Rosetta saw streams of steam escaping from the surface of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Rosetta saw streams of steam escaping from the surface of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Close contact with a comet certainly has its advantages and this is one of them. The Rosetta spacecraft of the European Space Agency, flying at a distance of 16 miles (26 kilometers) above the comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko, took photos of steam jets escaping from the comet.

During the passage of the solar system, the orbit of the comet passes too close to the Sun, where the increasing solar heat causes the melting of ice trapped in the comet, accompanied by the emission of vapor. In space, frozen water and other volatile substances cannot turn into liquid, so that when the ice is heated, they turn from a solid (ice) into a gas, bypassing the liquid phase. This process is known as sublimation.

This is exactly what Rosette saw in a series of four photographs taken on September 26 - thanks to the sun's heat, ice quickly sublimates, releasing gas mixed with dust into space. As can be seen in the photograph, gas jets erupt from the surface of Churyumov-Gerasimenko at the junction of the two parts of the comet.

The most interesting feature of this dynamic behavior is that the vapor that is released from the comet has been blocked in the frozen state in the comet core at the dawn of our solar system. Comets, like time capsules, retain chemical composition for billions of years.

Rosetta continues to study the comet, trying to better understand the origins of our solar system and helping us to find out exactly where the building blocks of life originated. The excitement will continue to grow as it approaches November 12, when Rosetta releases the Philae descent vehicle to land on the surface of the comet and get even closer acquainted with the comet.

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