Search Publications
Evolution of the Dust Size Distribution of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from 2.2 au to Perihelion
Jorda, L.; Lamy, P. L.; Bertaux, J. -L. +74 more
The Rosetta probe, orbiting Jupiter-family comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, has been detecting individual dust particles of mass larger than 10-10 kg by means of the GIADA dust collector and the OSIRIS Wide Angle Camera and Narrow Angle Camera since 2014 August and will continue until 2016 September. Detections of single dust particles …
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: Close-up on Dust Particle Fragments
Langevin, Y.; Altwegg, K.; Krüger, H. +44 more
The COmetary Secondary Ion Mass Analyser instrument on board ESA's Rosetta mission has collected dust particles in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. During the early-orbit phase of the Rosetta mission, particles and particle agglomerates have been imaged and analyzed in the inner coma at distances between 100 km and 10 km off the cometa…
Origin of Molecular Oxygen in Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Wurz, P.; Altwegg, K.; Bieler, A. +13 more
Molecular oxygen has been detected in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with abundances in the 1%-10% range by the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis-Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer instrument on board the Rosetta spacecraft. Here we find that the radiolysis of icy grains in low-density environments such as the p…
A Protosolar Nebula Origin for the Ices Agglomerated by Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Wurz, P.; Altwegg, K.; Bieler, A. +10 more
The nature of the icy material accreted by comets during their formation in the outer regions of the protosolar nebula (PSN) is a major open question in planetary science. Some scenarios of comet formation predict that these bodies agglomerated from crystalline ices condensed in the PSN. Concurrently, alternative scenarios suggest that comets accr…
The Nature and Frequency of the Gas Outbursts in Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Observed by the Alice Far-ultraviolet Spectrograph on Rosetta
Parker, Joel Wm.; Bertaux, Jean-Loup; Stern, S. Alan +7 more
Alice is a far-ultraviolet imaging spectrograph on board Rosetta that, among multiple objectives, is designed to observe emissions from various atomic and molecular species from within the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The initial observations, made following orbit insertion in 2014 August, showed emissions of atomic hydrogen and oxygen…
High-Time Resolution In-situ Investigation of Major Cometary Volatiles around 67P/C-G at 3.1 - 2.3 AU Measured with ROSINA-RTOF
Wurz, P.; Bochsler, P.; Altwegg, K. +32 more
Comets considered to be pristine objects contain key information about the early formation of the solar system. Their volatile components can provide clues about the origin and evolution of gases and ices in the comets. Measurements with ROSINA/RTOF at 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko have now allowed, for the first time, a direct in situ high-time resol…
On the Origin of Inner Coma Structures Observed by Rosetta during a Diurnal Rotation of Comet 67P/Churyumov--Gerasimenko.
Kramer, Tobias; Noack, Matthias
The Rosetta probe around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P) reveals an anisotropic dust distribution of the inner coma with jet-like structures. The physical processes leading to jet formation are under debate, with most models for cometary activity focusing on localized emission sources, such as cliffs or terraced regions. Here we suggest, by …
A New 3D Multi-fluid Model: A Study of Kinetic Effects and Variations of Physical Conditions in the Cometary Coma
Huang, Z.; Jia, X.; Bieler, A. +8 more
Physics-based numerical coma models are desirable whether to interpret the spacecraft observations of the inner coma or to compare with the ground-based observations of the outer coma. In this work, we develop a multi-neutral-fluid model based on the BATS-R-US code of the University of Michigan, which is capable of computing both the inner and out…
Subsurface Characterization of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s Abydos Site
Jorda, L.; Lamy, P.; Mousis, O. +12 more
On 2014 November 12, the ESA/Rosetta descent module Philae landed on the Abydos site of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Aboard this module, the Ptolemy mass spectrometer measured a CO/CO2 ratio of 0.07 ± 0.04, which differs substantially from the value obtained in the coma by the Rosetta/ROSINA instrument, suggesting a heterogeneity in…
Prediction of Forbidden Ultraviolet and Visible Emissions in Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Galand, Marina; Bhardwaj, Anil; Raghuram, Susarla
Remote observation of spectroscopic emissions is a potential tool for the identification and quantification of various species in comets. The CO Cameron band (to trace CO2) and atomic oxygen emissions (to trace H2O and/or CO2, CO) have been used to probe neutral composition in the cometary coma. Using a coupled-che…