A tool of NASA on board European orbiter Rosetta has begun to subside comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko scientific data. The team, called Alice, began mapping the surface last month, marking the first far ultraviolet spectrum of light from the surface of the comet.
We are a bit surprised by the low reflective surface
From the data, it was discovered that the comet is unusually dark-rather than coal when viewed in ultraviolet wavelengths. Alice also detected hydrogen and oxygen in the coma or comet’s atmosphere.
It was also found that the comet’s surface shows no large patches of water ice. The team expected to see them, because the comet is too far to the heat of the sun to convert the water into steam, NASA reported .. “We are a bit surprised by the low reflectivity of the surface of the comet and little evidence of ice water exposed, “said Alan Stern, principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
Alice is investigating the origin, composition and operation the comet 67P / Churyumov- Gerasimenko, to gather evidence of high resolution can not be obtained by observation from Earth or in Earth orbit. It has more than 1,000 times the capacity of data collection instruments launched into space a generation ago, but only weighs 4 kilos and has 4 watts of power.
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