Short-specific comet 46p / Virginna allocated an unusual amount of methyl alcohol during the passage near the Earth two and a half years ago. The results of the study conducted by scientists from Jones Hopkins University published in the article at The Planetary Science Journal. Briefly about scientific work is told in a press release on phys.org.
Astronomers who watched a comet through a telescope in the bracket observatory, revealed a strange feature of the space object. Usually, when comets are approaching the Sun, the frozen substance in the kernel is heated, and then sublimated, moving from solid ice directly to the gas, bypassing the liquid phase. This process, called degasia, leads to the appearance of a coma – clouds from gas and dust surrounding the core of the comet. However, 46p / virginna is heated not only because of the direct action of the sun’s rays.
Scientists have found that the temperature of the water vapor in a coma does not decrease significantly with the distance from the nucleus, which implies the effect of the mysterious heating mechanism. This can be explained by the fact that sunlight can ionize some atoms or molecules in a coma, releaseing high-speed electrons. When these particles face other molecules, they can transmit part of their kinetic energy to gas. However, the boulders of ice are flying out of the comet, which are then sublimated at a considerable distance from the nucleus.
Researchers also identified the presence of other volatile substances in comet comets, including acetylene (C2H2), ethane (C2H6), methyl alcohol (CH3OH), ammonia (NH3), hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and formaldehyde (H2CO). At 46p / Wirtanen, one of the highest methanol ratios to aldehyde, measured among all comets today.