Related papers: Comet 252P/LINEAR: born (almost) dead?
The mysterious solar system object 133P/(7968) Elst-Pizarro is dynamically asteroidal, yet displays recurrent comet-like dust emission. Two scenarios were hypothesized to explain this unusual behavior: (1) 133P is a classical comet from the…
Discovered in October 2010 by the LINEAR survey, P/2010 TO20 LINEAR-Grauer (LG) was initially classified as an inert Jupiter Trojan. Subsequent observations obtained in October 2011 revealed LG to be a Jupiter-family comet. LG has one of…
The close encounter of Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) with Mars on October 19, 2014 presented an extremely rare opportunity to obtain the first flyby quality data of the nucleus and inner coma of a dynamically new comet. However, the…
NASA's Stardust mission returned rocky material from the coma of comet 81P/Wild 2 (pronounced "Vilt 2") to Earth for laboratory study on January 15, 2006. Comet Wild 2 contains volatile ices and likely accreted beyond the orbit of Neptune.…
In support of the EPOXI mission, we have compiled the secular light curve (SLC) of comet 103P/Hartley 2, the next target of EPOXI. a) Of the order of 30 photometric parameters are measured, over 20 of them new. The turn on point of activity…
We present H$_2$O production rates for comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) derived from observations of [OI] and OH emission during its inbound leg, covering a heliocentric distance range of 1.8-0.44 AU. Our production rates are in agreement with…
Radio observations in the ammonia inversion lines of four comets, C/2001 A2 (LINEAR), 153P/Ikeya-Zhang, C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) and C/2002 T7 (LINEAR), were performed at the Effelsberg 100-m Radio Telescope during their respective close approaches…
Space missions to NEOs are being planned at all major space agencies, and recently a manned mission to an NEO was announced as a NASA goal. Efforts to find and select suitable targets (plus backup targets) are severely hampered by our lack…
Recent observations have unveiled a population of pulsars with spin periods of a few minutes to hours that lie beyond the traditional ``death line.'' If they originate from neutron stars (NSs), the existence of such ultra-long period…
Comets formed in the outer and cold parts of the disk which eventually evolved into our Solar System. Assuming that the comets have undergone no major processing, studying their composition provides insight in the pristine composition of…
Cometary outgassing can produce torques that change the spin state of the nucleus, influencing the evolution and lifetimes of comets (1,2). If these torques spin up the rotation to the point that centripetal forces exceed the material…
We report the detection of water vapor associated with main-belt comet 358P/PANSTARRS on UT 2024 January 8-9 using the NIRSPEC instrument aboard JWST. We derive a water production rate of Q(H2O)=(5.0+/-0.2)x10^25 molecules/s, marking only…
On 31 August 2019, an interstellar comet was discovered as it passed through the Solar System (2I/Borisov). Based on initial imaging observations, 2I/Borisov appeared to be completely similar to ordinary Solar System comets - an unexpected…
Remote investigations of the ancient solar system matter has been traditionally carried out through the observations of long-period (LP) comets that are less affected by solar irradiation than the short-period counterparts orbiting much…
The absolute magnitude and perihelion distributions of long-period comets are derived, using data from the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey. The results are surprising in three ways. Firstly, the flux of comets through…
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…
Among the near-Earth object (NEO) population there are comets and active asteroids which are sources of fragments that initially move together; in addition, some NEOs follow orbits temporarily trapped in a web of secular resonances. These…
We report on the discovery and validation of Kepler-452b, a transiting planet identified by a search through the 4 years of data collected by NASA's Kepler Mission. This possibly rocky 1.63$^{+0.23}_{-0.20}$ R$_\oplus$ planet orbits its G2…
We studied C/2025 D1 (Groeller), a long-period comet with an unprecedented perihelion distance of 14.1 au, using archival observations. The data reveals that it had been active at inbound heliocentric distances $r_{\rm H} \gtrsim 20$ au.…
We present for the first time the detection of mid-J CO line emission in the outskirts of an evolved massive star, which indicates the presence of warm and/or high density molecular gas. Aiming to learn about the interplay between evolved…