Halley

1. Halley Harry Kroto 2004

2. Harry Kroto 2004

3. Hale-Bopp Stromboli Observatory Harry Kroto 2004

4. Align the spectrometer slit across the split tail Harry Kroto 2004

5. Charged species tail Dust and neutral species tail Align the spectrometer slit across the split tail Harry Kroto 2004

6. Charged species tail Align the spectrometer slit across the split tail Harry Kroto 2004

7. Charged species tail Dust and neutral species tail Align the spectrometer slit across the split tail Harry Kroto 2004

8. H2O+ NH2 Charged species tail Dust and neutral species tail Align the spectrometer slit across the split tail Harry Kroto 2004

12. The Giotto mission to Halley’s comet

13. Giotto’s mass-spectrometer used to analyse ablated material from Halley’s comet

14. Harry Kroto 2004

15. NASA Comet image Harry Kroto 2004

16. 3883 Å 4216 Å 4606 Å CN Violet Electronic Emission Spectrum 0-1 0-2 0-0 R(0) P(1) R Branch P Branch 25850 25750 cm-1 25750 cm-1 Rotational Structure of the 0-0 band of CN at 3883Å observed from Comet Bennett (1970 II) Harry Kroto 2004

17. Harry Kroto 2004

18. Harry Kroto 2004

19. Halley Harry Kroto 2004

20. Harry Kroto 2004

24. The circumstantial evidence suggests that the carbon chains aggregate to form closed cages presumably by ring cyclisation addition reactions. The closed cages can grow until C60 and or C70 form which are interim dead ends

25. Possible v probable ? Everything might be possible …but we need to discover if it is probable e.g. Halley’s comet work

26. Now life may or may not be extraordinary and so may be life elsewhere

27. Hume’s Maxim No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle (or anything extraordinary), unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous (or extraordinary) than that which it endeavours to establish. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding 1758

28. Did Life came from Space? www.panspermia.com

31. 45 60 76 90 106 120 ‘random’ mixture of fragmented molecules Giotto data S. P. Balm, J. P. Hare & H. W. Kroto, Space Science Reviews, 1991, 56, 185-189.

32. ‘random’ mixture of fragmented molecules Giotto data S. P. Balm, J. P. Hare & H. W. Kroto, Space Science Reviews, 1991, 56, 185-189.

33. 45 60 76 90 106 120

34. The wider view ‘not seeing the wood for the trees’

35. CCCCCC2

36. Bacteria in Space?

37. It is important to be very clear about what Hoyle’s “novel” claim actually was. It was NOT that Life came from Space - this is a very old idea

38. Analysis of mass spectrometric data from the Giotto mission to Halley’s comet (1986)

40. – O – CH2 – O – CH2 – O – CH2 – O – Formaldehyde polymer (polyoxymethylene) D. L. Mitchell et al. Science, 1987, 237, 626 W. F Hueber, Science, 1987, 237, 628 Formaldehyde

41. Fragmentation of Formaldehyde polymer – O – CH2 – O – CH2 – O – CH2 – O – CH2 – O – CH2 – O – CH2 14-16 O CH2 30 CH2O 46 O – CH2 – O 60 CH2 – O – CH2 – O 74 CH2 – O – CH2 – O – CH2

42. Giotto mission mass spectrometric data (source: NASA)

43. Urey and Miller Experiment Use the products of this expt. as a typical ‘random mixture’ S. L. Miller, Science 1953, 117, 528

44. Urey and Miller Experiment Use the products of this expt. as a typical ‘random mixture’ S. L. Miller, Science 1953, 117, 528

47. If we have a 1 D Lego kit with blocks of basic weight 14 CH2 15 N 16 O We would expect chains with mass some multiple of 15±1 15 30 45 60 75 90 105 Which is what we observe

48. Halley’s comet is most likely to be composed of a mixture of CHON* / organic molecules … mass spec data of this kind can not be used to unequivocally assign the Formaldehyde polymer (* CHON – molecules composed of C, H, O and N atoms)