The previous idea that comets are dirty snowballs is brayed by the data from NASA’s Deep Impact collision. It suggests that comets are icy dirtballs, rather than dirty snowballs. On July 4, the 815-pound copper impactor hit the surface of Comet Tempel 1 to assay the interior of a comet’s nucleus. The collision occurred with a relative velocity of 6.3 miles per second, vaporizing 4,500 tons of water. It surprisingly released even more dust during the phenomenon.
The ESA scientists in Paris, after observing the comet’s nucleus before and after the impact, and measuring the water vapor content and the cross-section of the dust created by the impact, concluded on the resulting dust/ice mass ratio. The ratio suggests comets are composed more of dust held together by ice, rather than made of ice contaminated with dust.
Via: Science Daily
