Authors
Fabrizio Capaccioni, Angioletta Coradini, Gianrico Filacchione, S Erard, Gabriele Arnold, P Drossart, MARIA CRISTINA De Sanctis, D Bockelee-Morvan, MARIA TERESA Capria, Federico Tosi, C Leyrat, B Schmitt, E Quirico, P Cerroni, Vito Mennella, Andrea Raponi, Mauro Ciarniello, T McCord, Liubov Moroz, Ernesto Palomba, E Ammannito, MA Barucci, Giancarlo Bellucci, J Benkhoff, JP Bibring, Armando Blanco, M Blecka, R Carlson, U Carsenty, L Colangeli, M Combes, M Combi, J Crovisier, T Encrenaz, C Federico, U Fink, Sergio Fonti, WH Ip, P Irwin, Ralf Jaumann, E Kuehrt, Y Langevin, G Magni, S Mottola, Vincenzo Orofino, P Palumbo, GIUSEPPE Piccioni, U Schade, F Taylor, D Tiphene, GP Tozzi, P Beck, N Biver, L Bonal, J-Ph Combe, D Despan, E Flamini, S Fornasier, ALESSANDRO Frigeri, Davide Grassi, M Gudipati, A Longobardo, K Markus, F Merlin, ROBERTO Orosei, GIOVANNA Rinaldi, Katrin Stephan, MARCO Cartacci, A Cicchetti, Stefano Giuppi, Y Hello, F Henry, S Jacquinod, RAFFAELLA Noschese, Gisbert Peter, ROMOLO Politi, JM Reess, A Semery
Publication date
2015/1/23
Journal
Science
Volume
347
Issue
6220
Pages
aaa0628
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Description
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 …
Scholar articles
F Capaccioni, A Coradini, G Filacchione, S Erard… - Science, 2015