Know the history of the solar system through the comet Hale-Bopp

1999/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

A group of astronomers from the University of Massachusetts wants to show that there is sulphur nitrogen (NS) inside the comets. This compound, known to scientists for a long time, is one of the components of interstellar clouds. In 1997, however, inside the Hale-Bopp comet, sulphur nitrogen was first discovered.

It has long been believed that comets transport materials that existed at the origin of the solar system and, therefore, could be appropriate to study the formation of the solar system. According to the theory, these blocks of ice that 4.5 billion years ago reached the outside of the solar system carry inside the frozen gases of the time.

Sulphur nitrogen is a very reactive compound, so it is not clear whether what was found in the Hale-Bopp comet has been frozen inside the comet or was produced by the comet division. If it is shown that there is said compound within the comet, it can be said that a new way of knowing more about the creation of our system has been invented: the analysis of comets.