The gases of the primitive solar system
The gases of the primitive solar system
http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The probe NEOWISE (NEO-Wide field Infrared Survey Explorer) (NASA) has observed since its launch in 2009 a total of 163 comets, which represents the largest survey of comets in the infrared conducted to date. The data collected is providing new insights into the production rates of gases difficult to observe from Earth, such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.
This difficulty of observation is given by the abundance of these two molecules in our own atmosphere since it masks the signal coming from space. As the NEOWISE probe is well above the atmosphere, it makes it possible to accurately measure emissions of these gases in comets.
Image 1: Enlarged view of Comet C / 2006 W3 (Christensen) observed by the WISE probe on April 20, 2010. Credits: NASA / JPL-Caltech.
While the approach of comets to the Sun drives the sublimation of water ice on comets, at longer distances and colder temperatures, it is molecules such as carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide that can be the main sources of cometary activity. These two molecules were common in the primitive solar system and part of the gases they formed were confined by comets inside them, being present ever since.
"This is the first time we have a great statistical evidence of carbon monoxide coming out in the gas form of a comet when it is away from the Sun," explains James Bauer, deputy principal investigator of the NEOWISE mission in JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) of NASA in Pasadena (United States) and author of the article that exposes the investigation. "The fact of having emitted important amounts of monoxide being more than four astronomical units away from the Sun - about 600 million kilometers - shows us that comets may have saved most of the gases when they were formed," he adds.
In this way, the presence of these gases makes comets are considered, even more, the time capsules of the primitive solar system. To observe them is to observe the composition of the solar system in its early stages.
The article that collects this research was published in the journal Astrophysical Journal under the title "The NEOWISE-Discovered Comet Population and the CO + CO2 production rates" (James M. Bauer et al., 2015, ApJ 814 85)
The team that has carried out the research consists of James M. Bauer (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, United States, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, United States), Rachel Stevenson (Jet Propulsion Laboratory , California Institute of Technology, United States), Emily Kramer (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, United States), AK Mainzer (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, United States), Tommy Grav (Planetary Science Institute, United), Joseph R. Masiero (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, United States), Yan R. Fernandez (Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, United States), Roc M. Cutri (Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, United States), John W. Dailey (Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, United), Frank J. Masci (Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, United States), Karen J. Meech (Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, United States; NASA Astrobiology Institute, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, United States), Russel Walker (Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy, United States), CM Lisse (Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, United States), Paul R. Weissman ( Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, United States), Carrie R. Nugent (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, United States), Sarah Sonnett (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, United States), Nathan Blair ( Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, United States), Andrew Lucas (Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, United States), Robert S. McMillan (Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, United States) , Edward L. Wright (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, United States) and the WISE and NEOWISE teams.
Scientific article:
References:
-
SOURCE LINK THE BEST ONLINE UFO WEBSITES https://www.beviral.online
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario