Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as seen by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft in March 2015. Comet 67P was the first comet ever known to emit molecular oxygen, a molecule rarely found throughout the universe because of its chemical reactivity and the difficulty in detecting it. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM
Published: 29 October 2024

ISSI Team 547 Report

by Nicholas Attree

From the Teams
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Comets

Understanding the Activity of Comets Through 67P’s Dynamics

Comets are objects from the early Solar System made of a mixture of dust and ices. When heated by the Sun, the ices outgass, lifting dust (which forms the visible coma and tail) whilst also pushing on the comet nucleus in the opposite direction, changing its rotation and orbit.

The #547 ISSI Team gathered experts in cometary observations, trajectories, and thermophysical modelling to analyse comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s outgassing activity in order to improve our understanding of these ancient objects.