Comet C/2013 X1 (PanSTARRS): Spin axis and rotation period

Manzini, F.; Oldani, Virginio; Behrend, R.; Ochner, P.; Baransky, Alexander; Starkey, Donn R.

doi:10.1016/j.pss.2016.06.006

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Coma lightcurves have been used for decades to constrain rotation periods (e.g., Millis and Schleicher 1986;Feldman et al 1992), with the technique becoming much more prevalent in the modern era (e.g., Anderson 2010; Santos-Sanz et al 2015;Manzini et al 2016). Aperture photometry is typically employed, with a signal that is assumed to be dominated by dust and/or gas in the coma as opposed to the nucleus.…”

Section: Other Methods Of Constraining Nucleus Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of Comet Ison (C/2012 S1) From Lowell Observatory

Knight

Schleicher

2014

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We observed the dynamically new sungrazing comet ISON (C/2012 S1) extensively at Lowell Observatory throughout 2013 in order to characterize its behavior prior to perihelion. ISON had "typical" abundances for an Oort Cloud comet. Its dust production, as measured by r Af , remained nearly constant during the apparition but its CN gas production increased by ∼50 ×. The minimum active area necessary to support observed water production rates exceeded the likely surface area of the nucleus and suggests a population of icy grains in the coma. Together with the flattening of the dust radial profile over time, this is consistant with ejection of a large quantity of slow moving dust and icy grains in the coma at large heliocentric distance. The dust morphology was dominated by the tail, but a faint sunward dust fan was detected in March, April, May, and September. We imaged multiple gas species in September, October, and November. All gas species were more extended than the dust coma, although only CN had sufficient signal-to-noise for detailed morphological study. Excess CN signal was observed in the sunward hemisphere in September and early October. In November the excess CN signal was in the tailward hemisphere and two faint CN features appeared approximately orthogonal to the tail with position angles varying by about ±20°from night to night. Using numerical modeling, we best reproduced the orientation and shape of these features as well as the bulk brightness with a pole oriented approximately toward the Sun and a single source located within ∼35°of the equator. Variations in position angle and relative brightness of the CN features from night to night suggest a rotation period shorter than 24 hr. The production rates and coma morphology suggest a nucleus that was active over nearly its entire sunward facing hemisphere in September and October but which underwent a significant mass loss event, potentially including fragmentation, shortly before November 1. Significant subsequent mass loss likely continued at the same site over subsequent days/weeks and may have catastrophically weakened the nucleus prior to perihelion.

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Section: Other Methods Of Constraining Nucleus Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of Comet Ison (C/2012 S1) From Lowell Observatory

Knight

Schleicher

2014

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“…To fully characterise the inner coma features and to verify their evolution as observed in our images over several observation nights, we then performed a modelling of the inner coma using a proprietary software (Fase 6, by P. Pellissier) specifically designed to reproduce Earth-based observations of the dust coma structures (Manzini et al 2016). To this purpose, the first element that is needed is the position of the comet with respect to the Sun and the observer.…”

Section: Data Analysis: Comamentioning

confidence: 99%

Coma morphology and dust emission pattern of comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

Manzini,

Oldani,

Ochner

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The recent close approach of comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) allowed us to study the morphology of its inner coma. From the measurement of the dust ejection velocity on spiral structures expanding around the nucleus, we estimated a mean deprojected expansion velocity V d = 1.11±0.08 km s −1 . Assuming that a new shell formed after every rotation of the comet, a rotation period of 7.8±0.2 hours was derived. The spin axis orientation was estimated at RA 210 • ±10 • , Dec. +35 • ± 10 • . The coma morphology appears related to two strong, diametrically opposite emissions located at mid-latitudes on the nucleus. A qualitative modelling of the coma produced consistent results with a wide range of dust sizes (0.80 to 800 µm), with inversely correlated densities (0.003 to 3.0 g cm −3 ). Images taken with V j and r-Sloan filters showed a greater concentration of dust in the first two shells, and an increasing density of radicals emitting in the B and V band-passes from the third shell outwards. Striaelike structures in the tail suggest that dust particles have different sizes.

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“…C/2013 X1 is a non-periodic comet, which describes an orbit with an inclination of 163 • and an eccentricity of 1.001037. It could be a dynamically old comet; in fact, its orbit suggests that possibility as does its brightening trend since discovery [6]. The ratio of the production rates compared to OH and CN help to classify the comets.…”

Section: Trappist and Cometsmentioning

confidence: 99%