The Thickness and Formation Age of the Surface Layer on Comet 9P/Tempel 1

Details The Thickness and Formation Age of the Surface Layer on Comet 9P/Tempel 1 The Thickness and Formation Age of the Surface Layer on Comet 9P/Tempel 1

May 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007apj...661l..89k&link_type=abstract

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 661, Issue 1, pp. L89-L92.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

13

Comets: General, Comets: Individual: Name: 9P/Tempel 1, Infrared: Solar System

Scientific paper

Cometary nuclei are believed to contain important information on the condition of the solar nebula, but there is little observational data available on their interior structure. Our ground-based observations of NASA's Deep Impact event show that comet 9P/Tempel 1 has a surface layer consisting of small (submicron-sized) carbonaceous grains whose thickness is several tens of centimeters. This suggests that comet 9P/Tempel 1 contains, at several tens of centimeters of depth, material that has not metamorphosed since this comet left the trans-Neptunian region. This further implies that many short-period comets may maintain the components they had upon leaving the trans-Neptunian region at ~1 m of depth from the surface, even after numerous perihelion passages.

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