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Cometary outgassing can produce torques that change the spin state of the nucleus, influencing the evolution and lifetimes of comets (1,2). If these torques spin up the rotation to the point that centripetal forces exceed the material strength of the nucleus, the comet may fragment (3). Torques that slow down the rotation can cause the spin state to become unstable, but if the torques persist, the nucleus may eventually reorient itself and start to spin up again (4). Simulations predict that most comets will go through a short phase of changing spin states, after which changes occur gradually over long times (5). We report on observations of comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak during its highly favourable close approach to Earth (0.142 au on April 1, 2017) that reveal a dramatic spin-down. Between March and May 2017, the nucleus apparent rotation period increased from 20 hours to over 46 hours, reflecting a rate of change more than an order of magnitude larger than has ever been measured before. This phenomenon must be caused by a fortuitous alignment of the comets gas emission in such a way as to produce an anomalously strong torque that is slowing the nucleus spin rate. The behaviour of 41P suggests that it is in a distinct evolutionary state and that its rotation may be approaching the point of instability.
Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak (41P), a Jupiter family comet with three discoveries over about 100 years, is in a short-periodic orbit around the Sun with the perihelion close to the Earth distance. The 2017 apparition of 41P offered a long-lastin
We monitor the inner coma of comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kres{a}k searching for variations of its colour. Fast changes in colour of the comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kres{a}k provide important clues for better understanding of the microphysical propertie
Thanks to the Rosetta mission, our understanding of comets has greatly improved. A very good opportunity to apply this knowledge appeared in early 2017 with the appearance of the Jupiter family comet 41P/TGK. We performed an observational campaign wi
We report on photometry and imaging of the Jupiter Family Comets 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak and 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova with the TRAPPIST-North telescope. We observed 41P on 34 nights from February 16, 2017 to July 27, 2017 pre- and post-perihel
We report results of polarimetric observations of comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner made at phase angles, {alpha}=76-78 deg, between 10 and 17 of September 2018, and compare them with previous measurements. We find significant variations in the polarimetric