ALBERT

Description: The high-speed solar wind streaming from the southern coronal hole was remarkably uniform and steady and was confined by a sharp boundary that extended to the corona and chromosphere. Charge state measurements indicate that the electron temperature in this coronal hole reached a maximum of about 1.5 million kelvin within 3 solar radii of the sun. This result, combined with the observed lack of depletion of heavy elements, suggests that an additional source of momentum is required to accelerate the polar wind.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Geiss, J -- Gloeckler, G -- von Steiger, R -- Balsiger, H -- Fisk, L A -- Galvin, A B -- Ipavich, F M -- Livi, S -- McKenzie, J F -- Ogilvie, K W -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1995 May 19;268(5213):1033-6.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Switzerland.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7754380" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Interstellar hydrogen ionized primarily by the solar wind has been detected by the SWICS instrument on the Ulysses spacecraft at a distance of 4.8 astronomical units from the sun. This "pick-up" hydrogen is identified by its distinct velocity distribution function, which drops abruptly at twice the local solar wind speed. From the measured fluxes of pick-up protons and singly charged helium, the number densities of neutral hydrogen and helium in the distant regions of the solar system are estimated to be 0.077 +/- 0.015 and 0.013 +/- 0.003 per cubic centimeter, respectively.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gloeckler, G -- Galvin, A B -- Ipavich, F M -- Geiss, J -- Balsiger, H -- von Steiger, R -- Fisk, L A -- Ogilvie, K W -- Wilken, B -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1993 Jul 2;261(5117):70-3.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17750548" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The ion composition in the Jovian environment was investigated with the Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer on board Ulysses. A hot tenuous plasma was observed throughout the outer and middle magnetosphere. In some regions two thermally different components were identified. Oxygen and sulfur ions with several different charge states, from the volcanic satellite lo, make the largest contribution to the mass density of the hot plasma, even at high latitude. Solar wind particles were observed in all regions investigated. Ions from Jupiter's ionosphere were abundant in the middle magnetosphere, particularly in the highlatitude region on the dusk side, which was traversed for the first time.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Geiss, J -- Gloeckler, G -- Balsiger, H -- Fisk, L A -- Galvin, A B -- Gliem, F -- Hamilton, D C -- Ipavich, F M -- Livi, S -- Mall, U -- Ogilvie, K W -- von Steiger, R -- Wilken, B -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1992 Sep 11;257(5076):1535-9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17776164" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Molecular nitrogen (N2) is thought to have been the most abundant form of nitrogen in the protosolar nebula. It is the main N-bearing molecule in the atmospheres of Pluto and Triton and probably the main nitrogen reservoir from which the giant planets formed. Yet in comets, often considered the most primitive bodies in the solar system, N2 has not been detected. Here we report the direct in situ measurement of N2 in the Jupiter family comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, made by the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis mass spectrometer aboard the Rosetta spacecraft. A N2/CO ratio of (5.70 +/- 0.66) x 10(-3) (2sigma standard deviation of the sampled mean) corresponds to depletion by a factor of ~25.4 +/- 8.9 as compared to the protosolar value. This depletion suggests that cometary grains formed at low-temperature conditions below ~30 kelvin.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Rubin, M -- Altwegg, K -- Balsiger, H -- Bar-Nun, A -- Berthelier, J-J -- Bieler, A -- Bochsler, P -- Briois, C -- Calmonte, U -- Combi, M -- De Keyser, J -- Dhooghe, F -- Eberhardt, P -- Fiethe, B -- Fuselier, S A -- Gasc, S -- Gombosi, T I -- Hansen, K C -- Hassig, M -- Jackel, A -- Kopp, E -- Korth, A -- Le Roy, L -- Mall, U -- Marty, B -- Mousis, O -- Owen, T -- Reme, H -- Semon, T -- Tzou, C-Y -- Waite, J H -- Wurz, P -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Apr 10;348(6231):232-5. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa6100. Epub 2015 Mar 19.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. martin.rubin@space.unibe.ch. ; Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse. 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. ; Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. ; Department of Geoscience, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Tel-Aviv, Israel. ; Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS)/Institute Pierre Simon Laplace-CNRS-UPMC-UVSQ, 4 Avenue de Neptune F-94100, Saint-Maur, France. ; Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. ; Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace (LPC2E), UMR 6115 CNRS-Universite d'Orleans, Orleans, France. ; Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. ; Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Belgisch Instituut voor Ruimte-Aeronomie-Institut d'Aeronomie Spatiale de Belgique (BIRA-IASB), Ringlaan 3, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium. ; Institute of Computer and Network Engineering, Technische Universitat Braunschweig, Hans-Sommer-Strasse 66, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany. ; Department of Space Science, Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78228, USA. ; Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. Department of Space Science, Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78228, USA. ; Max-Planck-Institut fur Sonnensystemforschung, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, 37077 Gottingen, Germany. ; Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse. 