More than 30 years ago, the European comet mission Giotto flew past Halley’s comet. The Bernese ion mass spectrometer IMS, led by Prof. em. Hans Balsiger, was on board. A key finding from the measurements taken by this instrument was that there appeared to be a lack of nitrogen in Halley’s coma – the nebulous covering of comets which forms when a comet passes close to the sun...
Read MoreROSINA tagged posts
This measurement adds to the debate about the role of comets in delivering various “ingredients,” such as water, to Earth. Comets are considered to be representative of icy planetesimals that may have contributed a significant fraction of the volatiles to planets in the very early solar system...
Read More
Recent Comments