Carbon-rich particles in Comet Halley

Details Carbon-rich particles in Comet Halley Carbon-rich particles in Comet Halley

Apr 1990

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1990nascp3061...27c&link_type=abstract

In NASA, Ames Research Center, Carbon in the Galaxy: Studies from Earth and Space p 27-36 (SEE N90-27562 21-88)

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Carbon, Chemical Reactions, Cometary Atmospheres, Halley'S Comet, Cn Emission, Flyby Missions, Fragments, Giotto Mission, Hydrocyanic Acid, Ions, Light Elements, Mass Spectra, Organic Compounds, Radio Jets (Astronomy), Targets

Scientific paper

The majority of particles detected in the coma of Comet Halley contain carbon atoms; many of these grains appear to consist preponderately or only of light elements. These light-element particles may be composed of organic compounds. Of the possible combinations of the elements hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, numerous examples are found of particles containing the combinations (H,C,O,N), (H,C,N), (H,C,O), and (H,C). These results may bear on the recent detection of polyoxymethylene fragments, the observation of cyanojets (CN patterns consistent with release from solid particles), the possible presence of cyanopolyacetylenes or HCN polymer and the make-up of the CHON particles. If cometary matter could reach the surface of the earth without complete disruption, these diverse organic and mixed particles could create unique microenvironments, possibly with significant or even pivotal prebiotic chemical activity. Here a speculative insight into possible relationships between carbon in comets and carbon in life is given, as well as a brief overview of on-going analysis of data from the highly successful Particle Impact Analyzer (PIA) experiment flown on the Giotto spacecraft for the flyby of Comet Halley (development and implementation of PIA was under the direction of J. Kissel of the Max Planck Institute for Kernphysik, Heidelberg). PIA is a time-of-flight analyzer which obtains mass spectra of ions from individual particles impacting on a Pt-Ag foil target within the instrument.

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