arXivDaily arXiv每日学术速递 周一至周五更新
北美退伍军人节(Veterans Day),12 日无更新
arXiv 1003.4308astro-ph.EP
收藏

爆发彗星17 P/Holmes的瞬态碎片

Transient Fragments in Outbursting Comet 17P/Holmes

Rachel Stevenson, Jan Kleyna, David Jewitt

摘要:

我们目前的结果,从一个宽视场成像活动在加拿大-法国-夏威夷望远镜研究彗星17 P/霍姆斯在2007年底的壮观爆发。使用图像处理技术,我们探测内部的球形尘埃彗发,并找到16个碎片的空间分布和运动学一致的各向同性喷射从核。碎片的光度测定与来自整体惰性物体的散射不一致。相反,每个被探测到的碎片似乎都是一个活跃的彗星,产生自己的尘埃昏迷。通过从17 P/Holmes的主核的彗发(假设半径为1.7 km)进行缩放,我们推断在UT 2007年11月6日,16个碎片的最大有效半径在~ 10 m和~ 100 m之间。这些碎片随后以约0.2等/天的速度褪色,这与这些天体在太阳的热量下稳定消耗冰相一致。我们对碎片的描述支持了一个假设,即一大块物质从核中脱离并破碎,将较小的冰碎片排入核周围较大的尘埃昏迷中。

英文摘要:

We present results from a wide-field imaging campaign at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope to study the spectacular outburst of comet 17P/Holmes in late 2007. Using image-processing techniques we probe inside the spherical dust coma and find sixteen fragments having both spatial distribution and kinematics consistent with isotropic ejection from the nucleus. Photometry of the fragments is inconsistent with scattering from monolithic, inert bodies. Instead, each detected fragment appears to be an active cometesimal producing its own dust coma. By scaling from the coma of the primary nucleus of 17P/Holmes, assumed to be 1.7 km in radius, we infer that the sixteen fragments have maximum effective radii between ~ 10 m and ~ 100 m on UT 2007 Nov. 6. The fragments subsequently fade at a common rate of ~ 0.2 mag/day, consistent with steady depletion of ices from these bodies in the heat of the Sun. Our characterization of the fragments supports the hypothesis that a large piece of material broke away from the nucleus and crumbled, expelling smaller, icy shards into the larger dust coma around the nucleus.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

↑