Cometary activity in distant comets - Chiron

Luu, Jane

doi:10.1086/133260

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Multiple investigations have determined that Chiron has transient outbursts, with different characteristics and including development of a coma (Luu 1993, Belskaya et al 2010, Ortiz et al 2015, Womack et al 2017). Reanalyses of optical data of Chiron's dust coma from 2007-2008(Tozzi et al 2012 and Herschel PACS 70 and 100 µm data are consistent with a dust production rate of at least 10 and up to 45 kg/s (Fornasier et al 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of material around the centaur (2060) Chiron from a visible and near-infrared stellar occultation in 2011

Sickafoose

Bosh

Emery

et al. 2019

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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The centaur (2060) Chiron exhibits outgassing behaviour and possibly hosts a ring system. On 2011 November 29, Chiron occulted a fairly bright star (R~15 mag) as observed from the 3m NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea and the 2-m Faulkes Telescope North (FTN) at Haleakala. Data were taken as visible wavelength images and simultaneous, low-resolution, near-infrared (NIR) spectra. Here, we present a detailed examination of the light-curve features in the optical data and an analysis of the NIR spectra. We place a lower limit on the spherical diameter of Chiron's nucleus of 160.2±1.3 km. Sharp, narrow dips were observed between 280-360 km from the centre (depending on event geometry). For a central chord and assumed ring plane, the separated features are 298.5-302 and 308-310.5 km from the nucleus, with normal optical depth ~0.5-0.9, and a gap of 9.1±1.3 km. These features are similar in equivalent depth to Chariklo's inner ring. The absence of absorbing/scattering material near the nucleus suggests that these sharp dips are more likely to be planar rings than a shell of material. The region of relatively-increased transmission is within the 1:2 spin-orbit resonance, consistent with the proposed clearing pattern for a non-axisymmetric nucleus. Characteristics of possible azimuthally incomplete features are presented, which could be transient, as well as a possible shell from ~900-1500 km: future observations are needed for confirmation. There are no significant features in the NIR light curves, nor any correlation between optical features and NIR spectral slope.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of material around the centaur (2060) Chiron from a visible and near-infrared stellar occultation in 2011

Sickafoose

Bosh

Emery

et al. 2019

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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“…The canonical view of cometary activity at such distances excludes the possibility of water ice sublimation as the inner "engine" of the gas and dust production, because the heat from the Sun is not sufficient. Usually, it is assumed that a COor CO 2 -dominated nucleus may be the source of this activity (Houpis & Mendis 1981;Luu 1993). Bar-Nun & Prialnik (1988) discussed the possible hydrogen comae in distant comets as a further mechanism beyond ∼4 AU.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photometric observations of distant active comets

Szabó

Csák

Sárneczky

et al. 2001

A&A

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Abstract. We present CCD V RC observations of 6 distant comets located at heliocentric distances of 3.4-7.2 AU. Time-series data were obtained on three nights in July, 2000 covering 16 hours. Each comet was observed after the perihelion, when a lower activity was expected. Contrary to expectation, we found well-defined circular comae and extended tails visible out to a few (3-5) arcmin. We detected a quasi-cyclic light variation of C/1999 J2, while C/1999 N4 showed some hints of a more complex variation. C/2000 K1 was constant to ±0.04 mag during the observing run. The standard V and RC data were used to estimate nuclear diameters, while the colour indices implied a slighly reddish (V − R = 0. m 25, C/1999 J2) coma. Simple fits of the surface brightness distributions are also presented enabling order of magnitude estimates of nuclear radii. Beside the time-series observations, further single-shot observations of three faint comets are briefly described.

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“…This is confirmed by the agreement of the radio photometric diameter with that derived from an occultation (Bus et al 1996). Luu (1993) and others have stressed the "true cometary identity" of Chiron. However, Stern (1995) called Chiron a "hybrid object", in between a planet and a comet.…”

Section: Note On Individual Objectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Size estimates of some optically bright KBOs

Altenhoff

Bertoldi

Menten

2004

A&A

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Abstract. Seven recently detected optically "bright" Kuiper-Belt-Objects (KBOs) were observed at 250 GHz using the Max-Planck Millimeter Bolometer (MAMBO) array at the IRAM 30 m telescope. Only the optical binary KBO (47 171) 1999 TC36 was detected, whose components differ optically by ∆m ≈ 2 mag. Assuming that the derived mean geometric albedo of p = 0.05 is identical for both, the component diameters become 566 and 225 km. For the other six objects upper limits to their sizes and lower limits for their albedos were obtained. The geometric albedo, p, for (28978) Ixion is surprisingly large, ≥0.15. For a consistent comparison all published radio photometric data of KBOs and Centaurs were analyzed again: the average geometric albedo is found to be ≈0.08.

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Cometary activity in distant comets - Chiron

Cited by 17 publications

References 14 publications

Characterization of material around the centaur (2060) Chiron from a visible and near-infrared stellar occultation in 2011

Characterization of material around the centaur (2060) Chiron from a visible and near-infrared stellar occultation in 2011

Photometric observations of distant active comets

Size estimates of some optically bright KBOs

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