CI1 fossils refer to alleged morphological evidence of

microfossils A microfossil is a fossil that is generally between 0.001 mm and 1 mm in size, the visual study of which requires the use of light or electron microscopy. A fossil which can be studied with the naked eye or low-powered magnification, ...

found in five CI1

carbonaceous chondrite Carbonaceous chondrites or C chondrites are a class of chondritic meteorites comprising at least 8 known groups and many ungrouped meteorites. They include some of the most primitive known meteorites. The C chondrites represent only a small propo ...

meteorite fall A meteorite fall, also called an observed fall, is a meteorite collected after its fall from outer space, that was also observed by people or automated devices. Any other meteorite is called a "meteorite find, find". There are more than 1,300 d ...

: Alais, Orgueil, Ivuna, Tonk and Revelstoke. The research was published in March 2011 in the

fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts and music * "The Fringe", or Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * Purple fri ...

'' Journal of Cosmology'' by Richard B. Hoover, an engineer. However, NASA distanced itself from Hoover's claim and his lack of expert peer-reviews.

Findings

Hoover's team used Environmental ( ESEM) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy ( FESEM) to analyze the meteorite samples, studying internal surfaces. Hoover also produced electron micrographs which he believes resemble the shape of trichomic

cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria ( ) are a group of autotrophic gram-negative bacteria that can obtain biological energy via oxygenic photosynthesis. The name "cyanobacteria" () refers to their bluish green (cyan) color, which forms the basis of cyanobacteri ...

and other trichomic

prokaryotes A prokaryote (; less commonly spelled procaryote) is a single-celled organism whose cell lacks a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles. The word ''prokaryote'' comes from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'before', and (), meaning 'nut' ...

such as the filamentous sulfur bacteria. For comparison, Hoover compared the samples to those of terrestrial minerals and biological materials. Hoover concludes from these results that the CI1 fossils are indigenous to the samples. The claims were initially submitted to the '' International Journal of Astrobiology'', which rejected the paper, but were eventually published by the

'' Journal of Cosmology''. NASA distanced itself from Hoover's claims, and the claims were debunked soon after publication.

References

Astrobiology Chondrite meteorites Meteorite mineralogy and petrology {{meteorite-stub

Findings

See also

References