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. ; Centre de Recherches Petrographiques et Geochimiques (CRPG)-CNRS, Universite de Lorraine, 15 rue Notre Dame des Pauvres, Boite Postale 20, 54501 Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France. ; Aix Marseille Universite, CNRS, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille UMR 7326, 13388, Marseille, France. ; Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. ; Universite de Toulouse; UPS-OMP; Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie (IRAP), Toulouse, France. CNRS; IRAP; 9 Avenue du Colonel Roche, Boite Postale 44346, F-31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25791084" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Comets contain the best-preserved material from the beginning of our planetary system. Their nuclei and comae composition reveal clues about physical and chemical conditions during the early solar system when comets formed. ROSINA (Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis) onboard the Rosetta spacecraft has measured the coma composition of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with well-sampled time resolution per rotation. Measurements were made over many comet rotation periods and a wide range of latitudes. These measurements show large fluctuations in composition in a heterogeneous coma that has diurnal and possibly seasonal variations in the major outgassing species: water, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. These results indicate a complex coma-nucleus relationship where seasonal variations may be driven by temperature differences just below the comet surface.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Hassig, M -- Altwegg, K -- Balsiger, H -- Bar-Nun, A -- Berthelier, J J -- Bieler, A -- Bochsler, P -- Briois, C -- Calmonte, U -- Combi, M -- De Keyser, J -- Eberhardt, P -- Fiethe, B -- Fuselier, S A -- Galand, M -- Gasc, S -- Gombosi, T I -- Hansen, K C -- Jackel, A -- Keller, H U -- Kopp, E -- Korth, A -- Kuhrt, E -- Le Roy, L -- Mall, U -- Marty, B -- Mousis, O -- Neefs, E -- Owen, T -- Reme, H -- Rubin, M -- Semon, T -- Tornow, C -- Tzou, C-Y -- Waite, J H -- Wurz, P -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jan 23;347(6220):aaa0276. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa0276. Epub 2015 Jan 22.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238, USA. myrtha.haessig@swri.org. ; Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. Center for Space and Habitability (CSH), University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. ; Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. ; Department of Geosciences, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Tel-Aviv, Israel. ; Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Institute Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL), Centre national de recherche scientifique (CNRS), Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Universite de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), BP 102, UPMC, 4 Place Jussieu, F-75252 Paris Cedex 05, France. ; Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. ; Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace (LPC2E), UMR 7328 CNRS - Universite d'Orleans, France. ; Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. ; Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB), Ringlaan 3, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium. Center for Plasma Astrophysics, KULeuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium. ; Institute of Computer and Network Engineering (IDA), TU Braunschweig, Hans-Sommer-Strasse 66, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany. ; Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238, USA. ; Department of Physics, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK. ; Institute for Geophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics, Technische Universitat (TU) Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany. German Aerospace Center, Institute of Planetary Research, Asteroids and Comets, Rutherfordstrasse 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany. ; Max-Planck-Institut fur Sonnensystemforschung, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, 37077 Gottingen, Germany. ; German Aerospace Center, Institute of Planetary Research, Asteroids and Comets, Rutherfordstrasse 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany. ; Center for Space and Habitability (CSH), University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. ; Centre de Recherches Petrographiques et Geochimiques (CRPG), 15 Rue Notre Dame des Pauvres, BP 20, 54501 Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France. ; Aix Marseille Universite, CNRS, LAM (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille), UMR 7326, 13388, Marseille, France. ; Engineering Division, BIRA-IASB, Ringlaan 3, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium. ; Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. ; Universite de Toulouse, Universite Paul Sabathier (UPS), Observatoire de Midi-Pyrenees (OMP), Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie (IRAP), Toulouse, France. CNRS, IRAP, 9 Avenue du Colonel Roche, BP 44346, F-31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25613892" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The provenance of water and organic compounds on Earth and other terrestrial planets has been discussed for a long time without reaching a consensus. One of the best means to distinguish between different scenarios is by determining the deuterium-to-hydrogen (D/H) ratios in the reservoirs for comets and Earth's oceans. Here, we report the direct in situ measurement of the D/H ratio in the Jupiter family comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by the ROSINA mass spectrometer aboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft, which is found to be (5.3 +/- 0.7) x 10(-4)-that is, approximately three times the terrestrial value. Previous cometary measurements and our new finding suggest a wide range of D/H ratios in the water within Jupiter family objects and preclude the idea that this reservoir is solely composed of Earth ocean-like water.