Sampling the stuff of a comet
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 CH/sub 4/ lines, an absence common in interstellar clouds. The possibilities that the comet contains a large deuterium-hydrogen ratio and carbonaceous material are discussed.
- Research Organization:
- New York State Univ., Stony Brook
- OSTI ID:
- 6460529
- Journal Information:
- Sky Telesc.; (United States), Vol. 73
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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