{"id":16637,"date":"2015-01-27T00:31:41","date_gmt":"2015-01-26T16:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/new-discoveries-from-rosetta-put-comet-67p-in-focus\/"},"modified":"2015-01-27T00:31:41","modified_gmt":"2015-01-26T16:31:41","slug":"new-discoveries-from-rosetta-put-comet-67p-in-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/new-discoveries-from-rosetta-put-comet-67p-in-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"New discoveries from Rosetta put comet 67P in focus"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"This
This image from Rosetta\u2019s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera shows part of a large fracture in the neck of comet 67P\/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ESA\/Rosetta\/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS\/UPD\/LAM\/IAA\/SSO\/INTA\/UPM\/DASP\/IDA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scientists have released new findings from the European Space Agency\u2019s Rosetta mission, adding fresh pages to a catalog of comet data that officials promise will swell with more discoveries over the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

The comet being studied by Rosetta is porous enough to float in an ocean, and it exhibits alien phenomena still being unraveled by scientists on Earth.<\/p>\n

The flurry of announcements coincided with the Jan. 23 publication of Rosetta\u2019s initial findings in a special issue of Science magazine.<\/p>\n

Rosetta arrived at comet 67P\/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August, then surveyed candidate landing sites for the mission\u2019s piggyback Philae landing craft. Philae dropped to the comet\u2019s nucleus Nov. 12 and bounced to rest near the face of a cliff made of rock and ice, beaming back unprecedented measurements from the surface of a comet for two days.<\/p>\n

With Philae now in hibernation on the comet \u2014 which is about the size of small city \u2014 the Rosetta spacecraft began its own science campaign scheduled to last until some time in 2016.<\/p>\n

Imagery from Rosetta\u2019s main camera has seen 70 percent of the comet\u2019s surface, revealing it to be rugged and diverse, ranging from jagged knife-like rock outcrops to dust dunes up to several meters deep that appear to be blown by wind on the airless body.<\/p>\n

Scientists believe gases flowing from jets on the nucleus could drive dust particles across the surface, creating features similar to sand dunes on Earth.<\/p>\n

The origin of the comet\u2019s irregular shape \u2014 a subject fascinating to scientists and the public alike \u2014 remains a mystery, scientists said in an ESA press release.<\/p>\n

Comet 67P has two distinct lobes separated by a narrow neck, resembling the head and body of a duck.<\/p>\n

One hypothesis is the comet is a remnant of a once-larger body that eroded through the solar system\u2019s 4.6 billion year history. Another way the comet could have ended up with its shape is by the fusing of two objects that formed separately at first.<\/p>\n

An initial look at the comet shows its two lobes are made of similar material, supporting the idea that the body formed in one piece and withered away over time, scientists said.<\/p>\n

Some steep cliffs on the stark world are marked with unexpected textures scientists have dubbed goosebumps. The features are all about 3 meters \u2014 nearly 10 feet \u2014 across, suggesting they may be clues on how the comet formed.<\/p>\n

\"Rosetta's
Rosetta\u2019s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera captured this close-up of an unusual surface feature on comet 67P scientists have nicknamed \u201cgoosebumps.\u201d Credit: ESA\/Rosetta\/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS\/UPD\/LAM\/IAA\/SSO\/INTA\/UPM\/DASP\/IDA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rosetta also found a crack in the neck of comet 67P, a possible symptom of flexing or stress in the region separating the comet\u2019s head and body.<\/p>\n

Most of the comet\u2019s jets have also come from the neck region, shooting columns of volatile materials like water into space as Churyumov-Gerasimenko coasts closer to the sun, exposing the comet to more heat that activates the plumes.<\/p>\n

Scientists have designated the smooth region where much of the jet activity originates Hapi \u2014 after an Egyptian deity \u2014 keeping with the theme of the Rosetta mission, which was named for the Rosetta stone that unlocked the hieroglyphic text used by ancient Egyptians.<\/p>\n

Researchers identified eighteen other geologic regions across the comet\u2019s nucleus, each typified by a different type of texture or make-up.<\/p>\n

The jet activity at Hapi suggests the area may harbor a different type of ice or deeper ice deposits than other parts of the comet, according to a paper published in Science by lead author Holger Sierks, principal investigator for Rosetta\u2019s high-resolution German-built OSIRIS camera.<\/p>\n

Measurements from a U.S.-made instrument on Rosetta indicated water was pouring out of the comet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn observations over a period of three months [June through August 2014], the amount of water in vapor form that the comet was dumping into space grew about tenfold,\u201d said Sam Gulkis, principal investigator of the MIRO instrument at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and lead author of a paper appearing in the special Jan. 23 issue of Science.<\/p>\n

