A University of Maryland - lead squad of scientists has mapped the gas emissions of Comet 67P Churyumov - Gerasimenko up closely for the first time . Using Rosetta ’s Optical , Spectroscopic and Infrared Remote Imaging System ( OSIRIS ) camera , the team studied some of the surprising processes take plaza near the comet .
“ It ’s very tricky , as you may opine , but we finally got it working and we ’re presenting the first results of it at theDPS meetingin Washington DC this hebdomad , ” work generator Dennis Bodewits from the University of Maryland told IFLScience .
In picky , the team looked at the light from oxygen atoms , and cyanide and hydroxyl molecules , just above the control surface of the comet . In most comets , these are the product of water and H nitrile molecules founder down by ultraviolet radiation from the Sun . In 67P , emission levels for all three were much higher than expected , by a factor of several hundred .
Using their observations , the squad had two explanations . One is that there is another source producing the mote and speck observed , perhaps CO2or the recently discovered oxygen molecules . or else , there could be another unknown chemical substance outgrowth creditworthy for the excess emission . Now , the answer seems to be that the solar lead is destroying molecules in the coma 1,000 time faster than thought , producing the higher emission levels . This is potential because 67P grow so slight gas that this radiation can penetrate deeply into the swarm of gas nigh to the open .
In the coma ( atmospheric state ) of the comet , water is broken down into molecular hydrogen and an atomic number 8 mote , which remains in an mad land and emits a photon , which can be trail to place the localization of water supply . Hydrogen cyanide , meanwhile , is disclose down into atomic number 1 and cyanide . The cyanide gas signature was surprising , because Earth - based observations suggest that nitrile elude to thousands of kilometers from the comet and then reflect sun , known as fluoresence . This inquiry , however , suggests it breaks down much nigher to the surface , owing to the fresh identified procedure .
As Rosetta ’s orbit is lowered , the squad will have more opportunities to contemplate the gasolene emissions taking shoes on the surface and in the coma .
