Related papers: The activity of Main Belt comets
Comets provide a valuable window into the chemical and physical conditions at the time of their formation in the young solar system. We seek insights into where and when these objects formed by comparing the range of abundances observed for…
During the planet formation process, billions of comets are created and ejected into interstellar space. The detection and characterization of such interstellar comets (also known as extra-solar planetesimals or extra-solar comets) would…
An activity indicator, which can provide a robust quantitative mapping between the stellar activity and the physical properties of its atmosphere, is important in exploring the physics of activity across spectral types. But the common…
We present a study of debris disks whose spectra are well modelled by dust emission at two different temperatures. These disks are typically assumed to be a sign of multiple belts, which in only a few cases have been confirmed via high…
The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS displayed a small but statistically significant non-gravitational acceleration during its passage through the inner Solar System. Using a thermophysical model coupled with stochastic sampling of jet…
In this review presented at the Royal Society meeting, "Cometary Science After Rosetta", I present an overview of studies of small solar system objects that exhibit properties of both asteroids and comets (with a focus on so-called active…
Five new correlations between sunspot activity and orbiting position of the Jovian planets are detected. In order to explain these correlations it is suggested that the resonance of the outer planets destabilizes the orbit of Kuiper Belt…
Comets can be divided into two groups: type I, characterized by high gas/dust ratio, low polarization, and a weak or absent 10 micron silicate feature, and type II, for which a low gas/dust ratio, high polarization, and strong silicate…
Planet-disk interaction predicts a change in the orbital elements of an embedded planet. Through linear and fully hydrodynamical studies it has been found that migration is typically directed inwards. Hence, this migration process gives…
Dynamical mass estimates for the main asteroid belt and the trans-Neptunian Kuiper belt have been found from their gravitational influence on the motion of planets. Discrete rotating models consisting of moving material points have been…
The Kuiper belt objects, the Centaurs, and the Jupiter-family comets form an evolutionary continuum of small outer Solar System objects, and their study allows us to gain insight into the history and evolution of the Solar System. Broadband…
Active asteroids show (typically transient) cometary activity, driven by a range of processes. A sub-set, sometimes called main-belt comets, may be driven by sublimation and so could be useful for tracing the present-day distribution of…
The dust ejecta of Main-Belt Comet P/2010 A2 (LINEAR) have been observed with several telescopes at the at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos on La Palma, Spain. Application of an inverse dust tail Monte Carlo method to the images…
We introduce a parameter, X, to predict the changes in the rotational period of a comet in terms of the rotational period itself, the nuclear radius, and the orbital characteristics. We show that X should be a constant if the bulk densities…
I reexamine recent observations of velocity profiles across jets blown by young stellar objects, and argue that the observations do not support the interpretation of jets rotating around their symmetry axes. Instead, I propose that the…
The past decade has brought major improvements in large-scale asteroid discovery and characterization with over half a million known asteroids and over 100,000 with some measurement of physical characterization. This explosion of data has…
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…
Large Kuiper Belt Objects are conventionally thought to have formed out of a massive planetesimal belt that is a few thousand times its current mass. Such a picture, however, is incompatible with multiple lines of evidence. Here, we present…
Giant impacts by comets and asteroids have probably had an important influence on terrestrial biological evolution. We know of around 180 high velocity impact craters on the Earth with ages up to 2400Myr and diameters up to 300km. Some…
Ejection of large boulder-like debris is a vigorous form of cometary activity that is unlikely induced by water ice out-gassing alone but rather associated with the sublimation of super-volatile ices. Though perceived on several comets,…