The answer to your questions is that it isn't definitive at all. That's
just the spin that journalists are putting on the story. We now have a
small number of data points with regard to the amount of deuterium in
comets and asteroids. Based on these data we can only say that we will
need many more data points to before we can come to any sort of
conclusion, much less one that is definitive.
The only thing that is definitive is that the water on earth did not
come from 67P. ;-)
Greg
On 12/12/2014 1:50 PM, Michael Mulgrew via Meteorite-list wrote:
I am curious how such a definitive conclusion can be reached from the
analysis of a singular cometary body? How many comets are out there
floating around the solar system? I guess they are assuming all
comets have the same make-up? Seems a bit short sighted to me,
considering, for example, how diverse asteroidal composition is.
Imagine if we landed a probe on one asteroid, then extrapolated the
results of that landing to apply to all asteroids, what a gross
neglect of diversity that would be.
Hopefully I'm missing something here and someone will chime in and
explain it to me.
Michael in so. Cal.
On Fri, Dec 12, 2014 at 12:43 PM, Shawn Alan via Meteorite-list
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hello Listers
Enjoy :)
From The New York Times (excerpted):
One of the first scientific findings to emerge from close-up study of a
comet has all but settled a question that planetary scientists have
debated for decades.
The new finding, from the European Space Agency’s mission to the
little duck-shaped comet called 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, appears to
eliminate the possibility that the water in Earth's oceans came from
melted comets.
http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/400564/john-leacock/2014-12-11/science-journal-earths-water-didnt-come-comets
Shawn Alan
IMCA 1633
ebay store http://www.ebay.com/sch/imca1633ny/m.html
Website http://meteoritefalls.com
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Greg Crinklaw
Astronomical Software Developer
Cloudcroft, New Mexico
skyhound.com
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