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Anders Johansen. Profile picture.

Anders Johansen

Professor

Anders Johansen. Profile picture.

Evidence for the formation of comet 67p/churyumov-gerasimenko through gravitational collapse of a bound clump of pebbles

Author

  • Jurgen Blum
  • Bastian Gundlach
  • Maya Krause
  • Marco Fulle
  • Anders Johansen
  • Jessica Agarwal
  • Ingo Von Borstel
  • Xian Shi
  • Xuanyu Hu
  • Mark S. Bentley
  • Fabrizio Capaccioni
  • Luigi Colangeli
  • Vincenzo Della Corte
  • Nicolas Fougere
  • Simon F. Green
  • Stavro Ivanovski
  • Thurid Mannel
  • Sihane Merouane
  • Alessandra Migliorini
  • Alessandra Rotundi
  • Roland Schmied
  • Colin Snodgrass
Show all

Summary, in English

The processes that led to the formation of the planetary bodies in the Solar system are still not fully understood. Using the results obtained with the comprehensive suite of instruments onboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission, we present evidence that comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko likely formed through the gentle gravitational collapse of a bound clump of mm-sized dust aggregates ('pebbles'), intermixed with microscopic ice particles. This formation scenario leads to a cometary make-up that is simultaneously compatible with the global porosity, homogeneity, tensile strength, thermal inertia, vertical temperature profiles, sizes and porosities of emitted dust and the steep increase in water-vapour production rate with decreasing heliocentric distance, measured by the instruments onboard the Rosetta spacecraft and the Philae lander. Our findings suggest that the pebbles observed to be abundant in protoplanetary discs around young stars provide the building material for comets and other minor bodies.

Department/s

  • Lund Observatory - Has been reorganised
  • eSSENCE: The e-Science Collaboration

Publishing year

2017-01-01

Language

English

Pages

755-773

Publication/Series

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Volume

469

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Topic

  • Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Keywords

  • 67p/churyumov-gerasimenko - planets and satellites
  • Comets
  • Formation - protoplanetary discs
  • Individual

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0035-8711