The European Space Agency (ESA) recently selected Comet Interceptor as its first ‘fast’ (F-class) mission. It will be developed rapidly to share a launch with another mission and is unique, as it ...will wait in space for a yet-to-be-discovered comet.
The detection of interstellar objects passing through the solar system offers the promise of constraining the physical and chemical processes involved in planetary formation in other extrasolar ...systems. While the effect of outgassing by 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua) was dynamically observed, no direct detection of the ejected material was made. The discovery of the active interstellar comet 2I/Borisov means spectroscopic investigations of the sublimated ices is possible for this object. We report the first detection of gas emitted by an interstellar comet via the near-UV emission of CN from 2I/Borisov at a heliocentric distance of r = 2.7 au on 2019 September 20. The production rate was found to be Q(CN) = (3.7 0.4) × 1024 s−1, using a simple Haser model with an outflow velocity of 0.5 km s−1. No other emission was detected, with an upper limit to the production rate of C2 of 4 × 1024 s−1. The spectral reflectance slope of the dust coma over 3900 < λ < 6000 is steeper than at longer wavelengths, as found for other comets. Broadband Rc photometry on 2019 September 19 gave a dust production rate of Af = 143 10 cm. Modeling of the observed gas and dust production rates constrains the nuclear radius to 0.7-3.3 km assuming reasonable nuclear properties. Overall, we find the gas, dust, and nuclear properties for the first active interstellar object are similar to normal solar system comets.
Primitive objects like comets hold important information on the material that formed our solar system. Several comets have been visited by spacecraft and many more have been observed through Earth- ...and space-based telescopes. Still our understanding remains limited. Molecular abundances in comets have been shown to be similar to interstellar ices and thus indicate that common processes and conditions were involved in their formation. The samples returned by the Stardust mission to comet Wild 2 showed that the bulk refractory material was processed by high temperatures in the vicinity of the early sun. The recent Rosetta mission acquired a wealth of new data on the composition of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (hereafter 67P/C-G) and complemented earlier observations of other comets. The isotopic, elemental, and molecular abundances of the volatile, semi-volatile, and refractory phases brought many new insights into the origin and processing of the incorporated material. The emerging picture after Rosetta is that at least part of the volatile material was formed before the solar system and that cometary nuclei agglomerated over a wide range of heliocentric distances, different from where they are found today. Deviations from bulk solar system abundances indicate that the material was not fully homogenized at the location of comet formation, despite the radial mixing implied by the Stardust results. Post-formation evolution of the material might play an important role, which further complicates the picture. This paper discusses these major findings of the Rosetta mission with respect to the origin of the material and puts them in the context of what we know from other comets and solar system objects.
The processes that led to the formation of the planetary bodies in the Solar system are still not fully understood. Using the results obtained with the comprehensive suite of instruments onboard the ...European Space Agency's Rosetta mission, we present evidence that comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko likely formed through the gentle gravitational collapse of a bound clump of mm-sized dust aggregates ('pebbles'), intermixed with microscopic ice particles. This formation scenario leads to a cometary make-up that is simultaneously compatible with the global porosity, homogeneity, tensile strength, thermal inertia, vertical temperature profiles, sizes and porosities of emitted dust and the steep increase in water-vapour production rate with decreasing heliocentric distance, measured by the instruments onboard the Rosetta spacecraft and the Philae lander. Our findings suggest that the pebbles observed to be abundant in protoplanetary discs around young stars provide the building material for comets and other minor bodies.
2I/Borisov: A C2-depleted interstellar comet Opitom, Cyrielle; Fitzsimmons, Alan; Jehin, Emmanuel ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
11/2019, Letnik:
631
Journal Article, Web Resource
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Aims. The discovery of the first active interstellar object 2I/Borisov provides an unprecedented opportunity to study planetary formation processes in another planetary system. In particular, ...spectroscopic observations of 2I allow us to constrain the composition of its nuclear ices. Methods. We obtained optical spectra of 2I with the 4.2 m William Herschel and 2.5 m Isaac Newton telescopes between 2019 September 30 and October 13, when the comet was between 2.5 au and 2.4 au from the Sun. We also imaged the comet with broadband filters on 15 nights from September 11 to October 17, as well as with a CN narrow-band filter on October 18 and 20, with the TRAPPIST-North telescope. Results. Broadband imaging confirms that the dust coma colours (B − V = 0.82 ± 0.02, V − R = 0.46 ± 0.03, R − I = 0.44 ± 0.03, B − R = 1.28 ± 0.03) are the same as for Solar System comets. We detect CN emission in all spectra and in the TRAPPIST narrow-band images with production rates between 1.6 × 1024 and 2.1 × 1024 molec/s. No other species are detected. We determine three-sigma upper limits for C2, C3, and OH production rates of 6 × 1023 molec/s, 2 × 1023 molec/s and 2 × 1027 molec/s, respectively, on October 02. There is no significant increase of the CN production rate or A(0)fρ during our observing period. Finally, we place a three-sigma upper limit on the Q(C2)/Q(CN) ratio of 0.3 (on October 13). From this, we conclude that 2I is highly depleted in C2, and may have a composition similar to Solar System carbon-chain depleted comets.
This review addresses our current understanding of comets that venture close to the Sun, and are hence exposed to much more extreme conditions than comets that are typically studied from Earth. The ...extreme solar heating and plasma environments that these objects encounter change many aspects of their behaviour, thus yielding valuable information on both the comets themselves that complements other data we have on primitive solar system bodies, as well as on the near-solar environment which they traverse. We propose clear definitions for these comets: We use the term
near-Sun comets
to encompass all objects that pass sunward of the perihelion distance of planet Mercury (0.307 AU).
Sunskirters
are defined as objects that pass within 33 solar radii of the Sun’s centre, equal to half of Mercury’s perihelion distance, and the commonly-used phrase
sungrazers
to be objects that reach perihelion within 3.45 solar radii, i.e. the fluid Roche limit. Finally, comets with orbits that intersect the solar photosphere are termed
sundivers
. We summarize past studies of these objects, as well as the instruments and facilities used to study them, including space-based platforms that have led to a recent revolution in the quantity and quality of relevant observations. Relevant comet populations are described, including the Kreutz, Marsden, Kracht, and Meyer groups, near-Sun asteroids, and a brief discussion of their origins. The importance of light curves and the clues they provide on cometary composition are emphasized, together with what information has been gleaned about nucleus parameters, including the sizes and masses of objects and their families, and their tensile strengths. The physical processes occurring at these objects are considered in some detail, including the disruption of nuclei, sublimation, and ionisation, and we consider the mass, momentum, and energy loss of comets in the corona and those that venture to lower altitudes. The different components of comae and tails are described, including dust, neutral and ionised gases, their chemical reactions, and their contributions to the near-Sun environment. Comet-solar wind interactions are discussed, including the use of comets as probes of solar wind and coronal conditions in their vicinities. We address the relevance of work on comets near the Sun to similar objects orbiting other stars, and conclude with a discussion of future directions for the field and the planned ground- and space-based facilities that will allow us to address those science topics.
Abstract
We have monitored the Didymos–Dimorphos binary asteroid in spectropolarimetric mode in the optical range before and after the DART impact. The ultimate goal was to obtain constraints on the ...characteristics of the ejected dust for modeling purposes. Before impact, Didymos exhibited a linear polarization rapidly increasing with phase angle, reaching a level of ∼5% in the blue and ∼4.5% in the red. The shape of the polarization spectrum was anticorrelated with that of its reflectance spectrum, which appeared typical of an S-class asteroid. After impact, the level of polarization dropped by about 1 percentage point (pp) in the blue band and about 0.5 pp in the red band, then continued to linearly increase with phase angle, with a slope similar to that measured prior to impact. The polarization spectra, once normalized by their values at an arbitrary wavelength, show very little or no change over the course of all observations before and after impact. The lack of any remarkable change in the shape of the polarization spectrum after impact suggests that the way in which polarization varies with wavelength depends on the composition of the scattering material, rather than on its structure, be this a surface or a debris cloud.
Abstract
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is expected to start the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) in early to mid-2025. This multiband wide-field synoptic survey will transform our view of the ...solar system, with the discovery and monitoring of over five million small bodies. The final survey strategy chosen for LSST has direct implications on the discoverability and characterization of solar system minor planets and passing interstellar objects. Creating an inventory of the solar system is one of the four main LSST science drivers. The LSST observing cadence is a complex optimization problem that must balance the priorities and needs of all the key LSST science areas. To design the best LSST survey strategy, a series of operation simulations using the Rubin Observatory scheduler have been generated to explore the various options for tuning observing parameters and prioritizations. We explore the impact of the various simulated LSST observing strategies on studying the solar system’s small body reservoirs. We examine what are the best observing scenarios and review what are the important considerations for maximizing LSST solar system science. In general, most of the LSST cadence simulations produce ±5% or less variations in our chosen key metrics, but a subset of the simulations significantly hinder science returns with much larger losses in the discovery and light-curve metrics.
The Main Belt Comets and ice in the Solar System Snodgrass, Colin; Agarwal, Jessica; Combi, Michael ...
The Astronomy and astrophysics review,
11/2017, Letnik:
25, Številka:
1
Journal Article, Web Resource
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We review the evidence for buried ice in the asteroid belt; specifically the questions around the so-called Main Belt Comets (MBCs). We summarise the evidence for water throughout the Solar System, ...and describe the various methods for detecting it, including remote sensing from ultraviolet to radio wavelengths. We review progress in the first decade of study of MBCs, including observations, modelling of ice survival, and discussion on their origins. We then look at which methods will likely be most effective for further progress, including the key challenge of direct detection of (escaping) water in these bodies.
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