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The red rain phenomenon of Kerala and its possible extraterrestrial origin...
Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0601022
to September 2001 due to the mixing of huge quantity of microscopic red
cells in the rainwater. Considering its correlation with a meteor airbust
event, this phenomenon raised an extraordinary question whether the
cells are extraterrestrial. Here we show how the observed features of the
red rain phenomenon can be explained by considering the fragmentation
and atmospheric disintegration of a fragile cometary body that
presumably contains a dense collection of red cells. Slow settling of cells
in the stratosphere explains the continuation of the phenomenon for two
months. The red cells under study appear to be the resting spores of an
extremophilic microorganism. Possible presence of these cells in the
interstellar clouds is speculated from its similarity in UV absorption with
the 217.5 nm UV extinction feature of interstellar clouds.
origin
Mon, 2 Jan 2006 07:54:10 GMT
A red rain phenomenon occurred in Kerala, India starting from 25th July
2001, in which the rainwater appeared coloured in various localized
places that are spread over a few hundred kilometers in Kerala.
Maximum cases were reported during the first 10 days and isolated
cases were found to occur for about 2 months. The striking red
colouration of the rainwater was found to be due to the suspension of
microscopic red particles having the appearance of biological cells.
These particles have no similarity with usual desert dust. An estimated
minimum quantity of 50,000 kg of red particles has fallen from the sky
through red rain. An analysis of this strange phenomenon further shows
that the conventional atmospheric transport processes like dust storms
etc. cannot explain this phenomenon. The electron microscopic study of
the red particles shows fine cell structure indicating their biological cell
(courtesy Godfrey Louis).
To view the entire abstract please click on the link above.
shook houses in Kerala. Only an incoming meteorite could have triggered such a blast, he claims.
This had broken from a passing comet and shot towards the coast, shedding microbes as it
travelled. These then mixed with clouds and fell with the rain. Many scientists accept that comets
may be rich in organic chemicals and a few, such as the late Fred Hoyle, the UK theorist, argued
that life on Earth evolved from microbes that had been brought here on comets. But most
researchers say that Louis is making too great a leap in connecting his rain with microbes from a
comet.
Of Possible Alien Microbes
Special to World Science
1-8-6
A paper to appear in a scientific journal claims a strange red rain might have dumped microbes from space onto
Earth four years ago.
But the report is meeting with a shower of skepticism from scientists who say extraordinary claims require
extraordinary proof-and this one hasn't got it.
The particles at about 1000 times actual size (courtesy Godfrey Louis).
The shaded area represents the state of Kerala in India. (Courtesy Nichalp)
The scientists agree on two points, though. The things look like cells, at least superficially. And no one is sure what
they are.
"These particles have much similarity with biological cells though they are devoid of DNA," wrote Godfrey Louis and
A. Santhosh Kumar of Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam, India, in the controversial paper.
"Are these cell-like particles a kind of alternate life from space?"
The mystery began when the scarlet showers containing the red specks hit parts of India in 2001. Researchers said
the particles might be dust or a fungus, but it remained unclear.
The new paper includes a chemical analysis of the particles, a description of their appearance under microscopes
and a survey of where they fell. It assesses various explanations for them and concludes that the specks, which
vaguely resemble red blood cells, might have come from a meteor.
A peer-reviewed research journal, Astrophysics and Space Science, has agreed to publish the paper. The journal
sometimes publishes unconventional findings, but rarely if ever ventures into generally acknowledged fringe
science such as claims of extraterrestrial visitors.
If the particles do represent alien life forms, said Louis and Kumar, this would fit with a longstanding theory called
panspermia, which holds that life forms could travel around the universe inside comets and meteors.
These rocky objects would thus "act as vehicles for spreading life in the universe," they added. They posted the
paper online this week on a database where astronomers often post research papers.
Louis and Kumar have previously posted other, unpublished papers saying the particles can grow if placed in
extreme heat, and reproduce. But the Astrophysics and Space Science paper doesn't include these claims. It
mostly limits itself to arguing for the particles' meteoric origin, citing newspaper reports that a meteor broke up in
the atmosphere hours before the red rain.
John Dyson, managing editor of Astrophysics and Space Science, confirmed it has accepted the paper. But he said
he hasn't read it because his co-managing editor, the European Space Agency's Willem Wamsteker, handled it.
Wamsteker died several weeks ago at age 63.
A paper's publication in a peer-reviewed journal is generally thought to give it some stamp of scientific seriousness,
because scientists vet the findings in the process. Nonetheless, the red rain paper provoked disbelief.
"I really, really don't think they are from a meteor!" wrote Harvard University biologist Jack Szostak of the particles,
in an email. And this isn't the first report of red rain of biological origin, Szostak wrote, though it seems to be the
most detailed.
Szostak said the chemical tests the researchers employed aren't very sensitive. The so-called cells are admittedly
"weird," he added, saying he would ask his microbiologist friends what they think they are.
"I don't have an obvious explanation," agreed prominent origins-of-life researcher David Deamer of the University of
California Santa Cruz, in an email. They "look like real cells, but with a very thick cell wall. But the leap to an
extraterrestrial form of life delivered to Earth must surely be the least likely hypothesis."
A range of additional tests is needed, he added. Louis agreed: "There remains much to be studied," he wrote in an
email.
The researchers didn't dispute the panspermia theory itself, which has a substantial scientific following.
"Panspermia may well be possible," wrote Lynn J. Rothschild of the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field,
Calif., in an email. "I'm just not so sure that this is a case of it."
Others viewed the study more favorably.
