Related papers: Where are the Mini Kreutz-family Comets?
There is a group of newly recognized asteroids in the main belt that are exhibiting cometary characteristics. We will call them Asteroidal Belt Comets or ABCs. An analysis of their orbital and physical properties has resulted in the…
We present an analysis of the photometric and spectroscopic data of the comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) observed at the heliocentric distances of 6.21\div 4.81 AU. The photometric observations were made with the 60-cm Zeiss-600 telescope (ICAMER,…
We present high angular resolution Submillimeter Array observations ofthe outbursting Jupiter family comet 17P/Holmes on 2007 October 26-29, achieving a spatial resolution of 2.5", or ~3000 km at the comet distance. The observations…
From several searches of the area common to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope Infrared Deep Sky Survey, we have selected 22 luminous galaxies between $z \sim$ 0.4 and $z \sim$ 0.9 that have colors and…
The outflows from comets in orbit around G-type main-sequence stars can be detected when they produce transient OH absorption lines in the spectrum near 3100 Angstroms of the host star. There is only about a 3 X 10^{-8} probability of…
In 2017, 2018 and 2019, comets 46P/Wirtanen, 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, and 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak all had perihelion passages. Their hydrogen comae were observed by the Solar Wind ANisotropies (SWAN) all-sky hydrogen Lyman-alpha…
We present studies of C/2015 D1 (SOHO), the first sunskirting comet ever seen from ground stations over the past half century. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) witnessed its peculiar light curve with a huge dip followed by a…
(60558) 174P/Echeclus is an unusual object that belongs to a class of minor planets called Centaurs, which may be intermediate between Kuiper Belt Objects and Jupiter Family comets. It is sporadically active throughout its orbit at…
A recent study announced the detection of three bands in the ultraviolet emission spectra of more than a dozen comets, assigning two of them to pentacene (C$_{22}$H$_{14}$) and the third one to toluene (C$_7$H$_8$). The comparison of the…
The Centaurs are recent escapees from the Kuiper belt that are destined either to meet fiery oblivion in the hot inner regions of the Solar system or to be ejected to the interstellar medium by gravitational scattering from the giant…
New insights into the history of C/1843 D1 and C/1882 R1, the two celebrated Kreutz sungrazers, are provided by assessing evidence on their appearance at the previous perihelion return, known as X/1106 C1 and the Chinese comet of 1138 (Ho's…
The Karma asteroid family is a group of primitive asteroids in the middle part of the main belt, just at the outer edge of the 3J:1A mean-motion resonance. We obtained the list of the family members with 317 asteroids and estimated that it…
Comet C/2006 W3 (Christensen) was observed in November 2009 at 3.3 AU from the Sun with Herschel. The PACS instrument acquired images of the dust coma in 70- and 160-micrometers filters, and spectra covering several H2O rotational lines.…
We present pre-perihelion infrared 8 to 31 micron spectrophotometric and imaging observations of comet C/2012 K1 (Pan-STARRS), a dynamically new Oort Cloud comet, conducted with NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy…
Context. Theories of the formation and evolution of small bodies in planetary systems predict that they may escape into interstellar space at any time. After having characterized just two such interlopers -1I/2017 U1 (Oumuamua) and…
Outbursts are known to begin with a sudden appearance and steep brightening of a "stellar nucleus" --- an unresolved image of a plume of material on its way from the comet's surface and an initial stage of an expanding halo of ejecta. Since…
Comets and asteroids have long captured human curiosity, and until recently, all documented examples belonged to our Solar System. That changed with the discovery of the first known interstellar object, 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua), in 2017. Two…
We examine the dynamics of small bodies in orbits similar to that of comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, i.e. near-circular orbits between Jupiter and Saturn. As of late 2019, there are 14 other known bodies in this region that lie in similar…
We present new analyses of the photometric lightcurve of Comet 1P/Halley during its 1985/86 apparition. As part of a world-wide campaign coordinated by the International Halley Watch (IHW), narrowband photometry was obtained with telescopes…
We report results based on mid-infrared photometry of comet 103P/Hartley 2 taken during May 4-13, 2010 (when the comet was at a heliocentric distance of 2.3 AU, and an observer distance of 2.0 AU) by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer…