Search Publications
Evolution of water production of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: An empirical model and a multi-instrument study
Altwegg, K.; Huang, Z.; Nilsson, H. +24 more
We examine the evolution of the water production of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during the Rosetta mission (2014 June-2016 May) based on in situ and remote sensing measurements made by Rosetta instruments, Earth-based telescopes and through the development of an empirical coma model. The derivation of the empirical model is described and the m…
Sulphur-bearing species in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Altwegg, K.; Balsiger, H.; Berthelier, J. J. +15 more
Several sulphur-bearing species have already been observed in different families of comets. However, the knowledge on the minor sulphur species is still limited. The comet's sulphur inventory is closely linked to the pre-solar cloud and holds important clues to the degree of reprocessing of the material in the solar nebula and during comet accreti…
Summer fireworks on comet 67P
Jorda, L.; Lamy, P. L.; Lara, L. M. +52 more
During its 2 yr mission around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, ESA's Rosetta spacecraft had the unique opportunity to follow closely a comet in the most active part of its orbit. Many studies have presented the typical features associated with the activity of the nucleus, such as localized dust and gas jets. Here, we report on series of more ener…
Fractal cometary dust - a window into the early Solar system
Bentley, M. S.; Mannel, T.; Schmied, R. +4 more
The properties of dust in the protoplanetary disc are key to understanding the formation of planets in our Solar system. Many models of dust growth predict the development of fractal structures which evolve into non-fractal, porous dust pebbles representing the main component for planetesimal accretion. In order to understand comets and their orig…
Direct Simulation Monte Carlo modelling of the major species in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Altwegg, K.; Huang, Z.; Erard, S. +26 more
We analyse the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) - the Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer data between 2014 August and 2016 February to examine the effect of seasonal variations on the four major species within the coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (H2O, CO2, CO, and O2), resulting f…
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko preserved the pebbles that formed planetesimals
Rodriguez, J.; Colangeli, L.; Della Corte, V. +16 more
Solar system formation models predict that the building blocks of planetesimals were mm- to cm-sized pebbles, aggregates of ices and non-volatile materials, consistent with the compact particles ejected by comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P hereafter) and detected by GIADA (Grain Impact Analyzer and Dust Accumulator) on-board the Rosetta spacecr…
Evolution of CO2, CH4, and OCS abundances relative to H2O in the coma of comet 67P around perihelion from Rosetta/VIRTIS-H observations
Kührt, E.; Encrenaz, T.; Erard, S. +19 more
Infrared observations of the coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko were carried out from 2015 July to September, I.e. around perihelion (2015 August 13), with the high-resolution channel of the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer instrument onboard Rosetta. We present the analysis of fluorescence emission lines of H2O, CO…
Ionospheric plasma of comet 67P probed by Rosetta at 3 au from the Sun
Wurz, P.; Altwegg, K.; Glassmeier, K. -H. +23 more
We propose to identify the main sources of ionization of the plasma in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at different locations in the coma and to quantify their relative importance, for the first time, for close cometocentric distances (<20 km) and large heliocentric distances (>3 au). The ionospheric model proposed is used as an …
Structure and evolution of the diamagnetic cavity at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Nilsson, H.; Eriksson, A.; Sierks, H. +13 more
The long duration of the Rosetta mission allows us to study the evolution of the diamagnetic cavity at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in detail. From 2015 April to 2016 February 665 intervals could be identified where Rosetta was located in a zero-magnetic-field region. We study the temporal and spatial distribution of this cavity and its boundar…
A primordial origin for molecular oxygen in comets: a chemical kinetics study of the formation and survival of O2 ice from clouds to discs
van Dishoeck, E. F.; Walsh, C.; Taquet, V. +1 more
Molecular oxygen has been confirmed as the fourth most abundant molecule in cometary material (O2/H2O ∼ 4 per cent) and is thought to have a primordial nature, I.e. coming from the interstellar cloud from which our Solar system was formed. However, interstellar O2 gas is notoriously difficult to detect and has only…