There is life everywhere in the Universe where temperature is not too high

Even in extreme cold interplanetary and interstellar space there may be viable bacterian spores (and even  actual active bacteria).

A new revolutionary paradigm on life in small celestial bodies like comets, asteroids, dwarf planets  and  Kuiper belt objects has been considered by astronomers Fred Hoyle, Chandra Wikramasinghe and M.K. Wallis. We agree with them and even could go one step further.    Surprinsingly objects located very far from the Sun, with temperatures lower than -230o Celsius (40-45 K), have shown to have intense geological activity (i.e, Pluto and Triton). Probably inside this faraway bodies temperatures are no as cold as traditionally believed.  In the interior of some larger dwarf planets and remote asteroids, and  even in comets, temperatures may be high enough allow the presence of liquid and gas fluids. These fluids are often linked to the presence of organic molecules, including bacterian spores which can eventually  be activated.  In other words according to this new paradigm, life may be present everywhere when temperatures are not too high. This theory changes completely the scope of the present dominant approach which is very reluctant to accept life outside our planet.

The following text is reproduced from panspermia.org    

Anomalous Behavior by Some Comets

When a typical comet nears the sun, it vents gases and dust from various places. This has been thought to happen because the sun's heat on the comet's irregular surface causes cometary material to boil off asymmetrically. However, some comets like Chiron and Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 exhibit unusual behavior; they sputter and brighten too far from the sun for this mechanism to work (34-37). Hale-Bopp is another comet in this category . Even Halley's comet had an unexpected outburst in 1991; it brightened by a factor of 300 while it was outbound and well beyond the orbit of Saturn. The strictly chemical explanations of these anomalous events rely on processes that would run out of supplies within a few hundred years.

M. K. Wallis and Wickramasinghe proposed another explanation; namely, that a cycle of surface freezing, compression, and cracking may cause compressed liquid or gas to squirt from a comet's interior. A third possibility, which Hoyle and Wickramasinghe have considered, is that cellular metabolism may be under way on some comets. This metabolism could generate gasses that could, directly or indirectly, account for the brightening. The recent discovery of abundant methane and ethane in the coma of comet Hyakutake strengthens this possibility. In any case, the anomalous brightening of these comets needs explaining. The presence of liquid water or even life on the comets could help explain it. More research would help here as well.

http://www.panspermia.org/comets.htm

Bacterial spores and hydrocarbons in space  

 Danilo Anton

 Spectroscopic studies of interstellar clouds of cosmic dust carried out by several astronomical observatories in recent years have shown that hydrocarbons are very abundant in the universe.

In particular, English astronomer Fred Hoyle and other members of his scientific team in British universities (Cambridge, Cardiff) contributed transcendent data about various organic molecules found in these clouds, including some, who had, the surprising spectral behavior of certain bacteria spores.

In 1968 studies of interstellar dust detected polycyclic aromatic molecules (Donn, 1968).

Four years later, in another study (Johnson, 1972) confirmed the presence of porphyrins in this space dust, 

Wickramasinghe in 1974 proved the existence of complex organic polymers in space conditions, particularly polyformaldehydes. It is noted that these molecules are related to cellulose and are ubiquitous in terrestrial biochemistry.

Finally, in 1975, Hoyle and Wickramasinghe concluded that organic polymers constitute a significant proportion of the powder material in interstellar dust clouds.

Hoyle and Wickramasinghe continued their research work in the mid-1970s and concluded that the light absorption spectrum of interstellar dust could be explained if the grains had a certain size and were hollow. 

In 1979, after comparing numerous substances with the data from the interstellar dust these authors found a strong similarity with dry bacterial spores which refract light as irregular hollow spheres and have a range of proper grain size. Based on these data they concluded that a significant proportion of interstellar dust grains could consist of frozen bacterial spores. 

This finding was considered ridiculous in that time and even today is generally ignored. There were even those who thought "poor Fred Hoyle had lost its way".

Although the interpretation of these research data were considered highly speculative new information has been obtained in the last few years ratifying those preliminary conclusions.

In a recent paper Wickramasinghe found hetero-aromatic polymers in the dust collected by the Stardust probe. According to the interpretation of this author they would constitute fragments of broken cell walls after impacts at 30 km per second against the surfaces of the detectors.
In the last 15 years of his life, until his death in 2001, Hoyle was dedicated to study the implications of this hypothesis. His student and successor, Chandra Wickramasinghe and other disciples continue exploring these bold and innovative aspects of life in space.

From the book "Inexhaustible? Petroleum and Gas", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones