Is it possible to create a realistic structure of a cometary nucleus analog in the laboratory?

IF 3 2区物理与天体物理 Q2 ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS

Icarus Pub Date : 2025-05-30 DOI:10.1016/j.icarus.2025.116646

Marcin Wesołowski , Zuzanna Bober , Łukasz Ożóg , Adrian Truszkiewicz , Maria Gritsevich , Mariusz Bester , Grzegorz Wisz

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Abstract

Planetary analogs play a key role in the study of celestial bodies by providing controlled environments to study processes, properties, and phenomena occurring on their surfaces and interiors. For comets, analogs are constructed using porous dust-ice agglomerates to replicate the primary components of cometary material, enabling investigations into sublimation veins, cavity formation, and the behavior of gas and dust under varying conditions. Laboratory research was divided into two parts. In the first part, a laboratory system was used to conduct research under high vacuum conditions. This system consists of a vacuum chamber and a rotary and turbomolecular pump. This system allowed for determining the value of the external pressure in the chamber at which the destruction of the tested sample of the cometary nucleus analog was observed. The second part presents the results of imaging a scaled-down cometary nucleus analog using computed tomography (CT) to examine its internal structure. The CT scanning process generated a three-dimensional representation of the analog, with a two-dimensional map of the X-ray attenuation coefficient distribution. Multiple attenuation measurements, processed through reconstruction algorithms, resulted in 248 virtual cross-sections, each 1.25 mm thick. The use of computed tomography also allows for the analysis of morphological changes in the structure of the cometary nucleus analog as a function of time. Analysis of these virtual cross-sections revealed cavities where sublimating gas accumulated and veins sublimation, reflecting the complex heterogeneity observed in real cometary nucleus. By measuring the volume fractions of the individual components of the analog, its density was calculated, which is comparable to the density of real comets. These findings highlight the value of laboratory based cometary analogs in improving the understanding of the physical processes driving cometary activity and evolution.

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是否有可能在实验室中创造出彗星核模拟物的真实结构？

行星类似物通过提供受控环境来研究天体表面和内部发生的过程、特性和现象，在天体研究中起着关键作用。对于彗星，类似物是用多孔的尘埃-冰团块来构建的，以复制彗星物质的主要成分，从而可以研究升华静脉，空腔形成以及气体和尘埃在不同条件下的行为。实验室研究分为两个部分。在第一部分中，利用实验室系统在高真空条件下进行研究。该系统由一个真空室和一个旋转和涡轮分子泵组成。该系统允许确定室中外部压力的值，在该室中观察到彗星核类似物的被测样品的破坏。第二部分介绍了使用计算机断层扫描（CT）检查其内部结构的按比例缩小的彗星核模拟成像的结果。CT扫描过程生成模拟物的三维表示，具有二维的x射线衰减系数分布图。多次衰减测量，通过重建算法处理，得到248个虚拟截面，每个1.25 mm厚。计算机断层扫描的使用也允许分析彗星核模拟物结构的形态变化作为时间的函数。这些虚拟截面的分析揭示了升华气体聚集的空腔和升华的静脉，反映了在真实彗星核中观察到的复杂的非均质性。通过测量模拟物的各个组成部分的体积分数，可以计算出它的密度，这与真实彗星的密度相当。这些发现突出了基于实验室的彗星类似物在提高对驱动彗星活动和进化的物理过程的理解方面的价值。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Icarus 地学天文-天文与天体物理

CiteScore

6.30

自引率

18.80%

发文量

356

审稿时长

2-4 weeks

期刊介绍： Icarus is devoted to the publication of original contributions in the field of Solar System studies. Manuscripts reporting the results of new research - observational, experimental, or theoretical - concerning the astronomy, geology, meteorology, physics, chemistry, biology, and other scientific aspects of our Solar System or extrasolar systems are welcome. The journal generally does not publish papers devoted exclusively to the Sun, the Earth, celestial mechanics, meteoritics, or astrophysics. Icarus does not publish papers that provide "improved" versions of Bode''s law, or other numerical relations, without a sound physical basis. Icarus does not publish meeting announcements or general notices. Reviews, historical papers, and manuscripts describing spacecraft instrumentation may be considered, but only with prior approval of the editor. An entire issue of the journal is occasionally devoted to a single subject, usually arising from a conference on the same topic. The language of publication is English. American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these.