Cosmic Ice Lab - Cometary ice - C2 etc

The question has been asked 'what is C2' in 17P Holmes...

There is nice chart and other info at:
http://astrochem.gsfc.nasa.gov

Following the Cosmic Ice link to the cometary molecular chart.
Other good information at this site also -

Ray

"pod" wrote in message ...
The question has been asked 'what is C2' in 17P Holmes...

There is nice chart and other info at:
http://astrochem.gsfc.nasa.gov

Following the Cosmic Ice link to the cometary molecular chart.
Other good information at this site also -


Let's hope the one that hits has a 20,000 mile radius of NO, so that we go
out laughing! ;-)

I use to wonder about this idea of our oceans being the result of comet
bombardment. Since seeing the size of 17P/Holmes in the eyepiece, I don't
wonder anymore.

I've read that it has grown to have a 40,000 mile diameter gas cloud. I
guess a bunch of comets carrying a 40,000 mile diameter water bag to Earth's
surface would deposit a bunch of water in a hurry. As for why it would'n't
immediately burn off... that's something I'll probably have to wait at least
equally long to come to learn/understand.

-Steve P

On Sat, 3 Nov 2007 12:15:35 -0400, "Steve Paul"
wrote:

I've read that it has grown to have a 40,000 mile diameter gas cloud.

It's much larger than that. Well over a million kilometers in diameter.

I
guess a bunch of comets carrying a 40,000 mile diameter water bag to Earth's
surface would deposit a bunch of water in a hurry.

It's not much water. The parent body is just a few cubic kilometers, and
only a small fraction of that has been turned to vapor. As big as the
coma is, it's highly rarified. Look at the images- even very dim stars
can be seen right through it.
http://www.cloudbait.com/gallery/comet/holmes.html

Theories involving comets bringing water to Earth don't involve the
comas. If anything, water in the coma is lost to the Earth in a
collision. If comets bring (or brought) water, it involves direct
collisions with their nucleuses.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Steve Paul wrote:

"pod" wrote in message ...
The question has been asked 'what is C2' in 17P Holmes...

There is nice chart and other info at:
http://astrochem.gsfc.nasa.gov

Following the Cosmic Ice link to the cometary molecular chart.
Other good information at this site also -


Let's hope the one that hits has a 20,000 mile radius of NO, so that we go
out laughing! ;-)

I use to wonder about this idea of our oceans being the result of comet
bombardment. Since seeing the size of 17P/Holmes in the eyepiece, I don't
wonder anymore.

I've read that it has grown to have a 40,000 mile diameter gas cloud. I
guess a bunch of comets carrying a 40,000 mile diameter water bag to Earth's
surface would deposit a bunch of water in a hurry. As for why it would'n't
immediately burn off... that's something I'll probably have to wait at least
equally long to come to learn/understand.


From another perspective, the coma is very tenuous - vacuous really. Not sure
how many particles per cubic cc of space
on average, but very tenuous. Given that fact this is a good demonstration of
just how little matter (spread out in empty space)
it takes, to recome reflective so we may see it. That and the nature of light
reflecting off so little material, and looking so large .....

A ghost that is real!

....


-Steve P