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Comets as Porous Aggregates of Interstellar Dust
Author(s) -
GREENBERG J. MAYO,
REMO JOHN L.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1997.tb48336.x
Subject(s) - comet dust , cosmic dust , comet , porosity , physics , shock wave , comet nucleus , interstellar cloud , astrobiology , interstellar medium , carbonaceous chondrite , astrophysics , materials science , interplanetary dust cloud , chondrite , meteorite , solar system , composite material , mechanics , galaxy
A comet model is derived based on the interstellar dust chemical composition in dense molecular and diffuse clouds resulting from their subsequent chemical interactions and UV photoprocessing. The collapsing presolar nebula leads to a porous aggregate model for comet nuclei, from which is derived certain physical properties that include thermal conductivity and tensile strength. The porous morphological structure is also shown to imply anomalous (expansion rather than contraction) behavior when subjected to strong shock waves, which is supported by recent shock experiments on (porous) carbonaceous chondrite material.