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The nuclei of comets 7P/Pons-Winnecke, 14P/Wolf and 92P/Sanguin

Snodgrass, C., Fitzsimmons, A., Lowry, S.C. (2005) The nuclei of comets 7P/Pons-Winnecke, 14P/Wolf and 92P/Sanguin. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 444 (1). pp. 287-295. ISSN 0004-6361. E-ISSN 1432-0746. (doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20053237) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:52313)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20053237

Abstract

Jupiter Family comets (JFCs) are short period comets which have recently entered the inner solar system, having previously orbited in the Kuiper Belt since the formation of the planets. We used two nights on the 3.6 m New Technology Telescope (NTT) at the European Southern Observatory, to obtain VRI photometry of three JFCs; 7P/Pons-Winnecke, 14P/Wolf and 92P/Sanguin. These were observed to be stellar in appearance. We find mean effective radii of 2.24 ± 0.02 km for 7P, 3.16 ± 0.01 km for 14P and 2.08 ± 0.01 km for 92P, assuming a geometric albedo of 0.04. From light-curves for each comet we find rotation periods of 7.53 ± 0.10 and 6.22 ± 0.05 h for 14P and 92P respectively. 7P exhibits brightness variations which imply a rotation period of 6.8 < Prot < 9.5 h. Assuming the nuclei to be ellipsoidal the measured brightness variations imply minimum axial ratios a/b of 1.3 ± 0.1 for 7P and 1.7 ± 0.1 for both 14P and 92P. This in turn implies minimum densities of 0.23 ± 0.08 g cm^-3 for 7P, 0.32 ± 0.02 g cm^-3 for 14P and 0.49 ± 0.06 g cm^-3 for 92P. Finally, we measure colour indices of (V - R) = 0.40 ± 0.05 and (R - I) = 0.41 ± 0.06 for 7P/Pons-Winnecke, (V - R) = 0.57 ± 0.07 and (R - I) = 0.51 ± 0.06 for 14P/Wolf, and (V - R) = 0.54 ± 0.04 and (R - I) = 0.54 ± 0.04 for 92P/Sanguin. © ESO 2005.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1051/0004-6361:20053237
Additional information: Unmapped bibliographic data: LA - English [Field not mapped to EPrints] J2 - Astron. Astrophys. [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - APS Division, School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom [Field not mapped to EPrints] DB - Scopus [Field not mapped to EPrints]
Uncontrolled keywords: Comets: general, Comets: individual: 14P/Wolf, Comets: individual: 7P/Pons-Winnecke, Comets: individual: 92P/Sanguin, Techniques: photometric, Astrophysics, Photometry, Planets, Space research, Space telescopes, Comets: general, Comets: individual: 7P/Pons-Winnecke, Techniques: photometric, Galaxies
Subjects: Q Science > QB Astronomy
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Depositing User: Stephen Lowry
Date Deposited: 08 Dec 2015 23:08 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:21 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/52313 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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