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New near-aphelion light curves of Comet 2P/Encke

Fernandez, Y.R., Lowry, S.C., Weissman, P.R., Mueller, B.E.A., Samarasinha, N.H., Belton, M.J.S., Meech, K.J. (2005) New near-aphelion light curves of Comet 2P/Encke. Icarus, 175 (1). pp. 194-214. ISSN 0019-1035. (doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2004.10.019) (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:52316)

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/10.1016/j.icarus.2004.10.019

Abstract

We present new, near-aphelion, time series of photometry of Comet 2P/ Encke in Cousins-R band. With these light curves we find that the dominant, synodic rotational periodicity is either P0 = 11.079 ± 0.009 h or 2P0 = 22.158 ± 0.012 h. This is in contrast to data from the 1980s published by others that are consistent with 15.08- and 22.6-h periods. Those periods do not satisfy our phased light curves, and also the 1980s data are not easily reconciled with our periods. This could be due to P/Encke having non-principal axis rotation or due to a drift in the rotation period caused by outgassing torques. We observed the comet at five epochs: July, August, September, and October 2001, and September 2002, and the comet was at times intrinsically brighter than expected for a bare nucleus, due to an apparent contribution from an unresolved coma. Three-quarters of the data were obtained in the second and fifth epochs, and we analyzed these two time series using both the phase-dispersion minimization and "WindowCLEAN" techniques. At both epochs and with both techniques strong periodicities were found near frequencies f0 = 2.16 d^-1 and f1 = 4.35 d^-1. By then using visual inspection of the phased light curves to corroborate these frequencies, and by using the data from the other three epochs to properly align light curve features, we were able to derive P0 and 2P0 as the only solutions that satisfy all our observations. The periodicity due to f1 is clearly seen in our data, but we cannot tell from our data alone whether it is a manifestation of the nucleus's shape, non-principal axis rotation, or both. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1016/j.icarus.2004.10.019
Additional information: Unmapped bibliographic data: LA - English [Field not mapped to EPrints] J2 - Icarus [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai'i, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, United States [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Queen's University Belfast, Department of Physics, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, United States [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Natl. Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719, United States [Field not mapped to EPrints] AD - Belton Space Exploration Initiatives, 430 S. Randolph Way, Tucson, AZ 85716, United States [Field not mapped to EPrints] DB - Scopus [Field not mapped to EPrints]
Uncontrolled keywords: Comets, Encke
Subjects: Q Science > QB Astronomy
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Physics and Astronomy
Depositing User: Stephen Lowry
Date Deposited: 08 Dec 2015 23:06 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:21 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/52316 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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