PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Primordial dry ice fuels comet jets

Initial science results of comet released from University of Maryland, much more to come UMD scientists say

Primordial dry ice fuels comet jets
2010-11-11
(Press-News.org) COLLEGE PARK, Md. – One of the biggest comet findings coming out of the amazing images and data taken by the University of Maryland-led EPOXI mission as it zipped past comet Hartley 2 last week is that dry ice is the 'jet' fuel for this comet and perhaps many others.

Images from the flyby show spectacular jets of gas and particles bursting from many distinct spots on the surface of the comet. This is the first time images of a comet have been sharp enough to allow scientists to link jets of dust and gas with specific surface features. Analysis of the spectral signatures of the materials coming from the jets shows primarily CO2 gas (carbon dioxide) and particles of dust and ice.

See latest images, graphics and movie of comet flyby at EPOXI Website: http://epoxi.umd.edu/

"Previously it was thought that water vapor from water ice was the propulsive force behind jets of material coming off of the body, or nucleus, of comet," said University of Maryland Astronomy Professor Jessica Sunshine, who is deputy principal investigator for the EPOXI mission. "We now have unambiguous evidence that solar heating of subsurface frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice), directly to a gas, a process known as sublimation, is powering the many jets of material coming from the comet. This is a finding that only could have been made by traveling to a comet, because ground based telescopes can't detect CO2 and current space telescopes aren't tuned to look for this gas," Sunshine said.

Sunshine and other members of the EPOXI science team are meeting all this week at the University of Maryland to analyze the very large amount of data from the closest approach, and new data continues to come down at a rate of some 2000 images a day.

The Deep Impact spacecraft that flew past comet Hartley 2 has three instruments -- two telescopes with digital color cameras and an infrared spectrometer. The spectrometer measures the absorption, emission and reflection of light (spectroscopic signature) that is unique to each molecular compound. This allows Maryland scientists to determine the composition of the material in the jets, on the comet's surface, etc. They have found that water and carbon dioxide dominate the infrared spectrum of comet Hartley 2's environment and that organics, including methanol, are present at lower levels.

This is no surprise to scientists. But what is surprising is that there is a lot more carbon dioxide escaping this comet than expected.

"The distribution of carbon dioxide and dust around the nucleus is much different than the water distribution, and that tells us that the carbon dioxide rather than water takes dust grains with it into the coma as it leaves the nucleus, said Assistant Research Scientist Lori Feaga. "The dry ice that is producing the CO2 jets on this comet has probably been frozen inside it since the formation of the solar system."

From Deep Impact to Hartley 2

According to University of Maryland Research Scientist Tony Farnham, findings from the team's 2005 Deep Impact mission to comet Tempel 1, though less conclusive, nonetheless indicate that the Hartley 2 findings that super-volatiles (CO2 ) and not water drive the activity, probably are a common characteristic of comets. "Tempel 1 was most active before perihelion when its southern hemisphere, the hemisphere that appeared to be enhanced in CO2, was exposed to sunlight," said Farnham, a member of both the Deep Impact and EPOXI science teams. "Unlike our Hartley encounter, during the flyby with Tempel 1, we were unable to directly trace the CO2 to the surface, because the pole was in darkness during encounter."

The Maryland scientists devised the plan to reuse the Deep Impact spacecraft and travel to a second comet in order to learn more about the diversity of comets and the processes that govern them. This became the EPOXI mission on which the spacecraft has flown to comet Hartley 2.

The spacecraft's images show that Hartley 2 has an elongated nucleus, 2 kilometers in length and 0.4 kilometers wide at the narrow neck. Hartley 2 is only the 5th cometary nucleus ever seen and exhibits similarities and differences to the bodies or nuclei of other comets. Mission Principal Investigator and science team leader Michael A'Hearn, a University of Maryland professor of astronomy, said the mission has provided, and continues to provide, a tremendous wealth of data about Hartley 2 and the team expects to announce more science findings in the coming weeks.



INFORMATION:


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Primordial dry ice fuels comet jets

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Pleasurable behaviors reduce stress via brain pathways, research shows

2010-11-11
CINCINNATI—Whether it's food or sex, pleasurable activity provides more than just pleasure, University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers say. It actually reduces stress by inhibiting anxiety responses in the brain. The findings were published online Nov. 8, 2010, ahead of print in PNAS, the official journal of the National Academy of Sciences. Experiments designed by Yvonne Ulrich-Lai, PhD, research assistant professor, James Herman, PhD, director of the Laboratory of Stress Neurobiology and professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at UC, and colleagues also ...

Economists reveal factors that help poor people lift themselves out of poverty

2010-11-11
What factors contribute to poor people in developing countries lifting themselves out of poverty? A paper by economists Anan Pawasutipaisit of Thammasat University and Robert M. Townsend of MIT provides important insights into what kinds of households might be most effective at moving themselves out of poverty and how they are able do it. The paper, "Wealth Accumulation and Factors Accounting for Success" appears in the current issue of the Journal of Econometrics. It suggests that poor people who skillfully manage their assets are especially successful in improving ...

Noninvasive brain stimulation helps improve motor function in stroke patients

2010-11-11
BOSTON -- A noninvasive electric stimulation technique administered to both sides of the brain can help stroke patients who have lost motor skills in their hands and arms, according to a new study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Described in today's Online Issue of the journal Neurology, the findings showed that stroke patients who received bihemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) coupled with a regimen of physical and occupational therapy had a three-fold greater improvement in motor function compared with patients ...

