NASA Instrument on Rosetta Makes Comet Atmosphere Discovery

Data collected by NASA's Alice instrument aboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft reveal that electrons close to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko -- not photons from the sun, as had been believed -- cause the rapid breakup of water and carbon dioxide molecules spewing from the comet's surface.

"The discovery we're reporting is quite unexpected," said Alan Stern, principal investigator for the Alice instrument at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado. "It shows us the value of going to comets to observe them up close, since this discovery simply could not have been made from Earth or Earth orbit with any existing or planned observatory. And, it is fundamentally transforming our knowledge of comets."

[link to www.jpl.nasa.gov]

Prediction #3: Electric Comets and the "Domino Effect"
2004 Dec

The evidence suggests that comets are highly negatively charged with respect to the Sun. As they rush toward the Sun, the voltage increases until at some point the comet nucleus begins to discharge. Electrons are stripped from a few points on the comet surface where the electric field is strongest. These “spark discharges” finely machine rocky material from the surface to form a “cathode jet” of negatively charged dust together with surface matter that has been torn apart to release ionized atoms and molecules, including oxygen.

Thunderbolts Project