Back to Search
Start Over
Origin of Molecular Oxygen in Comets: Current Knowledge and Perspectives
- Source :
- Space Science Reviews, Space Science Reviews, 2018, 214, ⟨10.1007/s11214-018-0541-2⟩
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2018.
-
Abstract
- International audience; The Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) instrument onboard the Rosetta spacecraft has measured molecular oxygen (O2) in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G) in surprisingly high abundances. These measurements mark the first unequivocal detection of O2 in a cometary environment. The large relative abundance of O2 in 67P/C-G despite its high reactivity and low interstellar abundance poses a puzzle for its origin in comet 67P/C-G, and potentially other comets. Since its detection, there have been a number of hypotheses put forward to explain the production and origin of O2 in the comet. These hypotheses cover a wide range of possibilities from various in situ production mechanisms to protosolar nebula and primordial origins. Here, we review the O2 formation mechanisms from the literature, and provide a comprehensive summary of the current state of knowledge of the sources and origin of cometary O2.
- Subjects :
- Physics
Nebula
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Ice
Comet
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrobiology
01 natural sciences
Article
law.invention
Molecular oxygen
Orbiter
Planetary science
[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]
Space and Planetary Science
law
Abundance (ecology)
Radiolysis
0103 physical sciences
Comets
010303 astronomy & astrophysics
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15729672 and 00386308
- Volume :
- 214
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Space Science Reviews
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....9e271a7be4ed44314bfdd8007d8f4b1a