"I think more careful examination of the red rain material is needed, but so far there seems to be a strong prima
facie [first-glance] case to suggest that this may be correct," said Chandra Wickramasinghe, director of the Cardiff
Centre for Astrobiology at Cardiff University, U.K., and a leading advocate of panspermia.
The story of the specks began on July 25, 2001, when residents of Kerala, a state in southwestern India, started
seeing scarlet rain in some areas.
"Almost the entire state, except for two northern districts, have reported these unusual rains over the past week,"
the BBC online reported on July 30. "Experts said the most likely reason was the presence of dust in the
atmosphere which colours the water."
The explanation didn't satisfy everyone.
The rain "is eluding explanations as the days go by," the newspaper Indian Express reported online a week later.
The article said the Centre for Earth Science Studies, based in Thiruvananthapuram, India, had discarded an initial
hypothesis that a streaking meteor triggered the rain, in favor of the view that the particles were spores from a
fungus.
But "the exact species is yet to be identified. [And] how such a large quantity of spores could appear over a small
region is as yet unknown," the paper quoted center director M. Baba as saying. Baba didn't return an email from
World Science this week.
The red rain continued to appear sporadically for about two months, though most of it fell in the first 10 days, Louis
and Kumar wrote. The "striking red colouration" turned out to come from microscopic, mixed-in red particles, they
added, which had "no similarity with usual desert dust."
At least 50,000 kg (55 tons) of the particles have fallen in all, they estimated. "An analysis of this strange
phenomenon further shows that the conventional atmospheric transport processes like dust storms etc. cannot
explain" it.
"The red particles were uniformly dispersed in the rainwater," they wrote. "When the red rainwater was collected
and kept for several hours in a vessel, the suspended particles have a tendency to settle to the bottom."
"The red rain occurred in many places during a continuing normal rain," the paper continued. "It was reported from
a few places that people on the streets found their cloths stained by red raindrops. In a few places the
concentration of particles were so great that the rainwater appeared almost like blood."
The precipitation, the researchers added, had a "highly localized appearance. It usually occur[ed] over an area of
less than a square kilometer to a few square kilometers. Many times it had a sharp boundary, which means while it
was raining strongly red at a place a few meters away there were no red rain." A typical red rain lasted from a few
minutes to less than about 20 minutes, they added.
The scientists compiled charts of where and when the showers occurred based on local newspaper reports.
The particles look like one-celled organisms and are about 4 to 10 thousandths of a millimeter wide, the
researchers wrote, somewhat larger than typical bacteria.
"Under low magnification the particles look like smooth, red coloured glass beads. Under high magnifications
(1000x) their differences in size and shape can be seen," they wrote.
"Shapes vary from spherical to ellipsoid and slightly elongated These cell-like particles have a thick and coloured
cell envelope, which can be well identified under the microscope." A few had broken cell envelopes, they added.
The particles seem to lack a nucleus, the core DNA-containing compartment that animal and plant cells have, the
researchers wrote. Chemical tests indicated they also lacked DNA, the gene-carrying molecule that most types of
cells contain.
Nonetheless, Louis and Kumar wrote that the particles show "fine-structured membranes" under magnification, like
normal cells.
The outer envelope seems to contain an "inner capsule," they added, which in some places "appears to be
detached from the outer wall to form an empty region inside the cell. Further, there appears to be a faintly visible
mucus layer present on the outer side of the cell."
"One characteristic feature is the inward depression of the spherical surface to form cup like structures giving a
squeezed appearance," which varies among particles, they added.
"The major constituents of the red particles are carbon and oxygen," they wrote. Carbon is the key component of
life on Earth. "Silicon is most prominent among the minor constituents" of the particles, Louis and Kumar added;
other elements found were iron, sodium, aluminum and chlorine.
"The red rain started in the State during a period of normal rain, which indicate that the red particles are not
something which accumulated in the atmosphere during a dry period and washed down on a first rain," the pair
wrote.
"Vessels kept in open space also collected red rain. Thus it is not something that is washed out from rooftops or
tree leaves. Considering the huge quantity of red particles fallen over a wide geographic area, it is impossible to
imagine that these are some pollen or fungal spores which have originated from trees," they added.
"The nature of the red particles rules out the possibility that these are dust particles from a distant desert source,"
they wrote, and such particles "are not found in Kerala or nearby place."
One easy assumption is that they "got airlifted from a distant source on Earth by some wind system," they added,
but this leaves several puzzles.
"One characteristic of each red rain case is its highly localized appearance. If particles originate from distant desert
source then why [was] there were no mixing and thinning out of the particle collection during transport"? they wrote.
"It is possible to explain this by assuming the meteoric origin of the red particles. The red rain phenomenon first
started in Kerala after a meteor airburst event, which occurred on 25th July 2001 near Changanacherry in [the]
Kottayam district. This meteor airburst is evidenced by the sonic boom experienced by several people during early
morning of that day.
"The first case of red rain occurred in this area few hours after the airburst... This points to a possible link between
the meteor and red rain. If particle clouds are created in the atmosphere by the fragmentation and disintegration of
a special kind of fragile cometary meteor that presumably contain[s] a dense collection of red particles, then clouds
of such particles can mix with the rain clouds to cause red rain," they wrote.
The pair proposed that while approaching Earth at low angle, the meteor traveled southeast above Kerala with a
final airburst above the Kottayam district. "During its travel in the atmosphere it must have released several small
fragments, which caused the deposition of cell clusters in the atmosphere."
Alive or dead, the particles have some staying power, if the paper is correct. "Even after storage in the original
rainwater at room temperature without any preservative for about four years, no decay or discolouration of the
particles could be found."
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