“Diatoms on the comet! Do not tell me! “- BBC

Under the crust of the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko can live microbes – such headlines were full of Western publications. “Times” to understand how the next sensation was born.

banner headlines in the Western media about the possibility of life on the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, caused a wave of excitement and skepticism in the scientific community. It all started with a short report published by the British Royal Astronomical Society on the eve of an astronomical conference in Wales, which began on Monday. It reported an unusual interpretation of the properties and characteristics of the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the proposed two astronomers – “independent” scientists Chandra Wickramasinghe, director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology, and his colleagues at the University of Cardiff Max Wallace.

From the moment of arrival to the European comet probe “Rosetta” and landing on its surface the device ” Fila “scientists have discovered and reported a variety of unusual features of its structure.

These are dark “crust” on the surface, hiding water ice, smooth “sea”, flat-bottomed craters and surface areas covered with huge boulders.

There have been seen craters filled with frozen water, covered with debris of organic substances, as well as parallel grooves, which are supposed to have formed in the relative share of the two bends that make up the body of the comet.

However, Wallis and Wickramasinghe believe that these features are characteristic of a particular mixture of ice and organics, which could be formed with the participation of micro-organisms.

Their model describes the existence of microbes in tanks with liquid water which may inhabit the cracks in the ice and snow. According to biologists, such organisms using specific salts as antifreeze, it can exist at temperatures up to -40 ° C.

Scientists believe that this temperature was reached last September, when the comet is 500 million kilometers from the Sun, have been fixed gas emissions. “Rosetta” has already shown that a comet – it is not frozen dead body, it supports the geological processes and may be more suitable for living than the Arctic and Antarctic regions, “- says Wallis.

According Wickramasinghe, “microbes involved in the formation of ice structures, responsible for the predominance of aromatic hydrocarbons and the presence of a dark surface. ”

It is known that devices intended for direct search for life or the “Rosetta” or the “Filah” no. Judgments Wickramasinghe, who helped develop the mission 15 years ago, the scientific world in the past is viewed with caution.

So, once the professor said that the SARS virus has been brought to Earth from space.

According to the database of astronomical research papers ADS, Chandra Wickramasinghe in the past few years, has a huge number of publications, but they were all placed in the magazines, the quality of which is in doubt with the scientific community. The last “decent” Wickramasinghe publication dates back to the year 2011, she was in the journal International Journal of Astrobiology, which at the time had the impact factor of about unity. The journal publishes the University of Cambridge.

Invitation to a conference with the scientists report immediately raised questions, but the organizers of the meeting said that the only advocate for the opportunity to speak to all scientists. Join for seekers of life and made famous by his shirt a member of the mission “Rosetta” Matt Taylor: “In fact, we should talk about it, that there was a discussion.”

The newspaper Guardian, originally reported on the “sensation”, hurried out with her rebuttal.

Researcher planets Dave Rothery of the Open University, in his commentary on Facebook wrote: «Guardian and the Astronomical Society discredited reports of” top scientists “, claiming about life on a comet. Diatoms on the comet! Do not tell me! »

However, the vast majority of researchers agree that the comets, that the properties of the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko is fully explained by non-biological mechanisms. “None of the scientists working with the tools” Rosetta “, does not believe that under the crust of the comet could be living microorganisms,” – said Uwe Meyerhenrik working with the tool at the probe COSAC “Fila”. According to him, the presence of dark crusts on comets was predicted in 1986 Mayo Greenberg, in an article published in the journal Nature . Then, astronomers have described what happens to the organic molecules on the surface of a comet under the influence of light and cosmic rays. “These explanations seem plausible, given recent evidence mission” Rosetta “, – he said.

According to him, if the comet on living organisms, the devices “Fila” could register their presence by the presence of certain molecules.

«We may distinguish organic from biological origin astrohimicheskogo” – he explained.

The first results of the instrument PTOLEMY COSAC and the identification of cometary molecules will be published in July in the journal Science. According Meyerhenrika, there is no indication of their biological origin.