| Literature DB >> 25613895 |
F Capaccioni1, A Coradini2, G Filacchione2, S Erard3, G Arnold4, P Drossart3, M C De Sanctis2, D Bockelee-Morvan3, M T Capria2, F Tosi2, C Leyrat3, B Schmitt5, E Quirico5, P Cerroni2, V Mennella6, A Raponi2, M Ciarniello2, T McCord7, L Moroz4, E Palomba2, E Ammannito8, M A Barucci3, G Bellucci2, J Benkhoff9, J P Bibring10, A Blanco11, M Blecka12, R Carlson13, U Carsenty4, L Colangeli9, M Combes3, M Combi14, J Crovisier3, T Encrenaz3, C Federico15, U Fink16, S Fonti11, W H Ip17, P Irwin18, R Jaumann19, E Kuehrt4, Y Langevin10, G Magni2, S Mottola4, V Orofino11, P Palumbo20, G Piccioni2, U Schade21, F Taylor18, D Tiphene3, G P Tozzi22, P Beck5, N Biver3, L Bonal5, J-Ph Combe7, D Despan3, E Flamini23, S Fornasier3, A Frigeri2, D Grassi2, M Gudipati24, A Longobardo2, K Markus4, F Merlin3, R Orosei25, G Rinaldi2, K Stephan4, M Cartacci2, A Cicchetti2, S Giuppi2, Y Hello3, F Henry3, S Jacquinod3, R Noschese2, G Peter26, R Politi2, J M Reess3, A Semery3.
Abstract
The VIRTIS (Visible, Infrared and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) instrument on board the Rosetta spacecraft has provided evidence of carbon-bearing compounds on the nucleus of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The very low reflectance of the nucleus (normal albedo of 0.060 ± 0.003 at 0.55 micrometers), the spectral slopes in visible and infrared ranges (5 to 25 and 1.5 to 5% kÅ(-1)), and the broad absorption feature in the 2.9-to-3.6-micrometer range present across the entire illuminated surface are compatible with opaque minerals associated with nonvolatile organic macromolecular materials: a complex mixture of various types of carbon-hydrogen and/or oxygen-hydrogen chemical groups, with little contribution of nitrogen-hydrogen groups. In active areas, the changes in spectral slope and absorption feature width may suggest small amounts of water-ice. However, no ice-rich patches are observed, indicating a generally dehydrated nature for the surface currently illuminated by the Sun.Entities:
Year: 2015 PMID： 25613895 DOI： 10.1126/science.aaa0628
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Science ISSN： 0036-8075 Impact factor: 47.728