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Rosetta probe makes key comet atmosphere discovery
A NASA instrument on board the European Space Agency\'s Rosetta spacecraft has given a new insight into how comet atmosphere is built. The Alice instrument found that electrons close to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko - and not photons from the sun as had been believed cause the rapid breakup of water and carbon dioxide molecules spewing from the comet\'s surface.
Washington: A NASA instrument on board the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft has given a new insight into how comet atmosphere is built. The Alice instrument found that electrons close to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko - and not photons from the sun as had been believed cause the rapid breakup of water and carbon dioxide molecules spewing from the comet's surface.
The Alice on board Rosetta is probing the origin, composition and workings of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko to gather sensitive, high-resolution insights that cannot be obtained by either ground-based or Earth-orbiting observation. "The discovery we are reporting is quite unexpected.
It shows us the value of going to comets to observe them up close, since this discovery simply could not have been made from earth or earth orbit with any existing or planned observatory," said Alan Stern, principal investigator for the Alice instrument at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Colorado.
The carbon dioxide and water are being released from the comet's nucleus and affected by electrons near the nucleus. Alice data indicate much of the water and carbon dioxide in the comet's coma originates from plumes erupting from its surface.
