Web Desk(November 23, 2017): Fresh observations of comet 45P suggest the icy orb is an oddball, boasting a chemical composition unlike any comet studied thus far.
Researchers tracked the comet as it whizzed past Earth earlier this year. Scientists hoped to glean new details about the ices that form Jupiter-family comets.
As comets barrel toward the sun, some of their ices melt and gases trapped in the comet’s nucleus are released into the comet’s thin atmosphere.
Some gases released by comets can form the molecular building blocks that sparked life, including sugars and amino acids, which is why some planetary scientists believed comets delivered the biochemical spark that begat life on Earth.
Gases trapped in the nucleus of comets also serve as a kind of window to the past. The nucleus preserves the chemical conditions of the early solar system, when many comets were first formed.
Their analysis showed 45P is depleted of almost all of its carbon monoxide. The gas easily escapes into space during a comet’s trip near the sun, so the discovery wasn’t all that surprising. What was surprising, however, was that scientists measured high levels of methane.
Scientists suggest a couple of scenarios for the anomaly. They say it’s possible the methane is trapped in a different type of ice that doesn’t melt as easily.
Or, they hypothesized, the CO reacted with hydrogen to form methanol. Observations show 45P has higher concentrations of frozen methanol than other Jupiter-family comets.
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