Surface changes on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko suggest a more active past

Elmaarry, Mohamed Ramy; Groussin, O.; Thomas, Nicolas; Pajola, M.; Auger, A.-T.; Davidsson, B.; Hu, X.; Hviid, S. F.; Knollenberg, J.; Güttler, C.; Tubiana, C.; Fornasier, S.; Feller, C.; Hasselmann, P.; Vincent, J.-B.; Sierks, H.; Barbieri, C.; Lamy, P.; Rodrigo, Rafael; Koschny, D.; ... (2017). Surface changes on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko suggest a more active past. Science, 355(6332), pp. 1392-1395. American Association for the Advancement of Science 10.1126/science.aak9384

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The Rosetta spacecraft spent ~2 years orbiting comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, most
of it at distances that allowed surface characterization and monitoring at submeter scales.
From December 2014 to June 2016, numerous localized changes were observed, which
we attribute to cometary-specific weathering, erosion, and transient events driven by
exposure to sunlight and other processes. While the localized changes suggest
compositional or physical heterogeneity, their scale has not resulted in substantial
alterations to the comet’s landscape. This suggests that most of the major landforms were
created early in the comet’s current orbital configuration. They may even date from earlier
if the comet had a larger volatile inventory, particularly of CO or CO₂ ices, or contained
amorphous ice, which could have triggered activity at greater distances from the Sun.

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