Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userChandra Observations of Comets 8P/Tuttle and 17P/Holmes during Solar Minimum
159
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
We present results for Chandra observations of comets, 17P/Holmes (17P) and 8P/Tuttle (8P). 17P was observed for 30 ksec right after its major outburst, on 31 Oct 2007 (10:07 UT) and comet 8P/Tuttle was observed in 2008 January for 47 ksec. During the two Chandra observations, 17P was producing at least 100 times more water than 8P but was 2.2 times further away from the Sun. Also, 17P is the first comet observed at high latitude (+19.1 degrees) during solar minimum, while 8P was observed at a lower solar latitude (3.4 degrees). The X-ray spectrum of 17P is unusually soft with little significant emission at energies above 500 eV. Depending on our choice of background, we derive a 300 to 1000 eV flux of 0.5 to 4.5 x 10^-13 ergs/cm2/sec, with over 90% of the emission in the 300 to 400 eV range. This corresponds to an X-ray luminosity between 0.4 to 3.3 x 10^15 ergs/sec. 17Ps lack of X-rays in the 400 to 1000 eV range, in a simple picture, may be attributed to the polar solar wind, which is depleted in highly charged ions. 8P/Tuttle was much brighter, with an average count rate of 0.20 counts/s in the 300 to 1000 eV range. We derive an average X-ray flux in this range of 9.4 x 10^-13 ergs/cm2/sec and an X-ray luminosity for the comet of 1.7 x 10^14 ergs/sec. The light curve showed a dramatic decrease in flux of over 60% between observations on January 1st and 4th. When comparing outer regions of the coma to inner regions, its spectra showed a decrease in ratios of CVI/CV, OVIII/OVII, as predicted by recent solar wind charge exchange emission models. There are remarkable differences between the X-ray emission from these two comets, further demonstrating the qualities of cometary X-ray observations, and solar wind charge exchange emission in more general as a means of remote diagnostics of the interaction of astrophysical plasmas.
rate research
Read More
We performed a monitoring observation of a Jupiter-Family comet, 17P/Holmes, during its 2014 perihelion passage to investigate its secular change in activity. The comet has drawn the attention of astronomers since its historic outburst in 2007, and this occasion was its first perihelion passage since then. We analyzed the obtained data using aperture photometry package and derived the Afrho parameter, a proxy for the dust production rate. We found that Afrho showed asymmetric properties with respect to the perihelion passage: it increased moderately from 100 cm at the heliocentric distance r_h=2.6-3.1 AU to a maximal value of 185 cm at r_h = 2.2 AU (near the perihelion) during the inbound orbit, while dropping rapidly to 35 cm at r_h = 3.2 AU during the outbound orbit. We applied a model for characterizing dust production rates as a function of r_h and found that the fractional active area of the cometary nucleus had dropped from 20%-40% in 2008-2011 (around the aphelion) to 0.1%-0.3% in 2014-2015 (around the perihelion). This result suggests that a dust mantle would have developed rapidly in only one orbital revolution around the sun. Although a minor eruption was observed on UT 2015 January 26 at r_h = 3.0 AU, the areas excavated by the 2007 outburst would be covered with a layer of dust (<~ 10 cm depth) which would be enough to insulate the subsurface ice and to keep the nucleus in a state of low activity.
