New Scientist by Leah Crane 3/12/2020
The mystery of the missing nitrogen in comets may finally be solved. These space rocks appear to have 10 times less nitrogen than they ought to based on our understanding of how they form, but a new finding from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko might reveal how comets have been hiding their nitrogen.
The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft orbited 67P between 2014 and 2016, taking pictures of the comet and measuring its environment. Analysis of the light bouncing off the comet revealed that some compound was absorbing light from its surface, but researchers couldn’t immediately identify what it was.
Olivier Poch at the University of Grenoble in France and his colleagues compared the properties of that light with light bounced off artificial asteroid dust in the lab. This contained dust grains similar to those known to exist on 67P, as well as various other compounds. They found an astonishingly good match with ammonium salts, which contain nitrogen and hydrogen.
More:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237212-comet-67p-is-hiding-nitrogen-that-could-solve-a-solar-system-mystery/
