Abstract : The dust impact mass analyser (PUMA) carried by the spacecraft Vega 1 and Vega 2 has provided the first direct measurements of the physical and chemical properties of cometary dust. Particles of mass <10−14 g are much more abundant than was predicted by models1. Most of the particles are rich in light elements such as H, C, N and O, lending support to models that describe cometary material as consisting of radiation-processed ices. Three examples of mass spectra for typical particle compositions are shown.
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-03584839 Contributor : Catherine CardonConnect in order to contact the contributor Submitted on : Tuesday, February 22, 2022 - 4:35:48 PM Last modification on : Friday, May 6, 2022 - 2:54:40 PM
J. Kissel, R. Sagdeev, Jean-Loup Bertaux, V. Angarov, J. Audouze, et al.. Composition of comet Halley dust particles from Vega observations. Nature, Nature Publishing Group, 1986, 321 (S6067), pp.280-282. ⟨10.1038/321280a0⟩. ⟨insu-03584839⟩