The cloud of water vapor and dust around the comet is expected to thicken as the comet moves closer to the sun. Churyumov-Gerasimenko will be nearest to the sun \u2014 a point known as perihelion \u2014 in August, when it will be just outside the distance of Earth\u2019s orbit.<\/p>\n

\"This
This image of comet 67P taken by Rosetta\u2019s navigation camera shows jet activity around the nucleus. Credit: ESA\/Rosetta\/NAVCAM<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTo be up close and personal with a comet for an extended period of time has provided us with an unprecedented opportunity to see how comets transform from cold, icy bodies to active objects spewing out gas and dust as they get closer to the sun,\u201d Gulkis said.<\/p>\n

But the water is not like Earth\u2019s, according to another early finding by Rosetta.<\/p>\n

The water on comet 67P has a different flavor than the water found in Earth\u2019s oceans.<\/p>\n

The ROSINA instrument on Rosetta measured the proportion of deuterium \u2014 a form of hydrogen with an additional neutron \u2014 to normal hydrogen in the comet\u2019s water, according to ESA.<\/p>\n

It turns out the deuterium to hydrogen ratio on Churyumov-Gerasimenko is more than three times higher than the figure for water on Earth, hinting that Earth\u2019s oceans were seeded by many types of objects \u2014 not just a certain kind of comet or asteroid.<\/p>\n

Scientists are interested in studying comets because they are rich in building blocks and elements essential for life: organic molecules and water.<\/p>\n

Rosetta\u2019s Italian-led visible and infrared imaging spectrometer, or VIRTIS sensor, detected organic compounds similar to carboxylic acids that make up amino acids, which combine to form proteins.<\/p>\n

\"The
The 19 regions identified on Comet 67P\/Churyumov\u2013Gerasimenko are separated by distinct geomorphological boundaries. Following the ancient Egyptian theme of the Rosetta mission, they are named for Egyptian deities. Credit: ESA\/Rosetta\/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS\/UPD\/LAM\/IAA\/SSO\/INTA\/UPM\/DASP\/IDA\/UPM\/DASP\/IDA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Experts suspected Rosetta would find such material on comet 67P after discovering amino acids in meteorites that fell to Earth, but Rosetta made the first measurement of the polymer-like compounds on a comet. The signal detected by Rosetta indicates complex organic molecules were abundant in the material that formed the comet\u2019s nucleus, according to a press release issued by the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe formation of such compounds requires the presence of ices of volatile molecules such as methanol, methane or carbon monoxide, which only freeze at very low temperatures,\u201d said Fabrizio Capaccioni, principal investigator for the VIRTIS instrument at the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology in Rome.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, these compounds must have formed at large distances from the sun, during the early stages of the build up of the solar system,\u201d he said in a translation of a press release posted on ESA\u2019s website. \u201cThis suggests that we are facing a comet that locks up, in its interior, traces of primordial chemical compounds that date back to the formation of our solar system, or possibly to an even earlier epoch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comet is one of the darkest objects in the solar system \u2014 the moon is twice as bright \u2014 with little ice exposed at its surface, according to a paper authored by Capaccioni and supporting scientists.<\/p>\n

Rosetta will fly as close as 6 kilometers (4 miles) from comet 67P on Feb. 14, getting its closest look yet at the craggy world. It will fly through one of the comet\u2019s jets of outgassing material, sampling its contents as it hurtles closer to the sun.<\/p>\n

\u201cRosetta is essentially living with the comet as it moves towards the sun along its orbit, learning how its behavior changes on a daily basis and, over longer timescales, how its activity increases, how its surface may evolve, and how it interacts with the solar wind,\u201d said Matt Taylor, ESA\u2019s Rosetta project scientist.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have already learned a lot in the few months we have been alongside the comet, but as more and more data are collected and analyzed from this close study of the comet we hope to answer many key questions about its origin and evolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This image from Rosetta\u2019s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera shows part of a large fracture in the neck of comet 67P\/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ESA\/Rosetta\/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS\/UPD\/LAM\/IAA\/SSO\/INTA\/UPM\/DASP\/IDA Scientists have released new findings from the European Space Agency\u2019s Rosetta mission, adding fresh pages to a catalog of comet data that officials promise will swell with more discoveries over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3097,3098,831,4150,3373],"class_list":["post-16637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-comet","tag-comet-67p-churyumov-gerasimenko","tag-european-space-agency","tag-osiris","tag-rosetta"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16637"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}