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Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Scattering And Absorption of Light in Planetary Regoliths
Published on: July 1, 2019
Xenon isotopes in 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko show that comets contributed to Earth's atmosphere
B Marty1, K Altwegg2,3, H Balsiger2
1Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, CNRS, Université de Lorraine, 15 rue Notre Dame des Pauvres, BP 20, 54501 Vandoeuvre lès Nancy, France. bmarty@crpg.cnrs-nancy.fr.
Abstract:
The origin of cometary matter and the potential contribution of comets to inner-planet atmospheres are long-standing problems. During a series of dedicated low-altitude orbits, the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) on the Rosetta spacecraft analyzed the isotopes of xenon in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The xenon isotopic composition shows deficits in heavy xenon isotopes and matches that of a primordial atmospheric component. The present-day Earth atmosphere contains 22 ± 5% cometary xenon, in addition to chondritic (or solar) xenon.
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