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Rosetta Spacecraft Finds Massive Sinkholes on Comet's Surface

posted by janrinok on Thursday July 02 2015, @04:09PM   
from the expect-the-unexpected dept.

AndyTheAbsurd writes:

The comet being studied by Europe's Rosetta spacecraft has massive sinkholes in its surface that are nearly wide enough to swallow Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza, research published on Wednesday shows.

Scientists suspect the pits formed when material on the comet's surface collapsed, similar to sinkholes on Earth, a study published in the journal Nature said.

Somewhat surprising, since the expectation would be that pits on cometary surfaces form by expansion of gases increasing pressure in cavities within the comet, eventually resulting in an eruption of mass from the comet. And the low gravity of a comet would cause the sinkholes to only form slowly.

The discovery is expected to help scientists piece together a better understanding of how comets formed and evolved.

But there are many pieces of the puzzle still to be found.

Here's the article from Reuters. See, also, our coverage of Philae Comet Lander has Woken Up Again. Wikipedia has more information on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

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Original Submission

• Sinkholes Sinkholes (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 02 2015, @05:23PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 02 2015, @05:23PM (#204325)

  Massive Sinkholes?
  Did it land on Greece?

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• Re:Sinkholes (Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday July 02 2015, @05:32PM

  by Tork (3914) on Thursday July 02 2015, @05:32PM (#204329)

  Haw haw haw. You should write for SNL!

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