Abstract
The determination of the chemical composition of solid cometary dust particles was one of the prime objectives of the three missions to Comet Halley in 1986. The dust analysis was performed by time-of-flight mass-spectrometry. Within the experimental uncertainty the mean abundances of the rock-forming elements in cometary dust particles are comparable to their abundances in CI-chondrites and in the solar photosphere, i.e. they are cosmic. H, C., and N, on the other hand, in cometary dust are significantly more abundant than in CI-chondrites, approach solar abundances, are to some extent related to O, and reside in an omnipresent refractory organic component dubbed CHON. Element variations between individual dust grains are characterized by correlations of Mg, Si, and O, and to a lesser extent of Fe and S. From particle-to-particle variations of the rock forming elements information on the mineralogy of cometary dust can be obtained. Cluster analysis revealed certain groups that partly match the classifications of stratospheric interplanetary dust particles. About half of Halley’s analyzed particles are characterized by anhydrous Fe-poor Mg-silicates, Fesulfides, and rarely Fe metal. The Fe-poor Mg-silicates link Halley’s dust to that of Hale-Bopp as shown by recent IR observations. No significant deviation from normal of the isotopic composition of the elements is unequivocally present with the notable exception carbon: 12C-rich grains with 12C/13C-ratios up to ≈ 5, 000 link cometary dust to presolar circumstellar grains identified in certain chondrites.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Anders, E. and Zinner, E.: 1993, ‘Interstellar grains in primitive meteorites: diamond, silicon carbide, and graphite’, Meteoritics 28, 490–514.
Arndt, P., Bohsung, J., Maetz, M., and Jessberger, E.K.: 1996a, ‘The elemental abundances in interplanetary dust particles’, Meteoritics & Planet. Sci. 31, 817–833.
Arndt, P., E. K. Jessberger, J. Warren, and M. Zolensky: 1996b, ‘Bromine contamination of IDPs during collection’, Meteoritics & Planet. Sci. 31, A8.
Bischoff, A.: 1998, ‘Aqueous alteration of carbonaceous chondrites: Evidence for preaccretionary alteration — a review’, Meteoritics & Planet. Sci. 33, 1113–1122.
Eberhardt, P.: 1998, ‘The in situ view’, IAU Colloq. 168, Cometary Nuclei in Space and Time, ed. M. A’hearn, Astron. Soc. of the Pacific Conf. Series, in print.
Fomenkova, M., Kerridge, J., Marti, K., and McFadden, L.: 1992, ‘Compositional trends in rockforming elements of comet Halley dust’, Science 258, 266–269.
Fomenkova, M. and S. Chang: 1994, ‘Carbon in comet Halley dust particles’, in Analysis of Interplanetary Dust (ed. M. Zolensky et al.), pp. 193–202, Amer. Inst. of Phys.
Fomenkova, M., Chang, S., and Mukhin, L.: 1994, ‘Carbonaceous components in the comet Halley dust’, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 58, 4503–4512.
Fomenkova, M.N. and Chang, S.: 1996, ‘The link between cometary and interstellar dust’, In The Cosmic Dust Connection (ed. M. Greenberg), 459–465, Kluwer, Netherlands.
Fomenkova, M.: 1999, Space Sci. Rev., this volume.
Greenberg, J. M.: 1982, ‘What are comets made of? A model based on interstellar dust’, In Comets (ed. L. Wilkening), 131–163, University Arizona Press, Tucson.
Grün, E. and Jessberger, E. K.: 1990, ‘Dust’, in: Physics of Comets in the Space Age (ed. W. Hubner), 113–176, Springer Verlag, Heidelberg.
Hanner, M.S.: 1999, Space Sci. Rev., this volume.
Jessberger, E. K., Kissel, J., Fechtig, H., and Krueger, F. R.: 1986, ‘On the average chemical composition of cometary dust’, In Proc. Comet nucleus sample return, ESA-SP 249, 27–30.
Jessberger, E. K., Christoforidis, A., and Kissel, J.: 1988, ‘Aspects of the major element composition of Halley’s dust’, Nature 332, 691–695.
Jessberger, E.K., Kissel, J., and Rahe, J.: 1989, ‘The composition of comets’, In Origin and Evolution of Planetary and Satellite Atmospheres (eds. S. K. Atreya, J. B. Pollack and M. S. Mathews), pp. 167–191. University Arizona Press, Tucson.
Jessberger, E. K. and Kissel, J.: 1991, ‘Chemical properties of cometary dust and a note on carbon isotopes’, In Comets in the post-Halley era (eds. R. Newburn et al.), 1075–1092. Springer Verlag, Heidelberg.
Jessberger, E.K., Bohsung, J., Chakaveh, S., and Traxel, K.: 1992, ‘The volatile element enrichment of chondritic interplanetary dust particles’, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 112, 91–99.
