Frozen Water Found on Comet

Digital Journal — For a long time, it has been very difficult for scientists to study the composition of Comets. The broad clouds that follow closely behind them make it difficult to monitor the large rocks with telescopes on Earth.

But new images from NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft are giving glimpses at confirmed deposits of water and ice.

Scientists have long debated theories that comets brought water and organic compounds which in turn created life on Earth, and this will undoubtedly fuel that debate even more.

The Tempel-1 comet was blasted by an 820 lb. projectile last July so that scientists could study a crater in the comet. — Images courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD

In July 2005, NASA fired an 820-lb. (370 kg.) projectile into the comet named Tempel-1, resulting in a crater and cloud of dust to study.

About the size of New York City, Tempel-1, orbits between Mars and Jupiter. Deep Impact took close-up photos of the comet and while most of the comet is a dark charcoal colour, scientists at Science Applications International Corporation in Chantilly, Virginia noticed bright spots.

Infrared cameras elucidated images and allowed scientists to chart the reflective bright spots to determine the water’s location. They found the surface to be about five per cent ice, with extremely fine ice crystals narrower than a human hair.
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