Xenon isotopes in 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko show that comets contributed to Earth's atmosphere

Marty, B.; Altwegg, Kathrin; Balsiger, Hans; Bar-Nun, A.; Bekaert, D. V.; Berthelier, J.-J.; Bieler, André; Briois, C.; Calmonte, Ursina Maria; Combi, M.; De Keyser, J.; Fiethe, B.; Fuselier, S. A.; Gasc, Sébastien; Gombosi, T. I.; Hansen, K. C.; Hässig, M.; Jäckel, Annette; Kopp, Ernest; Korth, A.; ... (2017). Xenon isotopes in 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko show that comets contributed to Earth's atmosphere. Science, 356(6342), pp. 1069-1072. American Association for the Advancement of Science 10.1126/science.aal3496

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The origin of cometary matter and the potential contribution of comets to inner-planet atmospheres are long-standing problems. During a series of dedicated low-altitude orbits, the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) on the Rosetta spacecraft analyzed the isotopes of xenon in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The xenon isotopic composition shows deficits in heavy xenon isotopes and matches that of a primordial atmospheric component. The present-day Earth atmosphere contains 22 ± 5% cometary xenon, in addition to chondritic (or solar) xenon.

Item Type:

 Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

 08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > Space Research and Planetary Sciences
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Applied Physics
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences (DCBP)
08 Faculty of Science > Other Institutions > Emeriti, Faculty of Science
08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute
10 Strategic Research Centers > Center for Space and Habitability (CSH)

UniBE Contributor:

 Altwegg, Kathrin, Balsiger, Hans, Bieler, André, Calmonte, Ursina Maria, Gasc, Sébastien, Hässig, Myrtha, Jäckel, Annette, Kopp, Ernest, Le Roy, Léna, Xu, Qinqin, Rubin, Martin, Sémon, Thierry, Tzou, Chia-Yu, Wurz, Peter

Subjects:

 500 Science > 520 Astronomy
500 Science > 530 Physics
500 Science > 540 Chemistry
600 Technology > 620 Engineering

ISSN:

 0036-8075

Publisher:

 American Association for the Advancement of Science

Language:

 English

Submitter:

 Dora Ursula Zimmerer

Date Deposited:

 16 Oct 2017 09:07

Last Modified:

 02 Mar 2023 23:29

Publisher DOI:

 10.1126/science.aal3496

BORIS DOI:

 10.7892/boris.105650

URI:

 https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/105650

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