Jessberger, E.K., Stephan, T., Rost, D., Arndt, P., Maetz, M., Stadermann, F.J., Brownlee, D.E., Bradley, J., and Kurat, G.: 1998, ‘Properties of interplanetary dust: Information from collected samples’, in Interplanetary Dust (eds. E. Grün, H. Fechtig, B. Gustafson) U. Arizona Press, in press.
Kissel, J.: 1986a, ‘The GIOTTO particulate impact analyzer’, ESA SP-1077, 67–83.
Kissel, J.: 1986b, ‘Mass spectrometric studies of Halley comet’, Adv. Mass Spectr. 1985, 175–184.
Kissel, J. et al.: 1986c, ‘Composition of comet Halley dust particles from Giotto observations’, Nature 321, 336–338.
Kissel, J. et al.: 1986d, ‘Composition of comet Halley dust particles from Vega observations’, Nature 321, 280–282.
Kissel, J. and Krueger, F. R.: 1987a, ‘Ion formation by impact of fast dust particles and comparison with related techniques’, Appl. Phys. A 42, 69–85.
Kissel, J. and Krueger, F. R.: 1987b, ‘The organic component in dust from comet Halley as measured by the PUMA mass spectrometer on board Vega 1’, Nature 326, 755–760.
Kortenkamp, S. and Dermott, S.F.: 1998, ‘Accretion of Interplanetary Dust Particles by the Earth’, Icarus 135, 469–495.
Langevin, Y., Kissel, J., Bertaux, J.-L., and Chassefiere, E.: 1987, ‘First statistical analysis of 5000 mass spectra of cometary grains obtained by PUMA 1 (Vega 1) and PIA (Giotto) impact ionization mass spectrometers in the compressed modes’, Astron. Astrophys. 187, 779–784.
Lawler, M., Brownlee, D., Temple, S., and Wheelock, M.: 1989, ‘Iron, magnesium and silicon in dust from comet Halley’, Icarus 80, 225–242.
Lawler, M. and Brownlee, D.: 1992, ‘CHON as a component of dust from comet Halley’, Nature 359, 810–812.
Maas, D., Krueger, F. R., and Kissel, J.: 1989, ‘Mass and density of SILICATE-and CHON-type dust particles released by comet P/Halley’, Asteroids Comets Meteors III, 389–392.
Mukhin, L., Dolnikov, G., Evlanov, E., Fomekova, M., Prilutsky, O., and Sagdeev, R.: 1991, ‘Reevaluation of the chemistry of dust grains in the coma of comet Halley’, Nature 350, 480–481.
Sagdeev, R., Evlanov, E., Fomenkova, M., Mukhin, L., Prilutsky, O., and Zubkov, B.: 1987, ‘Composition of comet Halley dust particles based on PUMA instruments measurements in zero mode’, Space Research 25, 849–855.
Sagdeev, R., Evlanov, E., Fomenkova, M., Prilutsky, O., and Zubkov, B.: 1989, ‘Small size dust particles near Halley’s comet’, Adv. Space Res. 9, 263–267.
Schulze, H., J. Kissel, and E. K. Jessberger: 1997, ‘Chemistry and mineralogy of comet Halley’s dust’, in From Stardust to Planetesimals: Review Papers (eds. Y. J. Pendleton and A. G. G. M. Tielens) Astronomical Society of the Pacific: San Francisco, Vol. 122, 414–937.
Sekanina, Z., Hanner, M.S., Jessberger, E.K., and Fomenkova, M.: 1999, ‘Composition of Halley’s dust’, In Interplanetary Dust (eds. E. Grün, H. Fechtig, B. Gustafson), U. Arizona Press, in press.
Solc, M., Jessberger, E. K., Hsiung, P., and Kissel, J.: 1987, ‘Halley dust composition’, Proc. 10th Europ. Reg. Astron. Meeting IAU 2, 4750.
Utterback, N. and Kissel, J.: 1990, ‘Attogram dust cloud a million kilometers from comet Halley’, Astron. J. 100, 1315–1322.
Zinner, E., Wopenka, B., Amari, S., and Anders, E.: 1990, ‘Interstellar graphite and other carbonaceous grains from the Murchison meteorite: structure, composition and isotopes of C, N, and Ne’, Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. 21, 1379–1380.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this paper
Cite this paper
Jessberger, E.K. (1999). Rocky Cometary Particulates: Their Elemental, Isotopic and Mineralogical Ingredients. In: Altwegg, K., Ehrenfreund, P., Geiss, J., Huebner, W.F. (eds) Composition and Origin of Cometary Materials. Space Science Series of ISSI, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4211-3_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4211-3_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-5830-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-4211-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive