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A rapid decrease in the rotation rate of comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak

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 نشر من قبل Dennis Bodewits
 تاريخ النشر 2018
  مجال البحث فيزياء
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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.



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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 g visibility of the comet at a close distance to Earth. The four month-long imaging campaign with the 2 m telescope at the Mount Wendelstein Observatory was aimed at characterizing dust activity and nucleus properties of the comet. Using a new analysis method of the inner coma flux, we derived a small mean equivalent radius of about 600 m for the nucleus with an unusual body axes ratio that is higher than two. The nucleus rotation axis was determined from the geometric appearance of coma structures, which were enhanced in the images. A long-lasting coma fan was produced by an extended region at high latitudes on the slowly rotating nucleus, whereas isolated jets originated from narrow, low latitude active regions on the nucleus. The dust activity of 41P, despite being difficult to quantify exactly because of an unknown phase function correction for the comet, indicates a steep radial profile that falls off with an increasing distance from the Sun. Colors and flux profiles provide evidence for dust fragmentation in the inner coma of the comet. A singular outburst event created various dust structures in the coma. The outburst came from an extended region on the nucleus and was due to either a landslide on the nucleus or a sudden material release from a subsurface pocket of volatile ice.
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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 th the TRAPPIST telescopes that covered almost the entire period of time when the comet was active. In this work we present a comprehensive study of the evolution of the dust environment of 41P based on observational data from January to July, 2017. Also, we performed numerical simulations to constrain its origin and dynamical nature. To model the observational data set we used a Monte Carlo dust tail model, which allowed us to derive the dust parameters that best describe its dust environment as a function of heliocentric distance. In order to study its dynamical evolution, we completed several experiments to evaluate the degree of stability of its orbit, its life time in its current region close to Earth, and its future behaviour. From the dust analysis, we found that comet 41P has a complex emission pattern that shifted from full isotropic to anisotropic ejection sometime during February 24-March 14 in 2017, and then from anisotropic to full isotropic again between June 7-28. During the anisotropic period, the emission was controlled by two strongly active areas, where one was located in the southern and one in the northern hemisphere of the nucleus. The total dust mass loss is estimated to be $sim7.5times10^{8}$ kg. From the dynamical simulations we estimate that $sim$3600 yr is the period of time during which 41P will remain in a similar orbit. Taking into account the estimated mass loss per orbit, after 3600 yr, the nucleus may lose about 30$%$ of its mass. However, based on its observed dust-to-water mass ratio and its propensity to outbursts, the lifetime of this comet could be much shorter.
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