Laboratory studies of gas-dust jet formation on cometary nucleus surface Original Research Article

Gas-dust jet formation in comets was simulated in laboratory experiments. Cometary nucleus models from water ice including solid carbon dioxide, solid acetone, other similar solid inhomogeneous impurities and dust particles were irradiated by light at high vacuum and at low temperatures. The sublimation rate, the temperature of the samples, and the mass-spectra of the gas emission from the samples were studied. The results of the experiments show that gas-dust jets from the surface of cometary nucleus models can form under certain condition.