Related papers: Spitzer Space Telescope observations of bilobate c…

Little is known about the physical properties of cometary nuclei. Apart from space mission targets, measuring the thermal emission of a nucleus is one of the few means to derive its size, independently of its albedo, and to constrain some…

We present a new analysis of ${\it Spitzer}$ observations of comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 taken on UT 2003 November 21, 23, and 24, similar to a previous investigation of the observations (Stansberry et al. 2004), but using the most…

High resolution spectra of Comet 8P/Tuttle were obtained in the frequency range 3440.6-3462.6 cm-1 on 3 January 2008 UT using CGS4 with echelle grating on UKIRT. In addition to recording strong solar pumped fluorescent (SPF) lines of H2O,…

We report measurements of eight native (i.e., released directly from the comet nucleus) volatiles (H2O, HCN, CH4, C2H2, C2H6, CO, H2CO, and CH3OH) in comet 8P/Tuttle using NIRSPEC at Keck 2. Comet Tuttle reveals a truly unusual composition,…

We measured organic volatiles (CH4, CH3OH, C2H6, H2CO), CO, and water in comet 8P/Tuttle, a comet from the Oort cloud reservoir now in a short-period Halley-type orbit. We compare its composition with two other comets in Halley-type orbits,…

We report new observations of the prototype main-belt comet (active asteroid) 133P/Elst-Pizarro taken at high angular resolution using the Hubble Space Telescope. The object has three main components; a) a point-like nucleus, b) a long,…

We have used the Spitzer 22-um peakup array to observe thermal emission from the nucleus and trail of comet 103P/Hartley 2, the target of NASA's Deep Impact Extended mission. The comet was observed on UT 2008 August 12 and 13, while the…

We report Spitzer Space Telescope observations of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at 5.5 and 4.3 AU from the Sun, post-aphelion. Comet 67P is the primary target of the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission. The Rosetta spacecraft will…

We present results for Chandra observations of comets, 17P/Holmes (17P) and 8P/Tuttle (8P). 17P was observed for 30 ksec right after its major outburst, on 31 Oct 2007 (10:07 UT) and comet 8P/Tuttle was observed in 2008 January for 47 ksec.…

We present an analysis of thermal emission from comet 162P/Siding Spring (P/2004 TU12) measured during its discovery apparition in 2004 December. The comet showed no dust coma at this time, so we have sampled emission from the comet's…

Context. Near-Earth asteroid-comet transition object 107P/ (4015) Wilson-Harrington is a possible target of the joint European Space Agency (ESA) and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Marco Polo sample return mission. Physical…

We present infrared images and spectra of comets 2P/Encke, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and C/2001 HT50 (LINEAR-NEAT) as part of a larger program to observe comets inside of 5 AU from the sun with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The nucleus of…

We present ground-based optical and Spitzer Space Telescope infrared imaging observations of the ecliptic (Jupiter-family) comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, the parent body of the Draconid meteor stream, during its 2005 apparition. Onset of…

133P/Elst-Pizarro is the firstly recognized main-belt comet, but we still know little about its nucleus. Firstly we use mid-infrared data of Spitzer-MIPS, Spitzer-IRS and WISE to estimate its effective diameter $D_{\rm…

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 have used the Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) to observe the 5-37 micron thermal emission of comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (SW3), components B and C. We obtained low spectral resolution (R ~ 100) data over the…

We present mid-infrared observations of comet P/2016 BA14 (PANSTARRS), which were obtained on UT 2016 March 21.3 at heliocentric and geocentric distances of 1.012 au and 0.026 au, respectively, approximately 30 hours before its closest…

The release of volatiles from comets is usually from direct sublimation of ices on the nucleus, but for very or hyper-active comets other sources have to be considered to account for the total production rates. In this work, we present new…

During 2006 Mar - 2007 Jan, we used the IRAC and MIPS instruments on the Spitzer Space Telescope to study the infrared emission from the ensemble of fragments, meteoroids, and dust tails in the more than 3 degree wide…

We surveyed 23 comets using the Infrared Array Camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope in wide filters centered at 3.6 and 4.5 microns. Emission in the 3.6 micron filter arises from sunlight scattered by dust grains; these images generally…