An international team of astronomers have made a historic discovery using the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), detecting gas molecules in a comet which has tumbled into our solar system from […]
Comet
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
Detection of a Water Tracer in Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov
We present high spectral resolution optical spectra obtained with the ARCES instrument at Apache Point Observatory showing detection of the [OI]6300 A line in interstellar comet 2I/Borisov. We employ the […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Impact events, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Press Release
Did Comet Impacts Jump-start Life On Earth?
Comets screaming through the atmosphere of early Earth at tens of thousands of miles per hour likely contained measurable amounts of protein-forming amino acids. Upon impact, these amino acids self-assembled […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Press Release
Unidentified Infrared Emission Features in Mid-infrared Spectrum of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner
Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner (hereafter, comet 21P/G-Z) is a Jupiter-family comet and a parent comet of the October Draconids meteor shower. If meteoroids originating from a Jupiter-family comet contain complex organic molecules, […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
Carbon Chain Depletion of 2I/Borisov
The composition of comets in the solar system come in multiple groups thought to encode information about their formation in different regions o fthe outer protosolar disk. The recent discovery […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Comets and Asteroids, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release
Detection Of CN Gas In Interstellar Object 2I/Borisov
The detection of Interstellar Objects passing through the Solar system offers the promise of constraining the physical and chemical processes involved in planetary formation in other extrasolar systems. While the […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Press Release
Simulations Of Ice Chemistry In Cometary Nuclei
The first computational model of solid-phase chemistry in cometary nuclear ices is presented. An astrochemical kinetics model, MAGICKAL, is adapted to trace the chemical evolution in multiple layers of cometary […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Comets and Asteroids, Press Release
A Family Of Comets Reopens The Debate About the Origin Of Earth's Water
Where did the Earth’s water come from? Although comets, with their icy nuclei, seem like ideal candidates, analyses have so far shown that their water differs from that in our […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Press Release
Detection of Exposed H2O ice on the Nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Since the orbital insertion of the Rosetta spacecraft, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G) has been mapped by OSIRIS camera and VIRTIS spectro-imager, producing a huge quantity of images and spectra of the […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Press Release
Isotopic ratios of H, C, N, O, and S in comets C/2012 F6 and C/2014 Q2
The apparition of bright comets C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) and C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) in March-April 2013 and January 2015, combined with the improved observational capabilities of submillimeter facilities, offered an opportunity […]