Related papers: Comet 9P/Tempel 1: Interpretation with the Deep Im…
We report on photometry and imaging of Comet 10P/Tempel 2 obtained at Lowell Observatory from 1983 through 2011. We measured a nucleus rotation period of 8.950 +/- 0.002 hr from 2010 September to 2011 January. This rotation period is longer…
We demonstrate that $\sim10\,\textrm{s}$ after the core-collapse of a massive star, a thermonuclear explosion of the outer shells is possible for some (tuned) initial density and composition profiles, assuming that the neutrinos failed to…
In recent years, dust masses of a few tenths of a solar mass have been found in the expanding ejecta of a number of core-collapse supernovae. How dust forms in such quantities remains poorly understood; theories of dust formation predict…
Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) was an dynamically new Oort cloud comet whose apparition presented a favorable geometry for observations near close Earth approach (~0.93au) at heliocentric distances ~2au when insolation and sublimation of…
Comets likely formed in the outer regions of the protosolar nebula where they incorporated and preserved primitive presolar materials, volatiles resident in the outer disk, and more refractory materials from throughout the disk. The return…
A sequence of events, dominated by two outbursts and ending with the preperihelion disintegration of comet C/2017 S3, is examined. The onset times of the outbursts are determined with high accuracy from the light curve of the nuclear…
Investigating the chemical complexity of the interstellar medium (ISM) is key for understanding its physical nature and evolution. In this work, we study parsec-scale interstellar dust clouds in the neutral ISM of the Milky Way using two…
We have studied plume formation after a Jovian comet impact using the ZEUS-MP 2 hydrodynamics code. The three-dimensional models followed objects with 500, 750, and 1000 meter diameters. Our simulations show the development of a fast,…
The coma of comet 103P/Hartley 2 has a significant population of large particles observed as point sources in images taken by the Deep Impact spacecraft. We measure their spatial and flux distributions, and attempt to constrain their…
Kuiper belt objects, such as Arrokoth, the probable progenitors of short-period comets, formed and evolved at large heliocentric distances, where the ambient temperatures appear to be sufficiently low for preserving volatile ices. By…
We present a study of the current state of knowledge concerning spacecraft operations and potential hazards while operating near a comet nucleus. Starting from simple calculations comparing the cometary coma environment to benign conditions…
Comets are pristine remnants of the Solar system, composed of dust and ice. They remain inactive and undetectable for most of their orbit due to low temperatures. However, as they approach the Sun, volatile materials sublimate, expelling…
Cometary dust particles are remnants of the primordial accretion of refractory material that occurred during the initial stages of the Solar System formation. Understanding their physical structure can help constrain their accretion…
The standard approach to obtaining knowledge about the properties of the surface layer of a comet from observations of gas production consists of two stages. First, various thermophysical models are used to calculate gas production for a…
We present the discovery of a molecular cloud at zabs=2.5255 along the line of sight to the quasar J0000+0048. We perform a detailed analysis of the absorption lines from ionic, neutral atomic and molecular species in different excitation…
Core-collapse supernovae are considered to be important contributors to the primitive dust enrichment of the interstellar medium in the high-redshift universe. Theoretical models of dust formation in stellar explosions have so far provided…
Dust plays a central role in the unification theory of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). However, little is known about the nature (e.g., size, composition) of the dust which forms a torus around the AGN. In this Letter we report a systematic…
In dense molecular clouds, interstellar grains are covered by mantles of iced molecules. The formation of the grain mantles has two important consequences: it removes species from the gas phase and promotes the synthesis of new molecules on…
Comet 17P/Holmes underwent the largest cometary outburst in recorded history on UT 2007 Oct. 23, releasing massive quantities of dust and gas. We used the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope to obtain wide-field images of 17P/Holmes on 15 dates…
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is the main target of ESA's Rosetta mission and will be encountered in May 2014. As the spacecraft shall be in orbit the comet nucleus before and after release of the lander {\it Philae}, it is necessary…