[ExI] 67p rosetta d/h

[spike]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf
Of BillK
...


>...They already announced preliminary results last month.

<http://news.sciencemag.org/europe/2014/11/doomed-comet-lander-delivered-har
vest-science>
Quote:
>...And ROSINA, a Rosetta instrument that uses spectrometers to measure gas
abundances, has obtained a highly sought after result: the so-called
deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio of water in the comet's thin atmosphere, or
coma. The measured value for 67P is much higher than the ratio in Earth's
oceans and higher than in other comets, says ROSINA principal investigator
Kathrin Altwegg, of the University of Bern. Three years ago, the comet
Hartley-2 was found to have a D-to-H ratio near that of Earth's
oceans--sparking interest in the notion that comet impacts delivered much of
Earth's water. Altwegg says the result for 67P could make asteroids the
primary suspect again.
--------BillK
_______________________________________________


Cool!  I saw there was a leaked result last month which just said the ratio
was high, but the source wasn't as reliable as Science, they didn't say
"much higher" and didn't quote Altwegg specifically.  I discounted the leak
at the time, but the number will likely cause me to go into a deep think.

spike