Sampling the stuff of a comet

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Abundance, Astronomical Spectroscopy, Cometary Atmospheres, Halley'S Comet, Comet Nuclei, Giotto Mission, Plasma Jets, Solar System, Vega Project, Comets, Halley, Composition, Dust, Comae, Photographs, Wavelengths, Infrared, Spectra, Spacecraft Observations, Earth-Based Observations, Telescope Methods, Giotto, Vega Missions, Mass Spectrometry, Chemistry, Abundance, Size, Mass, Photometry, Gases, Comet Nuclei, Isotopes, Kao Aircraft, Aircraft Observations, Emissions, Water, Cyanogen, Ice, Parent Molecules, M

Scientific paper

The composition of the clouds around Comet Halley during its perihelion passage was examined using intercept spacecraft, IUE, ICE and Pioneer Venus spacecraft, and ground-based instruments. Spectral data showed that the dust emitted in jets was mainly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen (CHON), with additives of Fe, Si, and Mg. The C abundance is similar to that in the sun and in the galactic stellar abundances, which supports the model of comets as proto-stellar nebula material. The nucleus was observed to shed 16 tons of water per second, a rate which at times may have doubled. Noticeably absent from the spectra were CH4 lines, an absence common in interstellar clouds. The possibilities that the comet contains a large deuterium-hydrogen ratio and carbonaceous material are discussed.

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