Comets are primitive conglomerates of the solar system containing a mixture of frozen gases, refractory grains, and carbonaceous particles rich in biogenic elements (Llorca, 2005). The great variety of organic molecules carried by comets could have played a major role in prebiotic processes prior to the appearance of microorganisms. Please refer to entries “ Astrobiology ,” “ Asteroid and Comet Impacts ,” “ Meteoritics ,” and “ Origin of Life .”
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Llorca, J., 2005. Organic matter in comets and cometary dust. International Microbiology, 8, 5–12.
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Reitner, J., Thiel, V. (2011). Comets. In: Reitner, J., Thiel, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geobiology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9212-1_60
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