Related papers: Water-ice driven activity on Main-Belt Comet P/201…

We present the polarimetric results and analysis of comet C/2012 L2 (LINEAR) observed at 31$^\circ$.1 phase angle before perihelion passage. The observations of the comet were carried out using ARIES Imaging Polarimeter (AIMPOL) mounted on…

It is speculated that some weakly active comets may be transitional objects between active and dormant comets. These objects are at a unique stage of the evolution of cometary nuclei, as they are still identifiable as active comets, in…

We present IRTF/SpeX and NEOWISE observations of the dynamically new comet C/2013 US$_{10}$ (Catalina), hereafter US10, from 5.8 au inbound, to near perihelion at 1.3 au, and back to 5.0 au outbound. We detect water ice in the coma of US10,…

We present initial results from observations and numerical analyses aimed at characterizing main-belt comet P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS). Optical monitoring observations were made between October 2012 and February 2013 using the University of…

We present the analysis of the polarimetric and spectral data obtained for the dynamically new comet C/2012\,J1 (Catalina) when it was at a distance of 3.17~AU from the Sun. The observations were made at the prime focus of the 6-m BTA…

On 27 Apr 2015, when 67P/C-G was at 1.76 au from the Sun and moving towards perihelion, the OSIRIS and VIRTIS-M instruments on Rosetta observed the evolving dust and gas coma during a complete rotation of the comet. We aim to characterize…

We used the UltraViolet-Optical Telescope on board Swift to observe the dynamically young comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) from a heliocentric distance of 3.5 AU pre-perihelion until 4.0 AU outbound. At 3.5 AU pre-perihelion, comet Garradd had one…

Optical observations of the Oort cloud comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) show that its activity began at large heliocentric distances (up to 35 au), which cannot be explained by either the sublimation or the crystallization of water ice.…

The gas-driven dust activity of comets is still an unresolved question in cometary science. In the past, it was believed that comets are dirty snowballs and that the dust is ejected when the ice retreats. However, thanks to the various…

Long period comet C/2014 B1 (Schwartz) exhibits a remarkable optical appearance, like that of a discus or bi-convex lens viewed edgewise. Our measurements in the four years since discovery reveal a unique elongated dust coma whose…

The quasi-Hilda object, 212P/2000YN30 with a cometary-like orbit, was found to display a dust tail structure between January and March, 2009. From orbital calculations, it is shown that this object could have been an active comet in its…

The peculiar object P/2010 A2 was discovered by the LINEAR near-Earth asteroid survey in January 2010 and given a cometary designation due to the presence of a trail of material, although there was no central condensation or coma. The…

In this work we characterize the recently discovered active main belt object P/2012 F5 (Gibbs), which was discovered with a dust trail > 7' in length in the outer main belt, 7 months prior to aphelion. We use optical imaging obtained on UT…

Comet 133P/Elst-Pizarro is the first-known and currently best-characterised member of the main-belt comets, a recently-identified class of objects that exhibit cometary activity but which are dynamically indistinguishable from main-belt…

I find that a 0.1-1Mo outflowing equatorial dusty disk (torus) that the binary system progenitor of an intermediate luminosity optical transient (ILOT) ejects several years to several months before and during the outburst can reduce the…

We report results from an analysis of the volatile composition and evolution of main-belt comet (MBC) 133P/Elst-Pizarro using JWST NIRSpec and NIRCam observations and ground-based observations during its 2024 active apparition, and also…

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…

Recent ALMA observations present mounting evidence for the presence of exocometary gas released within Kuiper belt analogues around nearby main sequence stars. This represents a unique opportunity to study their ice reservoir at the younger…

We investigate the origin of complex organic molecules (COMs) in the gas phase around the low-mass Class~0 protostar NGC1333-IRAS2A, to determine if the COM emission lines trace an embedded disk, shocks from the protostellar jet, or the…

We present results of two-year photometric monitoring of Comet C/2011 J2 (LINEAR) that spans the time period from February 2013 through December 2014, before and after perihelion passage. The observations were conducted with broadband R…