A red rain phenomenon occurred in
Kerala, the place
where I live, during July-September 2001. The characteristics of this
phenomenon were very strange. Conventional explanations appeared
totally
inadequate to account for this phenomenon. I started an investigation
with
limited resources and I was greatly assisted by my research student A.
Santhosh
Kumar. We have been studying this red rain since 2001. Some of our
research
results are now published in the journal
-Astrophysics and Space
Science, an international peer reviewed journal of astronomy,
astrophysics
and space science.
According to these published results, the red particles, which
caused the red
rain of Kerala, are possibly of extraterrestrial origin. This
conclusion is
arrived by analysing the various aspects associated with this
phenomenon,
like the geographical and time distribution pattern of this phenomenon
and the
nature of the red particles. It appears that the phenomenon can be
explained
much easily if it is assumed that the origin of the red particles is
from cometary
fragments, which underwent atmospheric disintegration above Kerala.
There are
also some additional correlating evidences that prompt this line of
thinking,
like the sonic boom from the meteor airburst, which preceded the first
red rain
case. Having made a logical possibility like this it follows that the
cometary
body in question should contain huge quantity of these red particles,
which
amounts to an estimated quantity of more than 50,000 kg.
What makes this finding most important is the biological cell like
nature of
these red particles. Under optical microscope they appear
like biological
cells and the Transmission Electron Microscopy further shows a clear
cell
structure. Their organic nature is indicated by the
major presence
of carbon and oxygen. But despite these biological
indications the
cells do not show the presence of DNA. The genetic molecule DNA
is present
in all living organisms found on Earth. So the absence of DNA argues
against
the biological nature of these red rain cells.
But I wish to consider the possibility of alternate biomolecules in
these cells
whose origin is now suspected as extraterrestrial. This way the cells
may
represent an alternate form of life from space. If these are such
biological
cells then their production in huge quantity inside cometary bodies can
be
explained by the theory of cometary panspermia.
If the above ideas are wrong then I wish to know a better explanation
for the strange nature of the red rain phenomenon and also for
the strange
nature of the red cells. If these cells have a terrestrial origin then
it
follows that they exist in huge quantities in some part of Earth and it
is sure
to have been noticed by some microbiologists. But there appears no such
identification
so far.
We expect to publish the next set of results in
a journal soon and we will also be conducting several collaborative
studies to
reveal the mystery of these cells.
(January 2006)
"The
red rain phenomenon of Kerala and
its possible extraterrestrial origin" Godfrey
Louis & A. Santhosh Kumar, Astrophysics
and Space Science, Vol. 302, pages 175-187, 2006
(published online first on the date 04 April 2006)
Preprint (full
text) of the
above paper (Released in 02 Jan 2006) is available for viewing
from any of the following links or other mirror sites
of ArXiv.org:
Previous papers on red rain:
- Cometary
panspermia explains the red rain of Kerala -
Godfrey Louis & A. Santhosh Kumar, October
2003, http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0310120
- New biology
of
red rain extremophiles prove cometary
panspermia - Godfrey Louis & A. Santhosh
Kumar, December 2003, http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0312639
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