Posted on 04/29/2015 9:23:34 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: What's happening to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko? As the 3-km wide comet moves closer to the Sun, heat causes the nucleus to expel gas and dust. The Rosetta spacecraft arrived at the comet's craggily double nucleus last July and now is co-orbiting the Sun with the giant dark iceberg. Recent analysis of data beamed back to Earth from the robotic Rosetta spacecraft has shown that water being expelled by 67P has a significant difference with water on Earth, indicating that Earth's water could not have originated from ancient collisions with comets like 67P. Additionally, neither Rosetta nor its Philae lander detected a magnetic field around the comet nucleus, indicating that magnetism might have been unimportant in the evolution of the early Solar System. Comet 67P, shown in a crescent phase in false color, should increase its evaporation rate as it nears its closest approach to the Sun in 2015 August, when it reaches a Sun distance just a bit further out than the Earth.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit: ESA, Rosetta, NAVCAM; processing by Giuseppe Conzo]
I wonder what the significant difference in the water is. How can it be even considered water if the difference is so significant?
So many amazing mysteries out there yet to be discovered.
Great Picture! :-)
Recent analysis of data beamed back to Earth from the robotic Rosetta spacecraft has shown that water being expelled by 67P has a significant difference with water on Earth, indicating that Earth's water could not have originated from ancient collisions with comets like 67P. Additionally, neither Rosetta nor its Philae lander detected a magnetic field around the comet nucleus, indicating that magnetism might have been unimportant in the evolution of the early Solar System.
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bttt
It’s the new Obama logo.
With the matching slogan, "You're not going to eat that."
How can water be significantly different?
Comet’s water ‘like that of Earth’s oceans’
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2788555/posts
Solar System Ice: Source of Earth’s Water
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2906461/posts
It’s all about the meme-building — repeat it often enough, it becomes true.
There are planets and moons essentially made of water. So while a comet could be a source, more likely a comet is made of similar stuff to the rest of the space debris.
The universe seems to be made of water and hydrocarbons. Basic building blocks of the universe.
Building colonizable worlds will probably exploit that fact — start with a debris pile, piling up star system debris into an Earthlike orbit and with an axial spin, followed by piles of water ice, then finishing it off with piles of frozen nitrogren and oxygen. As the temperature rises then stabilizes, add in Earth organisms in an appropriate order.
Colonies would be constructed on big flat shield-shaped chunks of mineral foams (extruded in space from more debris) and dropped in. They’d ride the very large tides.
I like it. Reminds me of “The Millennial Project”...
I liked that book.
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