Aspects of the major element composition of Halley's dust
Kissel, J.; Jessberger, E. K.; Christoforidis, A.
Germany
Abstract
The chemical composition of the solid grains from comet Halley can be inferred from impact-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Halley's dust in the vicinity of the VEGA-1 spacecraft is a mixture of a refractory organic component and unequilibrated silicates, but detailed chemical information on individual particles is difficult to extract because of the complexity of the impact-ionization process.