Vincent, J.-B. and Oklay, N. and Pajola, M. and Höfner, S. and Sierks, H. and Hu, X. and Barbieri, C. and Lamy, P.L. and Rodrigo, R. and Koschny, D. and Rickman, H. and Keller, H.U. and A’Hearn, M.F. and Barucci, M.A. and Bertaux, J.-L. and Bertini, I. and Besse, S. and Bodewits, D. and Cremonese, G. and Da Deppo, V. and Davidsson, B. and Debei, S. and De Cecco, M. and El-Maarry, Mohamed Ramy and Fornasier, S. and Fulle, M. and Groussin, O. and Gutiérrez, P.J. and Gutiérrez-Marquez, P. and Güttler, C. and Hofmann, M. and Hviid, S.F. and Ip, W.-H. and Jorda, L. and Knollenberg, J. and Kovacs, G. and Kramm, J.-R. and Kührt, E. and Küppers, M. and Lara, L.M. and Lazzarin, M. and Lin, Z.-Y. and Lopez Moreno, J.J. and Lowry, S. and Marzari, F. and Massironi, M. and Moreno, F. and Mottola, S. and Naletto, G. and Preusker, F. and Scholten, F. and Shi, X. and Thomas, N. and Toth, I. and Tubiana, C. (2016) Are fractured cliffs the source of cometary dust jets? Insights from OSIRIS/Rosetta at 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Astronomy & Astrophysics 587 , A14. ISSN 0004-6361.
Abstract
Context. Dust jets (i.e., fuzzy collimated streams of cometary material arising from the nucleus) have been observed in situ on all comets since the Giotto mission flew by comet 1P/Halley in 1986, and yet their formation mechanism remains unknown. Several solutions have been proposed involving either specific properties of the active areas or the local topography to create and focus the gas and dust flows. While the nucleus morphology seems to be responsible for the larger features, high resolution imagery has shown that broad streams are composed of many smaller jets (a few meters wide) that connect directly to the nucleus surface. Aims. We monitored these jets at high resolution and over several months to understand what the physical processes are that drive their formation and how this affects the surface. Methods. Using many images of the same areas with different viewing angles, we performed a 3-dimensional reconstruction of collimated jets and linked them precisely to their sources on the nucleus. Results. We show here observational evidence that the northern hemisphere jets of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko arise from areas with sharp topographic changes and describe the physical processes involved. We propose a model in which active cliffs are the main source of jet-like features and therefore of the regions eroding the fastest on comets. We suggest that this is a common mechanism taking place on all comets.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | comets: general / comets: individual: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Natural Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Administrator |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Nov 2018 11:11 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:46 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/25021 |
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