Search Publications
Volatile exposures on the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko nucleus
Fulle, M.; Fornasier, S.; Ciarniello, M. +2 more
Aims: We present the most extensive catalog of exposures of volatiles on the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko nucleus generated from observations acquired with the Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System (OSIRIS) on board the Rosetta mission. We investigate the volatile exposure distribution across the nucleus, their size distribu…
Volatiles in the H2O and CO2 ices of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
De Keyser, Johan; Gombosi, Tamas I.; Berthelier, Jean-Jacques +11 more
European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P) was the first mission that accompanied a comet over a substantial fraction of its orbit. On board was the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis mass spectrometer suite to measure the local densities of the volatile species sublimating from the i…
Cometary surface dust layers built out of millimetre-scale aggregates: dependence of modelled cometary gas production on the layer transport properties
Mottola, S.; Küppers, M.; Hartogh, P. +5 more
The standard approach to obtaining knowledge about the properties of the surface layer of a comet from observations of gas production consists of two stages. First, various thermophysical models are used to calculate gas production for a few sets of parameters. Second, a comparison of observations and theoretical predictions is performed. This app…
Oxygen-bearing organic molecules in comet 67P's dusty coma: First evidence for abundant heterocycles
Altwegg, K.; Fuselier, S. A.; Rubin, M. +6 more
The puzzling complexity of terrestrial biomolecules is driving the search for complex organic molecules in the interstellar medium (ISM) and serves as a motivation for many in situ studies of reservoirs of extraterrestrial organics, from meteorites and interplanetary dust particles to comets and asteroids. Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P), th…
Sensitivity of modelled cometary gas production on the properties of the surface layer of the nucleus
Küppers, M.; Hartogh, P.; Besse, S. +3 more
Explanation of the observed gas activity based on the parameters of the comet's nucleus is not an obvious matter. Solutions based on certain thermal models can be obtained, but the use of arbitrary values for poorly known model parameters is always required. In this work, we carry out a study of the dependence of gas activity on these parameters a…
Coma composition of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from radio-wave spectroscopy
Crovisier, J.; Biver, N.; Bockelée-Morvan, D. +11 more
We present the results of a molecular survey of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko undertaken with the Institut de RadioAstronomie Millimétrique (IRAM) 30-m radio telescope in November-December 2021, when it had its most favourable apparition in decades. Observations at IRAM 30-m during the 12-16 November period covered 8 GHz bandwidth at 3 mm, 16 GH…
Comparison of a pebbles-based model with the observed evolution of the water and carbon dioxide outgassing of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Fulle, M.; Mottola, S.; Bockelée-Morvan, D. +11 more
The Rosetta mission escorted comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for approximately two years including the perihelion passage (1.24 au, 2015 August), allowing us to monitor the seasonal evolution of the water and carbon dioxide loss rates. Here, we model 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko water and carbon dioxide production as measured by the Rosina experiment…
ALMA ACA study of the H2S/OCS ratio in low-mass protostars
Tabone, Benoît; Drozdovskaya, Maria N.; Tychoniec, Łukasz +1 more
Context. The identification of the main sulfur reservoir on its way from the diffuse interstellar medium to the cold dense star-forming cores and, ultimately, to protostars is a long-standing problem. Despite sulfur's astrochemical relevance, the abundance of S-bearing molecules in dense cores and regions around protostars is still insufficiently …
Sub-mm/mm optical properties of real protoplanetary matter derived from Rosetta/MIRO observations of comet 67P
Blum, Jürgen; Gundlach, Bastian; Wolf, Sebastian +6 more
Optical properties are required for the correct understanding and modelling of protoplanetary and debris discs. By assuming that comets are the most pristine bodies in the Solar system, our goal is to derive optical constants of real protoplanetary material. We determine the complex index of refraction of the near-surface material of comet 67P/Chu…
A quantitative description of comet 67P's dust and gas production remains enigmatic
Blum, J.; Gundlach, B.; Attree, N. +2 more
The mechanism of dust emission from a cometary nucleus is still an open question and thermophysical models have problems reproducing outgassing and dust productions rates simultaneously. In this study, we investigate the capabilities of a rather simple thermophysical model to match observations from Rosetta instruments at comet 67P/Churyumov-Geras…