Abstract
During encounters with comet Halley, the experiment PICCA onboard GIOTTO measured the gas phase organic ion composition of the coma and the experiment PUMA onboard VEGA-1 measured the dust composition. Joining both results, we obtain a consistent picture of the parent organic matter from which dust and gas is produced. One recognizes a complex unsaturated polycondensate, which splits during coma-formation into the more refractory C=C,C-N-containing dust part, and the more volatile C=C,C-O-containing gas part. The responsible exothermal chemical reactions, which are triggered by the sunlight, may play a major role in the dynamics of coma formation.
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This paper is a shortened and upgraded version of Krueger, F.R., Korth, A., and Kissel, J.: 1989, in S. Chang (ed.) Proc. of the ROSETTA Conf., Milpitas CA, January 1989, submitted.
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Krueger, F.R., Korth, A. & Kissel, J. The organic matter of comet Halley as inferred by joint gas phase and solid phase analyses. Space Sci Rev 56, 167–175 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00178406
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00178406