Comet 8P/Tuttle is a Nearly Isotropic Comet (NIC), whose physical properties are poorly known and could be different from those of Ecliptic Comets (EC) owing to their different origin. Two independent observations have shown that 8P has a bilobate nucleus. Our goal is to determine the physical properties of the nucleus (size, shape, thermal inertia, albedo) and coma (water and dust) of 8P/Tuttle. We observed the inner coma of 8P with the infrared spectrograph (IRS) and the infrared camera (MIPS) of the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST). We obtained one spectrum (5-40 $mu$m) on 2 November 2007 and a set of 19 images at 24 $mu$m on 22-23 June 2008 sampling the nucleus rotational period. The data were interpreted using thermal models for the nucleus and the dust coma, and considering 2 possible shape models of the nucleus derived from respectively Hubble Space Telescope visible and Arecibo radar observations. We favor a nucleus shape model composed of 2 contact spheres with respective radii of 2.7+/-0.1 km and 1.1+/-0.1 km and a pole orientation with RA=285+/-12 deg and DEC=+20+/-5 deg. The nucleus has a thermal inertia in the range 0-100 J/K/m^2/s^0.5 and a R-band geometric albedo of 0.042+/-0.008. The water production rate amounts to 1.1+/-0.2x10^28~molecules/s at 1.6 AU from the Sun pre-perihelion, which corresponds to an active fraction of 9%. At the same distance, the $epsilon f rho$ quantity amounts to 310+/-34 cm at 1.6~AU, and reaches 325+/-36 cm at 2.2~AU post-perihelion. The dust grain temperature is estimated to 258+/-10 K, which is 37 K larger than the thermal equilibrium temperature at 1.6 AU. This indicates that the dust grains contributing to the thermal infrared flux have a typical size of 10 $mu$m. The dust spectrum exhibits broad emissions around 10 $mu$m (1.5-sigma confidence level) and 18 $mu$m (5-sigma confidence level) that we attribute to amorphous pyroxene.
We present high angular resolution Submillimeter Array observations ofthe outbursting Jupiter family comet 17P/Holmes on 2007 October 26-29, achieving a spatial resolution of 2.5, or ~3000 km at the comet distance. The observations resulted in detections of the rotational lines CO 3-2, HCN 4-3, H$^{13}$CN 4-3, CS 7-6, H$_2$CO 3$_{1,2}$-2$_{1,1}$, H$_2$S 2$_{2,0}$-2$_{1,1}$, and multiple CH$_3$OH lines, along with the associated dust continuum at 221 and 349 GHz. The continuum has a spectral index of 2.7$pm$0.3, slightly steeper than blackbody emission from large dust particles. From the imaging data, we identify two components in the molecular emission. One component is characterized by a relatively broad line width (~1 km s$^{-1}$ FWHM) exhibiting a symmetric outgassing pattern with respect to the nucleus position. The second component has a narrower line width (<0.5 km s$^{-1}$ FWHM) with the line center red-shifted by 0.1-0.2 km s$^{-1}$ (cometocentric frame), and shows a velocity shift across the nucleus position with the position angle gradually changing from 66 to 30 degrees within the four days of observations. We determine distinctly different CO/HCN ratios for each of the components. For the broad-line component we find CO/HCN <7, while in the narrow-line component, CO/HCN = 40$pm$5. We hypothesize that the narrow-line component originates from the ice grain halo found in near-nucleus photometry, believed to be created by sublimating recently released ice grains around the nucleus during the outburst. In this interpretation, the high CO/HCN ratio of this component reflects the more pristine volatile composition of nucleus material released in the outburst.
Based on millimeter-wavelength continuum observations we suggest that the recent spectacle of comet 17P/Holmes can be explained by a thick, air-tight dust cover and the effects of H2O sublimation, which started when the comet arrived at the heliocentric distance <= 2.5 AU. The porous structure inside the nucleus provided enough surface for additional sublimation, which eventually led to the break up of the dust cover and to the observed outburst. The magnitude of the particle burst can be explained by the energy provided by insolation, stored in the dust cover and the nucleus within the months before the outburst: the subliming surface within the nucleus is more than one order of magnitude larger than the geometric surface of the nucleus -- possibly an indication of the latters porous structure. Another surprise is that the abundance ratios of several molecular species with respect to H2O are variable. During this apparition, comet Holmes lost about 3% of its mass, corresponding to a dirty ice layer of 20m.
High resolution spectra of Comet 8P/Tuttle were obtained in the frequency range 3440.6-3462.6 cm-1 on 3 January 2008 UT using CGS4 with echelle grating on UKIRT. In addition to recording strong solar pumped fluorescent (SPF) lines of H2O, the long integration time (152 miutes on target) enabled eight weaker H2O features to be assigned, most of which had not previously been identified in cometary spectra. These transitions, which are from higher energy upper states, are similar in character to the so-called SH lines recorded in the post Deep Impact spectrum of comet Tempel 1 (Barber et al., 2007). We have identified certain characteristics that these lines have in common, and which in addition to helping to define this new class of cometary line, give some clues to the physical processes involved in their production. Finally, we derive an H2O rotational temperature of 62+/- K and a water production rate of (1.4+/-0.3)E28 molecules/s.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
