The Rosetta spacecraft has detected some strange water vapor cyclosis from Comet 67P — piss that ’s importantly different to what we have here on Earth . The startling find challenges the democratic laying claim that much of our water was give up here by comet .
By ‘ weird ’ water we ’re speak about major differences in the deuterium - to - hydrogen ratio ( D / H ) . Comet 67P has water system that ’s not only different from what we have here on Earth , it ’s also markedly different from body of water observed in other Solar System bodies .
The measuring , which are some of the most extremely anticipated of the missionary station , were taken by Rosetta ’s ROSINA ’s DFMS double focusing great deal mass spectrometer between 8 August and 21 March 2025 .
heavy hydrogen is an isotope of atomic number 1 that carries an additional neutron . scientist study the proportion of deuterium to hydrogen in water because it ’s a style to regulate where in the Solar System an physical object add up from . But it may also be able to tell scientists what proportion of asteroids and comet contributed to Earth ’s oceans .
Indeed , a leading hypothesis on the origins of Earth ’s water suggests that it was deliver by comet and asteroid after our planet had cooled down . But the relative contribution of each course of study of aim to our satellite ’s water supply is still debated .
The ESA explicate :
Previous measurements of the deuterium / hydrogen ( D / H ) ratio in other comet have shown a wide chain of mountains of time value . Of the 11 comets for which measuring have been made , it is only the Jupiter - mob Comet 103P / Hartley 2 that was found to tally the musical composition of Earth ’s piss , in reflexion made by ESA ’s Herschel mission in 2011 .
By dividing line , meteorites originally hail from asteroid in the Asteroid Belt also match the typography of Earth ’s water . Thus , despite the fact that asteroid have a much lower overall water supply content , impacts by a large number of them could still have leave in Earth ’s oceans .
It is against this backcloth that Rosetta ’s investigations are authoritative . Interestingly , the D / H ratio mensurate by the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis , or ROSINA , is more than three time greater than for Earth ’s sea and for its Jupiter - family comrade , Comet Hartley 2 . Indeed , it is even higher than measured for any Oort cloud comet as well .
“ This surprising determination could argue a diverse origin for the Jupiter - family comet – perhaps they formed over a wider range of aloofness in the young Solar System than we previously thought , ” says Kathrin Altwegg , main investigator for ROSINA and go writer of the paper reporting the results in the diary Science this workweek .
To summarise , this notice potentially rule out the possibility that Jupiter - home comets exclusively hold in Earth ocean - like water , and adds credence to the suggestion that asteroids were the main delivery mechanics for Earth ’s oceans .
Images : ESA
ChemistryComet 67PSpaceWater
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