[meteorite-list] Science Journal: Earth's water didn't come from comets, scientists now say

From: Greg Crinklaw <crinklaw_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 14:36:04 -0700
Message-ID: <548B5FC4.7080703_at_tularosa.net>

The answer to your questions is that it isn't definitive at all. That's
just the spin that journalists are putting on the story. We now have a
small number of data points with regard to the amount of deuterium in
comets and asteroids. Based on these data we can only say that we will
need many more data points to before we can come to any sort of
conclusion, much less one that is definitive.

The only thing that is definitive is that the water on earth did not
come from 67P. ;-)

Greg

On 12/12/2014 1:50 PM, Michael Mulgrew via Meteorite-list wrote:
> I am curious how such a definitive conclusion can be reached from the
> analysis of a singular cometary body? How many comets are out there
> floating around the solar system? I guess they are assuming all
> comets have the same make-up? Seems a bit short sighted to me,
> considering, for example, how diverse asteroidal composition is.
> Imagine if we landed a probe on one asteroid, then extrapolated the
> results of that landing to apply to all asteroids, what a gross
> neglect of diversity that would be.
>
> Hopefully I'm missing something here and someone will chime in and
> explain it to me.
>
> Michael in so. Cal.
>
> On Fri, Dec 12, 2014 at 12:43 PM, Shawn Alan via Meteorite-list
> <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com> wrote:
>> Hello Listers
>>
>> Enjoy :)
>>
>> From The New York Times (excerpted):
>>
>> One of the first scientific findings to emerge from close-up study of a
>> comet has all but settled a question that planetary scientists have
>> debated for decades.
>>
>> The new finding, from the European Space Agency?s mission to the
>> little duck-shaped comet called 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, appears to
>> eliminate the possibility that the water in Earth's oceans came from
>> melted comets.
>>
>> http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/400564/john-leacock/2014-12-11/science-journal-earths-water-didnt-come-comets
>>
>> Shawn Alan
>> IMCA 1633
>> ebay store http://www.ebay.com/sch/imca1633ny/m.html
>> Website http://meteoritefalls.com
>>
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-- 
Greg Crinklaw
Astronomical Software Developer
Cloudcroft, New Mexico
skyhound.com

Received on Fri 12 Dec 2014 04:36:04 PM PST