Exposed ice on #Rosetta’s #comet confirmed as water
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/01/13/exposed-ice-on-rosettas-comet-confirmed-as-water
This article is mirrored from the main ESA Web Portal. Observations made shortly after #rosetta’s arrival at its target comet in 2014 have provided definitive confirmation of the presence of water ice. Although water vapour is the main gas seen flowing from #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, the great majority of ice is believed to come from under the comet’s crust, and very few examples of exposed water ice have been found on the surface. However, a detailed analysis by Rosetta’s VIRTIS infrared instrument reveals the composition of the comet’s topmost layer: it is primarily coated in a dark, dry and organic-rich material but with a small amount of water ice mixed in. In the latest study, which focuses on scans between September and November 2014, the team confirms that two areas several (...)