Chlorine-bearing species and the 37Cl/35Cl isotope ratio in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
De Keyser, Johan; Wurz, Peter; Altwegg, Kathrin; Hänni, Nora; Rubin, Martin; Dhooghe, Frederik; Jehin, Emmanuel; Maggiolo, Romain; Cessateur, Gaël
Belgium, Switzerland
Abstract
A full-mission analysis has been conducted of Cl-bearing species in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as detected by the Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer (DFMS) of Rosetta's ROSINA instrument. The isotope ratio of the two stable chlorine isotopes 37Cl/35Cl is found to be 0.336 ± 0.017, to be compared with the standard mean ocean chloride value of 0.320. The isotope ratio does not change appreciably throughout the mission. The Cl-bearing species fingerprint in DFMS indicates that there is at least one additional chlorine-bearing species in the coma next to HCl, CH3Cl, and NH4Cl. The identity of this volatile or semivolatile species is unknown at this time.