Investigations of the Rotation Pole from the Morphology of Dust Fans of Comet 81P/Wild 2

Abstract

Investigations of the dust morphology of comet 81P/Wild 2 in the I-and R-band images obtained on 1997 May 15 from the Vainu Bappu Observatory, Kavalur, India, are presented. We model the trajectories of dust grains ejected from distributed sources on this comet to explain the morphology of the fans in these images and in the published images by Schulz and coworkers. We derive the pole position of p ¼ 297 AE 5 and p ¼ À10 AE 5 . Broad sources at þ80 AE 5 and À25 AE 5 latitudes best explain the northern and southern fans, respectively.

Coma morphology of Jupiter-family comets

“…Results from several groups (α=298 Sekanina, 2003;α=297 • , δ=−10 • , Vasundhara and Chakraborty, 2004;α=281 • , δ=+13…”

Morphological peculiarities of dust jets in the coma of comet 81P/Wild 2

“…цiєї комети спостерiгалася подiбна картина. Так, Вашусундра i Чакрабортi [4] за моделюванням зображень комети знайшли координати полюса обертання ядра α p = 297 • ± 5 • та δ p = −10 • ± 5 • . На момент наших спостережень комети для полюсу з вказаними координатами вiсь обертання мала би позицiйний кут в картиннiй площинi ε ≈ 105 • .…”