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Altwegg, K -- Balsiger, H -- Bar-Nun, A -- Berthelier, J J -- Bieler, A -- Bochsler, P -- Briois, C -- Calmonte, U -- Combi, M -- De Keyser, J -- Eberhardt, P -- Fiethe, B -- Fuselier, S -- Gasc, S -- Gombosi, T I -- Hansen, K C -- Hassig, M -- Jackel, A -- Kopp, E -- Korth, A -- LeRoy, L -- Mall, U -- Marty, B -- Mousis, O -- Neefs, E -- Owen, T -- Reme, H -- Rubin, M -- Semon, T -- Tzou, C-Y -- Waite, H -- Wurz, P -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jan 23;347(6220):1261952. doi: 10.1126/science.1261952. Epub 2014 Dec 10.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. altwegg@space.unibe.ch. ; Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. ; Department of Geosciences, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Tel-Aviv, Israel. ; Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), 4 Avenue de Neptune, F-94100 Saint-Maur, France. ; Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. ; Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace (LPC2E), UMR 6115 CNRS-Universite d'Orleans, France. ; Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. ; Space Physics Division, Belgisch Instituut voor Ruimte-Aeronomie (BIRA)-Institut d'Aeronomie Spatiale de Belgique (IASB), Ringlaan 3, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium. ; Institute of Computer and Network Engineering (IDA), Technicsche Universitat Braunschweig, Hans-Sommer-Strasse 66, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany. ; Department of Space Science, Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78228, USA. ; Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. Department of Space Science, Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78228, USA. ; Max-Planck-Institut fur Sonnensystemforschung, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, 37077 Gottingen, Germany. ; Centre de Recherches Petrographiques et Geochimiques, Centre de Recherches Petrographiques et Geochimiques (CRPG)-CNRS, Universite de Lorraine, 15 rue Notre Dame des Pauvres, BP 20, 54501 Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France. ; Universite de Franche-Comte, Institut Univers, Transport, Interfaces, Nanostructures, Atmosphere et Environnement, Molecules (UTINAM), CNRS/Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers (INSU), UMR 6213 Besancon Cedex, France. ; Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. ; Universite de Toulouse, Universite Paul Sabatier (UPS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrenees (OMP), Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie (IRAP), Toulouse, France. CNRS, IRAP, 9 Avenue du Colonel Roche, BP 44346, F-31028 Toulouse cedex 4, France.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25501976" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The composition of the neutral gas comas of most comets is dominated by H2O, CO and CO2, typically comprising as much as 95 per cent of the total gas density. In addition, cometary comas have been found to contain a rich array of other molecules, including sulfuric compounds and complex hydrocarbons. Molecular oxygen (O2), however, despite its detection on other icy bodies such as the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, has remained undetected in cometary comas. Here we report in situ measurement of O2 in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, with local abundances ranging from one per cent to ten per cent relative to H2O and with a mean value of 3.80 +/- 0.85 per cent. Our observations indicate that the O2/H2O ratio is isotropic in the coma and does not change systematically with heliocentric distance. This suggests that primordial O2 was incorporated into the nucleus during the comet's formation, which is unexpected given the low upper limits from remote sensing observations. Current Solar System formation models do not predict conditions that would allow this to occur.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Bieler, A -- Altwegg, K -- Balsiger, H -- Bar-Nun, A -- Berthelier, J-J -- Bochsler, P -- Briois, C -- Calmonte, U -- Combi, M -- De Keyser, J -- van Dishoeck, E F -- Fiethe, B -- Fuselier, S A -- Gasc, S -- Gombosi, T I -- Hansen, K C -- Hassig, M -- Jackel, A -- Kopp, E -- Korth, A -- Le Roy, L -- Mall, U -- Maggiolo, R -- Marty, B -- Mousis, O -- Owen, T -- Reme, H -- Rubin, M -- Semon, T -- Tzou, C-Y -- Waite, J H -- Walsh, C -- Wurz, P -- England -- Nature. 2015 Oct 29;526(7575):678-81. doi: 10.1038/nature15707.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Climate and Space Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. ; Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. ; Center for Space and Habitability, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. ; Department of Geosciences, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, 6997801 Tel-Aviv, Israel. ; LATMOS/IPSL-CNRS-UPMC-UVSQ, 4 Avenue de Neptune, F-94100 Saint-Maur, France. ; Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace (LPC2E), UMR 6115 CNRS - Universite d'Orleans, 45071 Orleans, France. ; Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, BIRA-IASB, Ringlaan 3, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium. ; Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands. ; Institute of Computer and Network Engineering (IDA), TU Braunschweig, Hans-Sommer-Strasse 66, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany. ; Space Science and Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute, 6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, Texas 78228, USA. ; Max-Planck-Institut fur Sonnensystemforschung, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, 37077 Gottingen, Germany. ; Centre de Recherches Petrographiques et Geochimiques, CRPG-CNRS, Universite de Lorraine, 15 rue Notre Dame des Pauvres, BP 20, 54501 Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France. ; Aix Marseille Universite, CNRS, LAM (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille) UMR 7326, 13388 Marseille, France. ; Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA. ; Universite de Toulouse-UPS-OMP-IRAP, 31400 Toulouse, France. ; CNRS-IRAP, 9 avenue du Colonel Roche, BP 44346, F-31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26511578" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