Rosetta Spacecraft Discovers Massive Earth-like Sinkholes on Comet's Surface

The Rosetta spacecraft has spotted something unusual on the surface of the comet 67PChuryumov-Gerasimenko. It's spied several deep, almost perfectly circular pits on the comets surface that may actually be sinkholes.

"These strange, circular pits are just as deep as they are wide," said Dennis Bodewits, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We propose that they are sinkholes, formed by a surface collapse process very similar to the way sinkholes form here on Earth."

The scientists actually analyzed images from Rosetta's Optical Spectroscopic and Infrared Remote Imaging System (OSIRIS) narrow angle camera, which is designed to image the surface of the comet's nucleus. In the end, the researchers found two distinct types of pits: deep ones with steep sides and shallower pits that more closely resemble those seen on other comets, such as 9P/Tempel 1 and 81P/Wild. The researchers also saw that jets of gas and dust streamed from the sides of the deep, steep-sided pits.

Explosive outbursts alone could not explain the formation of the giant pits. Instead, the researchers believe that a source of heat beneath the comet's surface causes ices to sublimate. The voids created by the loss of these ice chunks eventually grow large enough that their ceilings collapse under their own weight and create the sinkholes.

"In some sense, these deep sinkholes remind me of the crater excavated on comet Tempel I by the Deep Impact mission," said Michael A'Hearn, co-author of the new study. "The process is completely different, of course, but both allow us to achieve the same broad goal of being able to see deeper into a comet."

The findings reveal a bit more about this comet; in addition, the Rosetta mission has been extended, which means that researchers will have further opportunities to examine this comet.

The findings are published in the journal Nature.

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