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Physical and Chemical Composition of Comets — From Interstellar Space to the Earth

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The Chemistry of Life’s Origins

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASIC,volume 416))

Abstract

The chemical and morphological structure of comets is based on a fluffy aggregate of interstellar dust with an average porosity of P = 0.8. Observations of the volatile and dust (refractory) components of comets are seen to provide evidence of the preservation of a major fraction of the interstellar dust composition in periodic comets — represented mostly by P/Halley — even after 4 1/2 billion years in the Oort cloud. The effects of thermal evolution do not appear to introduce any gross chemical modification. The fluffy character of the nucleus in combination with the submicron units of its structure indicate a possible mechanism for delivery of a substantial fraction of the prebiotic interstellar dust molecules by nucleus fragmentation and ablation so long as comet impacts were cushioned by a dense atmosphere on the early earth.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Huygens Laboratory, Niels Bohrweg 2, P.O. Box 9504, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    J. Mayo Greenberg

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  1. J. Mayo Greenberg
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory Astrophysics, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands

    J. M. Greenberg  & C. X. Mendoza-Gómez  & 

  2. Istituto di Fisica, Università di Catania, Catania, Italy

    V. Pirronello

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Greenberg, J.M. (1993). Physical and Chemical Composition of Comets — From Interstellar Space to the Earth. In: Greenberg, J.M., Mendoza-Gómez, C.X., Pirronello, V. (eds) The Chemistry of Life’s Origins. NATO ASI Series, vol 416. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1936-8_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1936-8_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-4856-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-1936-8

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