2022/09/13 by Dina Prialnik, David Jewitt, Prialnik, Dina +1
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Atmospheric Ozone and Climate #Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) #FOS: Physical sciences #Isotope Analysis in Ecology
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2209.05907
openalex publication_date 2022/09/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Ice naturally forms in the disordered or ``amorphous'' state when accreted from vapor at temperatures and pressures found in the interstellar medium and in the frigid, low density outer regions of the Sun's protoplanetary disk. It is therefore the expected form of ice in comets and other primitive bodies that have escaped substantial heating since formation. Despite expectations, however, the observational evidence for amorphous ice in comets remains largely indirect. This is both because the spectral features of amorphous ice are subtle and because the solar system objects for which we possess high quality data are mostly too close to the Sun and too hot for amorphous ice to survive near the surface, where it can be detected. This chapter reviews the properties of amorphous ice, the evidence for its existence and its consequences for the behavior of comets.