Chury active wells in the comet – ElTiempo.com

The Rosetta mission’s existence consisted of 18 wells in the northern hemisphere of comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko, with a depth of between 100 and 200 meters, and observed for the first time, activity in them.

In a study published in the journal Nature, researchers describe the activity mission and present a scenario of the origin of these 18 wells, similar to terrestrial circular sinkholes and deep cavities, which are known to be common in many comets.

In 1988 were found, for example, Halley and origin has been discussed for decades by the scientific community. This research, first observed activity jets of gas and dust rising from the walls of the pits, it sheds light on the origin of these and highlights the heterogeneous nature of the first few hundred meters below the current surface of Comet 67P , which is ‘chasing’ the Rosetta probe.

Between July and December 2014, the Rosetta mission observed Comet 67P from a distance of only eight kilometers, which “has allowed us to distinguish and you see with unparalleled detail “, said in a statement from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, astrophysicist Peter J. Gutierrez.

Thanks to this closeness and constant monitoring of the comet, scientists observed that the jets of gas and dust are produced when the ice core sublimate (transition from ice to gas). As for its origin, the authors of this article grouped explanations in two scenarios

One primary, ie wells thus formed from the beginning of time. “The gaps existed in the since this nucleus was formed and ceilings have fallen as a result of natural sublimation of ice on the surface and subsurface of the comet as it approaches the Sun, “said Luisa Lara astrophysics.

The second option would evolutionary process in which the creation and collapse of these cavities by a sublimation would , this time ice more volatile than water, such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, or the existence an internal power source that triggers the sublimation of the ice, he said.

The study of comets us about the formation of the solar system.

EFE