Related papers: Constraints on Comet 332P/Ikeya-Murakami
Studying materials released from Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) -- as seen in their inner com\ae, the envelope of gas and dust that forms as the comet approaches the Sun -- improves the understanding of their origin and evolutionary history.…
We present high resolution imaging observations of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov (formerly C/2019 Q4) obtained using the Hubble Space Telescope. Scattering from the comet is dominated by a coma of large particles (characteristic size 0.1…
Durda et al. (2004), using numerical models, suggested that binary asteroids with large separation, called Escaping Ejecta Binaries (EEBs), can be created by fragments ejected from a disruptive impact event. It is thought that six binary…
We perform a search for dormant comets, asteroidal objects of cometary origin, in the near-Earth asteroid (NEA) population based on dynamical and physical considerations. Our study is based on albedos derived within the ExploreNEOs program…
We report new observations of the active asteroid P/2010 A2 taken when it made its closest approach to the Earth (1.06 au in 2017 January) after its first discovery in 2010. Despite a crucial role of the rotational period in clarifying its…
46P/Wirtanen is a Jupiter-family comet, probably originating from the Solar System's Kuiper belt, that now resides on a 5.4 year elliptical orbit. During its 2018 apparition, comet 46P passed unusually close to the Earth (within 0.08 au),…
We analyzed images of comet 49P/Arend-Rigaux on 33 nights between 2012 January and May and obtained R-band lightcurves of the nucleus. Through usual phasing of the data we found a double-peaked lightcurve having a synodic rotation period of…
Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke was observed from the Calar Alto Observatory (Spain) for four months during the 2021 inbound apparition. Broad-band visible images were taken between 1.71 and 1.25 AU pre-perihelion, while long-slit spectrophotometric…
We compute masses and densities for ten periodic comets with known sizes: 1P/Halley, 2P/Encke, 6P/d'Arrest, 9P/Tempel 1, 10P/Tempel 2, 19P/Borrelly, 22P/Kopff, 46P/Wirtanen, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and 81P/Wild 2. The method follows the…
I summarize and streamline the results of recent modeling of the orbital evolution and cascading fragmentation of the Kreutz sungrazers. The model starts with Aristotle's comet -- the progenitor whose nucleus is assumed to be a contact…
We observed comet 322P/SOHO 1 (P/1999 R1) from the ground and with the Spitzer Space Telescope when it was between 2.2 and 1.2 AU from the Sun. These are the first observations of any SOHO-discovered periodic comet by a non-solar…
So-called 'dark comets' are small, morphologically inactive near-Earth objects (NEOs) that exhibit nongravitational accelerations inconsistent with radiative effects. These objects exhibit short rotational periods (minutes to hours), where…
The $\tau$-Herculids (IAU shower number #61 TAH) is a minor meteor shower associated with comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, a Jupiter-Family comet that disintegrated into several fragments in 1995. As a consequence of the nucleus break-up,…
We obtained broadband and narrowband images of the hyperactive comet 46P/Wirtanen on 33~nights during its 2018/2019 apparition, when the comet made an historic close approach to the Earth. With our extensive coverage, we investigated the…
Previously proposed mechanisms have difficulty explaining the disruption of Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) as it approached the Sun. We describe a novel cometary disruption mechanism whereby comet nuclei fragment and disperse through dynamic…
C/2002 CE$_{10}$ is an object in a retrograde elliptical orbit with Tisserand parameter $-0.853$ indicating a likely origin in the Oort Cloud. It appears to be a rather inactive comet since no coma and only a very weak tail was detected…
We present the results of observations of complex powerful type II burst associated with narrow Earth-directed CME, which was ejected at around 11 UT on 31 May 2013. The observations were performed by radio telescope UTR-2, which operated…
We report the detection of several emission bands in the CO Fourth Positive Group from comet 103P/Hartley during ultraviolet spectroscopic observations from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) on 2010 November 4 near the time of closest…
This study provides a continuous ephemeris reconstruction for comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by reanalyzing Rosetta radiometric measurements and Earth-based astrometry. Given the comet-to-spacecraft relative trajectory provided by the…
Dormant comets in the near-Earth object (NEO) population are thought to be involved in the terrestrial accretion of water and organic materials. Identification of dormant comets is difficult as they are observationally indistinguishable…