features -- 2.9 Fluorescence -- 2.10 The Origin of Organic Molecules in Space -- 2.11 Direct Analysis of Comet Dust -- 2.12 Capture of Comet Dust in the Stratosphere -- 3. The Origin of Comets -- 3.1 The Galactic Disc -- 3.2 The Formation of Stars -- 3.3 Planet Formation -- 3.4 The Formation of Comets -- 3.4.1 The structure of the comet population -- 3.4.2 Comet chemistry -- 3.4.3 Cometary origin inferred -- 3.4.4 Other ideas about comet origins -- 4. Comets in the Galactic Environment -- 4.1 The Mechanism of Lithopanspermia -- 4.1.1 Transferring boulders between planetary systems -- 4.1.2 Erosion of ejected boulders -- 4.2 The Formation Sites of Comets -- 4.2.1 Origin in the planetary region -- 4.2.2 Origin in molecular clouds -- 4.2.3 Exocomets -- 4.3 The Suns Orbit in the Galaxy -- 4.3.1 The effect of the vertical Galactic tide -- 4.3.2 Flux modulation due to the Suns vertical motion -- 4.3.3 Perturbations by molecular clouds -- 4.3.4 The effect on Oort cloud comets -- 4.4 The Impact Cratering Record -- 4.4.1 Impact melts in large craters -- 4.4.2 Galactic periodicity -- 5. Dark Comets: A Link to Panspermia -- 5.1 A Mass Balance Problem -- 5.1.1 Disintegration to dust -- 5.1.2 Dark comets -- 5.1.3 Super-dark comets -- 5.2 The Impact Hazard and the Panspermia Connection -- 6. Expulsion of Microbes from the Solar System -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Expectations from Impact Cratering Mechanisms -- 6.3 Mechanisms for Ejection and Fragmentation of Boulders -- 6.4 946;-Meteoroids -- 6.5 Protective Shielding in Small 946;-Meteoroids -- 6.6 Carbonisation of the Surface Layers of Grains -- 6.7 Radiation Pressure Effects -- 6.7.1 Ratio of radiation pressure to gravity -- 6.7.2 Results and dynamical considerations -- 6.8 Surviving the Hazards of Galactic Cosmic Rays -- 6.9 How Comets Distribute Life -- 6.10 Dispersal of Life by Impacts -- 7. Liquid Water in Comets -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Primordial Melting -- 7.3 Evidence of Present-day Melting -- 7.4 Results from Deep Impact -- 7.5 Frozen Lake Surfaces -- 7.6 Microbial Fossils in Carbonaceous Meteorites -- 8. Origin of Life -- 8.1 Preamble183 -- 8.2 Cometary Interiors as Incubators of Early Life -- 8.3 Comparison with a Terrestrial Origin of Life -- 9. Expanding Horizons of Life -- Bibliography -- Index |
| Summary |
The idea that comets may be connected with the origin of life on Earth was considered heresy a few decades ago, with scientists shying away from this possibility as if from a medieval superstition. However the case that comets may have contributed at least the complex organic building blocks of life has become very strong, and mechanisms have now been identified whereby comets may incubate and transfer microbial life from one cosmic habitat to another in the Galaxy. The latter process cometary panspermia was pioneered by the late Sir Fred Hoyle and one of the present authors in the early 1980' |
| Subject |
Comets.
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Life -- Origin.
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Molecular evolution.
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Exobiology.
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Comets
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Exobiology
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Life -- Origin
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Molecular evolution
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
1282760262 |
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9781282760264 |
|
9789812814005 |
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9812814000 |
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