The University of Central Florida The researchers examined 25 comets, measured the percentage of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide gases emerging from the comet’s nucleus, and where there was data, the comet’s water emissions were also measured. The two gases revealed details about the early solar system, the formation of comets and the processes that occurred with them in the early period, which Planetary Science Journal The experts published in the journal.
The researchers treated data that, although prepared during separate observations and using different tools, were comparable to each other based on strict controls. The comets that were examined belong to different classes (families) based on their orbits, and the research revealed different proportions of gases flowing from them as well.
“One of our most intriguing results was that comets originating from the Sun’s Oort Cloud, which have never or rarely come close to the Sun, produce more carbon dioxide than carbon monoxide, while being close to the Sun by comets,” said Olga Harrington Pinto. , Head of the Research Department: “He has visited us several times, the situation is just the opposite.” “This has not been clearly observed before.”
In the case of comets that can be considered intact, that is, that have not been inside the solar system before, the amount of carbon monoxide should dominate, according to theories about the formation of comets. However, this discovery does not serve as an alternative theory of origin, but may prove to be an entirely different process.
An image of an Oort cloud. The inner region of the Solar System would be too small to image even at such a large scale.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Az Oort-felhő a Naprendszer legtávolabbi régiója, amely gömbhéjszerűen veszi körbe a belsőbb régiókat, és amelyben az elméletek szerint rengeteg üstökös kering, és időnként némelyik elindul a Naprendszer belseje felé. Az Oort-felhő távolságát talán az érzékelteti igazán, ha a Föld-Nap távolsághoz mérjük: a gömbhéj legbelső határa 2000-5000-szer messzebb van a Naptól, mint a mi bolygónk pályája. A külső határa még elképesztőbb, 10 ezerszer, de akár 100 ezerszer is távolabb húzódik. Talán e távolság azt is érthetővé teszi, miért jutnak ritkán a Nap közelébe az innen származó üstökösök.
According to one of the ideas, comets in the Oort cloud are exposed to a lot of cosmic radiation, as a result of which the amount of carbon monoxide in their surface layer decreases. The data obtained by the researchers now confirm this idea. Then, after their first or second approach to the sun, this transformed outer layer disappears under the influence of the sun, revealing the older inner structure of cometary nuclei, which is richer in carbon monoxide.
The research team’s next task will be to analyze direct measurements made by the James Webb Space Telescope, known as the centaur Regarding the emission of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Centaurs are small celestial bodies that exhibit the characteristics of an asteroid and a comet, located near the Kuiper belt, roughly in the region between Jupiter and Neptune. If these tests are performed, the results obtained here can be compared with those measured in comets.
