Catching Stardust
Natalie Starkey, 2018 532.2 Starkey CedarMill
Mostly popsci.
The chapter on the ESA Rosetta spaceraft toJupiter-family comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko is interesting. Black surface temperature 205 to 230 Kelvin, MIRO microwave imager measured 30 to 160 Kelvin subsurface ice temperatures. Comet heterogeneous, materials from different parts of the solar nebula.
Meter scale Philae lander bounced off intended landing spot at "Agilkia" site, came down in unknown location designated "Abydos". The bounces mistimed experiments; still, useful results from the Cometary Sampling and Composition (COSAC) and 5 kg mass spectrometer (Ptolemy) instruments. COSAC sampled the surface, Ptolemy sampled gases 1 meter above, interesting differences.
- p189 comet sheds about a meter every perhelion.
67P/C-G From Wikipedia:
- Period 6.44 y
- Perhelion 1.24 AU
- 18.7 km³
- 9.982e12 kg
- escape velocity 1 m/s
- two lobes (4.1 km × 3.3 km × 1.8 km, 2.6 km × 2.3 km × 1.8
- 12.4 hour rotation period