Xenon isotopes in 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko show that comets contributed to Earth's atmosphere - INSU - Institut national des sciences de l'Univers Access content directly
Journal Articles Science Year : 2017

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

Léna Le Roy
O. Mousis
P. Wurz

Abstract

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.
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insu-01670669 , version 1 (06-03-2020)

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Attribution - NonCommercial

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B. Marty, Kathrin Altwegg, Hans Balsiger, A. Bar-Nun, D.V. Bekaert, et al.. Xenon isotopes in 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko show that comets contributed to Earth's atmosphere. Science, 2017, 356 (6342), pp.1069-1072. ⟨10.1126/science.aal3496⟩. ⟨insu-01670669⟩
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