JDRF clinical panel recommends next steps for artificial pancreas clinical testing

2010-11-11
Diabetes experts at a meeting convened by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) took the next step in advancing efforts toward the development of an artificial pancreas: putting forth clinical recommendations to ensure the safe and effective testing of artificial pancreas technology in real-life situations. We are pleased at today's meeting there was a strong consensus among leading clinicians, researchers and industry leaders regarding the path toward outpatient studies for both low-glucose suspend and artificial pancreas ...

Win some, lose some: U-M expert provides reapportionment projections

2010-11-11
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Before the U.S. Census Bureau releases its official state-level population counts to Congress on Dec. 31, a University of Michigan demographer offers projections of likely state winners and losers. But she also cautions that there are likely to be plenty of surprises. According to Lisa Neidert, data services manager at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) Population Studies Center, the most likely state winners---based on July 2009 population estimates from the Census Bureau---are Texas (3 seats), and Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, South ...

New forms of highly efficient, flexible nanogenerator technology

New forms of highly efficient, flexible nanogenerator technology
2010-11-11
Can a heart implanted micro robot operate permanently? Can cell phones and tiny robots implanted in the heart operate permanently without having their batteries charged? It might sound like science fiction, but these things seem to be possible in the near future. The team of Prof. Keon Jae Lee (KAIST, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering) and Prof. Zhong Lin Wang (Georgia Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering) has developed new forms of highly efficient, flexible nanogenerator technology using the freely bendable piezoelectric ceramic ...

OrangeHRM Offers On-Site Training

2010-11-11
OrangeHRM, Inc., a leader in the development of open-source human resources management (HRM) software, launched its on-site training programs to use its software. On-site training offer many value additions to the large user base of OrangeHRM around the world. Since the launch of this new program OrangeHRM has conducted many training courses in the USA, UAE, Singapore and hopes extend the services to Belize in South America and also Australia. OrangeHRM CEO & CO-founder Sujee Saparanadu said, "Companies around the world are looking for efficient and cost-effective ways ...

New Collection of Murano Glass Accessories Provided by Murano Glass Store

2010-11-11
Murano Glass Store, one of the leading Murano glass accessories online stores, has just released a new Murano glass collection. The company is proud to announce the launching of a brand new impressive collection of Murano glass jewelry, which encompasses a very wide range of unique, boldly colorful and refined bracelets, bead necklaces and pendants. The Murano Glass Store has been in business for many years and has gotten to know what are peoples likes and dislikes when it comes to _a href="http://murano-glass-store.com"_Murano glass jewelry_/a_ or Murano glass accessories. ...

'Proactive inclusion', emphasizes Ft. Collins Mayor at 'Spotlight on Hinduism'

2010-11-11
On 5th November 2010, a novel educational program, 'Spotlight on Hinduism' concluded successfully at the Drake Tech Centre in Fort Collins. On the occasion of the widely celebrated Hindu 'festival of lights', Diwali, many from Fort Collins and surrounding areas thronged to attend the 'Spotlight on Hinduism', a public event held to create awareness about Hinduism. The program received honorable attendance by the Fort Collins Mayor, Doug Hutchinson, who inaugurated the program in the tradition of Hinduism, with the lighting of the auspicious oil lamp. Hutchinson shared the ...

Adeptol introduces mobile viewer with support for more than 300 file formats

2010-11-11
Adeptol, a leader in document viewing technology, today released new mobile viewer based on HTML5 technology for viewing documents on iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and other mobile phones & tablet devices. Adeptol's Mobile Viewer is a high speed mobile and smart phone document viewing solution built from grounds up using the latest HTML5 technology and enables you to send a document link to anyone and let them view the document on their phone or tablet device without even downloading any client or application on the device. The viewer supports out ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Exercise as an anti-ageing intervention to avoid detrimental impact of mental fatigue

UMass Amherst Nursing Professor Emerita honored as ‘Living Legend’

New guidelines aim to improve cystic fibrosis screening

Picky eaters by day, buffet by night: Butterfly, moth diets sync to plant aromas

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman honored with the E. V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition

CCNY physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

Researchers’ 3D-printing formula may transform future of foam

Nurture more important than nature for robotic hand

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

New study finds that over 95% of sponsored influencer posts on Twitter were not disclosed

New sea grant report helps great lakes fish farmers navigate aquaculture regulations

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

How GPS helps older drivers stay on the roads

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids

Dancing with the cells – how acoustically levitating a diamond led to a breakthrough in biotech automation

Machine learning helps construct an evolutionary timeline of bacteria

Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed... offering new therapeutic options

Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity

Finding their way: GPS ignites independence in older adult drivers

Antibiotic resistance among key bacterial species plateaus over time

‘Some insects are declining but what’s happening to the other 99%?’

Powerful new software platform could reshape biomedical research by making data analysis more accessible

Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound

American College of Physicians awards $260,000 in grants to address equity challenges in obesity care

Researchers from MARE ULisboa discover that the European catfish, an invasive species in Portugal, has a prolonged breeding season, enhancing its invasive potential

Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, honored with the 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research

Solar cells made of moon dust could power future space exploration

Deporting immigrants may further shrink the health care workforce

Border region emergency medical services in migrant emergency care

Resident physician intentions regarding unionization

[Press-News.org] Primordial dry ice fuels comet jets
Initial science results of comet released from University of Maryland, much more to come UMD scientists say