Evidence of sub-surface energy storage in comet 67P from the outburst of 2016 July 03

Agarwal, J. and Della Corte, V. and Feldman, P. D. and Geiger, B. and Merouane, S. and Bertini, I. and Bodewits, D. and Fornasier, S. and Grün, E. and Hasselmann, P. and Hilchenbach, M. and Höfner, S. and Ivanovski, S. and Kolokolova, L. and Pajola, M. and Rotundi, A. and Sierks, H. and Steffl, A. J. and Thomas, N. and A'Hearn, M. F. and Barbieri, C. and Barucci, M. A. and Bertaux, J.-L. and Boudreault, S. and Cremonese, G. and Da Deppo, V. and Davidsson, B. and Debei, S. and De Cecco, M. and Deller, J. F. and Feaga, L. M. and Fischer, H. and Fulle, M. and Gicquel, A. and Groussin, O. and Güttler, C. and Gutiérrez, P. J. and Hofmann, M. and Hornung, K. and Hviid, S. F. and Ip, W.-H. and Jorda, L. and Keller, H. U. and Kissel, J. and Knollenberg, J. and Koch, A. and Koschny, D. and Kramm, J.-R. and Kührt, E. and Küppers, M. and Lamy, P. L. and Langevin, Y. and Lara, L. M. and Lazzarin, M. and Lin, Z.-Y. and Lopez Moreno, J. J. and Lowry, S. C. and Marzari, F. and Mottola, S. and Naletto, G. and Oklay, N. and Parker, J. Wm. and Rodrigo, R. and Rynö, J. and Shi, X. and Stenzel, O. and Tubiana, C. and Vincent, J.-B. and Weaver, H. A. and Zaprudin, B. (2017) Evidence of sub-surface energy storage in comet 67P from the outburst of 2016 July 03. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 469 . s606-s625. ISSN 0035-8711. (doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx2386) (Full text available)

Abstract

On 3 July 2016, several instruments on board ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft detected signs of an outburst event on comet 67P, at a heliocentric distance of 3.32 AU from the sun, outbound from perihelion. We here report on the inferred properties of the ejected dust and the surface change at the site of the outburst. The activity coincided with the local sunrise and continued over a time interval of 14 – 68 minutes. It left a 10m-sized icy patch on the surface. The ejected material comprised refractory grains of several hundred microns in size, and sub-micron-sized water ice grains. The high dust mass production rate is incompatible with the free sublimation of crystalline water ice under solar illumination as the only acceleration process. Additional energy stored near the surface must have increased the gas density. We suggest a pressurized sub-surface gas reservoir, or the crystallization of amorphous water ice as possible causes.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy > QB651 Planets, Minor
Divisions:	Faculties > Sciences > School of Physical Sciences Faculties > Sciences > School of Physical Sciences > Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences
Depositing User:	Stephen Lowry
Date Deposited:	08 Dec 2017 11:33 UTC
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2017 12:39 UTC
Resource URI:	https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/65125 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)