Dust coma morphology in the Deep Impact images of Comet 9P/Tempel 1

Farnham, T. L.; Wellnitz, D. D.; Hampton, Donald; Li, J.-Y.; Sunshine, J. M.; Groussin, O.; McFadden, L. A.; Crockett, Christopher; A’Hearn, Michael F.; Belton, M. J. S.; Schultz, P. H.; Lisse, C. M.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2006.10.036

Cited by 85 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…(3) The existence of large compact dust in the preimpact T1 coma has been reported by many researchers (Sykes & Walker 1992;Farnham et al 2007;Reach, Kelley, & Sykes 2007). The existence of such large dust in the preimpact T1 is consistent with the standard model, because the dust mantle formation depletes only fluffy aggregates.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Comet 9P/Tempel 1: Interpretation with theDeep ImpactResults

Yamamoto

Kimura

Zubko

et al. 2008

ApJ

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According to our common understandings, the original surface of a short-period comet nucleus has been lost by sublimation processes during its close approaches to the Sun. Sublimation results in the formation of a dust mantle on the retreated surface and in chemical differentiation of ices over tens or hundreds of meters below the mantle. In the course of NASA's Deep Impact mission, optical and infrared imaging observations of the ejecta plume were conducted by several researchers, but their interpretations of the data came as a big surprise: (1) The nucleus of comet 9P/Tempel 1 is free of a dust mantle but maintains its pristine crust of submicron-sized carbonaceous grains. (2) Primordial materials are accessible already at a depth of several tens of centimeters with abundant silicate grains of submicrometer sizes. In this study, we demonstrate that a standard model of cometary nuclei explains well available observational data: (1) A dust mantle with a thickness of ∼1-2 m builds up on the surface, where compact aggregates larger than tens of micrometers dominate. (2) Large fluffy aggregates are embedded in chemically differentiated layers as well as in the deepest part of the nucleus with primordial materials. We conclude that the Deep Impact results do not need any peculiar view of a comet nucleus.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Comet 9P/Tempel 1: Interpretation with theDeep ImpactResults

Yamamoto

Kimura

Zubko

et al. 2008

ApJ

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“…It has been shown, though, that most of the very collimated features such as thoses described in this paper can be explained by the presence of active regions on the surface, which rotate with the nucleus. For several in-situ missions and comets, Farnham et al (2007Farnham et al ( , 2012, Vincent et al (2010b), and Lin et al (2012) could follow the evolution of the dust jets and connected them unambiguously to specific regions of the surfaces without requiring large-scale gas flows and a specific topography to constrain the jets. Although we understand the importance of the nucleus concavities on the global flows and broad features observed in the coma (for instance Szegö et al 2002 on jets of comet 1P/Halley), they are not needed to explain the narrow, collimated structures described here.…”

Section: Activity Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spin and activity of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Vincent

Lara

Tozzi

et al. 2013

A&A

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Aims. In 2014 ESA's spacecraft Rosetta will reach its final target: comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P). Although this comet has been studied in great detail over the past decade, there are still some uncertainties regarding the actual spin orientation and the distribution of active regions on the surface. We here give an overview of our current knowledge of these critical parameters based mainly on data acquired during the last orbit of the comet aims to deliver a review of what is our current knowledge of these critical parameters. Methods. We based our analysis on the modeling and interpretation of dust jets seen in the coma of 67P during the 2009 apparition.Results. The inversion of ground-based images leads to an estimate of the spin axis orientation (RA = 40• ± 10 • , Dec = 70 • ± 10 • ) and to the localization of the most prominent active areas on the surface of the nucleus. We can reproduce the activity with three active regions localized at −45• , 0• , and +60• of latitude. We use these results to revisit the observations taken during the 2003 apparition and examine the changes in activity between then and now. Our model from 2009 is also valid for the 2003 data, which suggests that no significant change in spin orientation and active areas occurred from one perihelion passage to the next. Finally, we combine all the results to propose some predictions on the activity to be expected in 2015 during the comet exploration phase of the Rosetta mission.

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“…Many images of the coma were taken during the approach phase and showed dust structures that were later used to estimate the location of active regions on the surface of the nucleus. The results of this study are presented in Farnham et al (2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A numerical model of cometary dust coma structures

Vincent¹,

Böhnhardt²,

Lara

2010

A&A

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Aims. The purpose of this study is to test our numerical model of cometary dust coma structures and to use the results to infer information about the nucleus surface activity of comet 9P/Tempel 1. Methods. Parameters on the activity were first estimated from simulations of ground-based observation acquired during the preperihelion period (January to June 2005) and compared with published results for the same period. The parameters retrieved were then used to simulate previously unpublished images of the comet acquired during the post-perihelion period (in July and August 2005). Results. Our model was able to retrieve the spin axis orientation of comet 9P/Tempel 1 as well as information on active regions at the surface of the nucleus. We could localize at least six active areas and characterize them with parameters such as the velocity of the dust particles, grain size, and activity profile. Our model confirms published results from spacecraft measurements but is also able to make realistic predictions on the evolution of the coma morphology during the post-perihelion period.

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Dust coma morphology in the Deep Impact images of Comet 9P/Tempel 1

Cited by 85 publications

References 27 publications

Comet 9P/Tempel 1: Interpretation with theDeep ImpactResults

Comet 9P/Tempel 1: Interpretation with theDeep ImpactResults

Spin and activity of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

A numerical model of cometary dust coma structures

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