Gicquel, A. and Vincent, J.-B. and Agarwal, J. and A'Hearn, M.F. and Bertini, I. and Bodewits, D. and Sierks, H. and Lin, Z.-Y. and Barbieri, C. and Lamy, P.L. and Rodrigo, R. and Koschny, D. and Rickman, H. and Keller, H.U. and Barucci, M.A. and Bertaux, J.-L. and Besse, S. and Cremonese, G. and Da Deppo, V. and Davidsson, B. and Debei, S. and Deller, J. and De Cecco, M. and Frattin, E. 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 Höfner, S. and Hofmann, M. and Hu, X. 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 Moreno, J.J. Lopez and Lowry, S. and Marzari, F. and Masoumzadeh, N. and Massironi, M. and Moreno, F. and Mottola, S. and Naletto, G. and Oklay, N. and Pajola, M. and Pommerol, A. and Preusker, F. and Scholten, F. and Shi, X. and Thomas, N. and Toth, I. and Tubiana, C. (2016) Sublimation of icy aggregates in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko detected with the OSIRIS cameras on boardRosetta. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 462 (Suppl), S57-S66. ISSN 0035-8711.
Abstract
Beginning in 2014 March, the OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System) cameras began capturing images of the nucleus and coma (gas and dust) of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko using both the wide angle camera (WAC) and the narrow angle camera (NAC). The many observations taken since July of 2014 have been used to study the morphology, location, and temporal variation of the comet's dust jets. We analysed the dust monitoring observations shortly after the southern vernal equinox on 2015 May 30 and 31 with the WAC at the heliocentric distance Rh = 1.53 AU, where it is possible to observe that the jet rotates with the nucleus. We found that the decline of brightness as a function of the distance of the jet is much steeper than the background coma, which is a first indication of sublimation. We adapted a model of sublimation of icy aggregates and studied the effect as a function of the physical properties of the aggregates (composition and size). The major finding of this paper was that through the sublimation of the aggregates of dirty grains (radius a between 5 and 50 μm) we were able to completely reproduce the radial brightness profile of a jet beyond 4 km from the nucleus. To reproduce the data, we needed to inject a number of aggregates between 8.5 × 1013 and 8.5 × 1010 for a = 5 and 50 μm, respectively, or an initial mass of H2O ice around 22 kg.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | methods: data analysis, methods: numerical, methods: observational, comets: individual: 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Natural Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Administrator |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Nov 2018 15:24 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:46 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/25027 |
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