Edinburgh: Space Dust May Transport Life Between Worlds

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Edinburgh: Space Dust May Transport Life Between Worlds

Post by bystander » Tue Nov 21, 2017 2:38 pm

Space Dust May Transport Life Between Worlds
University of Edinburgh | 2017 Nov 20

Life on our planet might have originated from biological particles brought to Earth in streams of space dust, a study suggests.

Fast-moving flows of interplanetary dust that continually bombard our planet’s atmosphere could deliver tiny organisms from far-off worlds, or send Earth-based organisms to other planets, according to the research.

The dust streams could collide with biological particles in Earth’s atmosphere with enough energy to knock them into space, a scientist has suggested.

Such an event could enable bacteria and other forms of life to make their way from one planet in the solar system to another and perhaps beyond.

The finding suggests that large asteroid impacts may not be the sole mechanism by which life could transfer between planets, as was previously thought. ...

Space Dust Collisions as a Planetary Escape Mechanism - Arjun Berera
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