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Large-scale dust jets in the coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as seen by the OSIRIS instrument onboard Rosetta

Lara, L.M., Lowry, S., Vincent, J.-B., Gutierrez, P.J., Rożek, A., La Forgia, F., Oklay, N., Sierks, H., Barbieri, C., Lamy, P.L., and others. (2015) Large-scale dust jets in the coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as seen by the OSIRIS instrument onboard Rosetta. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 583 . pp. 1-11. ISSN 0004-6361. E-ISSN 1432-0746. (doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201526103) (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:52264)

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/10.1051/0004-6361/201526103

Abstract

During the most recent perihelion passage in 2009 of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P), ground-based observations showed an anisotropic dust coma where jet-like features were detected at ~ 1.3 AU from the Sun. The current perihelion passage is exceptional as the Rosetta spacecraft is monitoring the nucleus activity since March 2014, when a clear dust coma was already surrounding the nucleus at 4.3 AU from the Sun. Subsequently, the OSIRIS camera also witnessed an outburst in activity between April 27 and 30, and since mid-July, the dust coma at rh ~ 3.7-3.6 AU preperihelion is clearly non-isotropic, pointing to the existence of dust jet-like features. We aim to ascertain on the nucleus surface the origin of the dust jet-like features detected as early as in mid-July 2014. This will help to establish how the localized comet nucleus activity compares with that seen in previous apparitions and will also help following its evolution as the comet approaches its perihelion, at which phase most of the jets were detected from ground-based observations. Determining these areas also allows locating them in regions on the nucleus with spectroscopic or geomorphological distinct characteristics. Methods. Three series of dust images of comet 67P obtained with the Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the OSIRIS instrument onboard the Rosetta spacecraft were processed with different enhancement techniques. This was made to clearly show the existence of jet-like features in the dust coma, whose appearance toward the observer changed as a result of the rotation of the comet nucleus and of the changing observing geometry from the spacecraft. The position angles of these features in the coma together with information on the observing geometry, nucleus shape, and rotation, allowed us to determine the most likely locations on the nucleus surface where the jets originate from. Results. Geometrical tracing of jet sources indicates that the activity of the nucleus of 67P gave rise during July and August 2014 to large-scale jet-like features from the Hapi, Hathor, Anuket, and Aten regions, confirming that active regions may be present on the nucleus localized at 60° northern latitude as deduced from previous comet apparitions. There are also hints that large-scale jets observed from the ground are possibly composed, at their place of origin on the nucleus surface, of numerous small-scale features. © 2015 ESO.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1051/0004-6361/201526103
Additional information: Unmapped bibliographic data: C7 - A9 [EPrints field already has value set] LA - English [Field not mapped to EPrints] J2 - Astron. Astrophys. [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomia, Granada, Spain [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Max-Planck Institut fuer Sonnensystemforschung, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, Goettingen, Germany [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Department of Physics and Astronomy G. Galilei, University of Padova, Vic. Osservatorio 3, Padova, Italy [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - CISAS G. Colombo, University of Padova, via Venezia 15, Padova, Italy [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, LAM, Marseille, France [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Centro de Astrobiologia, European Space Agency, European Space Astronomy Centre, PO Box 78, Villanueva de la Canada, Madrid, Spain [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - International Space Science Institute, Hallerstrasse 6, Bern, Switzerland [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Research and Scientific Support Department, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, Netherlands [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - PAS, Space Reserch Center, Bartycka 18A, Warszawa, Poland [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Institute for Geophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics, TU Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Department for Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - LESIA, CNRS, Univ. Paris-Diderot, 5 place J. Janssen, Meudon Principal Cedex, France [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - LATMOS, UVSQ, IPSL, 11 boulevard d'Alembert, Guyancourt, France [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, vic. dell'Osservatorio 5, Padova, Italy [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, Uppsala, Sweden [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - CNR, LUXOR, via Trasea 7, Padova, Italy [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, via Venezia 1, Padova, Italy [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - University of Trento, via Sommarive 9, Trento, Italy [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, Bern, Switzerland [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via Tiepolo 11, Trieste, Italy [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft-und Raumfahrt, Institut fur Planetenforschung, Rutherfordstrasse 2, Berlin, Germany [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Institute for Space Science, National Central University, Chung-Li, Taiwan [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - ESA, ESAC, PO Box 78, Villanueva de la Canãda, Spain [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, via Gradenigo 6/B, Padova, Italy [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial, Torrejon de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain [Field not mapped to EPrints] DB - Scopus [Field not mapped to EPrints]
Uncontrolled keywords: Comets: general, Comets: individual: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Cameras, Dust, Feature extraction, Geometry, Spacecraft, Temperature measurement, 67p/churyumov-gerasimenko, Comets: general, Comets: individual: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Ground-based observations, Northern latitudes, OSiRIS cameras, Small-scale features, Wide angle cameras, Fighter aircraft
Subjects: Q Science > QB Astronomy
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Depositing User: Stephen Lowry
Date Deposited: 08 Dec 2015 22:15 UTC
Last Modified: 17 Aug 2022 10:59 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/52264 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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