Related papers: Characterizing the nucleus of comet 162P/Siding Sp…
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…
We imaged Comet 252P/2000 G1 (LINEAR) (hereafter 252P) with the Hubble Space Telescope and both 252P and P/2016 BA$_{14}$ (PanSTARRS) (hereafter BA$_{14}$) with the Discovery Channel Telescope in March and April 2016, surrounding its close…
We observed comet 96P/Machholz 1 on a total of 9 nights before and after perihelion during its 2017/2018 apparition. Both its unusually small perihelion distance and the observed fragmentation during multiple apparitions make 96P an object…
The Rosetta mission of the European Space Agency has been orbiting the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P) since August 2014 and is now in its escort phase. A large complement of scientific experiments designed to complete the most…
We observed Comet C/Siding Spring using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) during its close approach to Mars. The high spatial resolution images obtained through the F689M, F775W, and F845M filters reveal the characteristics of the dust coma.…
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…
Extensive observations of comet 260P (McNaught) were carried out between August 2012 and January 2013. The images obtained were used to analyze the inner coma morphology of the comet at resolutions ranging from 250 to about 1000 km/pixel. A…
Comet 156P/Russell-LINEAR is a short period Jupiter family comet with an orbital period of 6.44 years. The results from spectroscopic, photometric, polarimetric observations and dust modelling studies are presented here. From the…
We present photometry on 23 Jupiter Family Comets (JFCs) observed at large heliocentric distance, primarily using the 2.5m Isaac Newton Telescope (INT). Snap-shot images were taken of 17 comets, of which 5 were not detected, 3 were active…
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…
We report new lightcurves and phase functions for nine Jupiter-family comets (JFCs). They were observed in the period 2004-2015 with various ground telescopes as part of the Survey of Ensemble Physical Properties of Cometary Nuclei…
The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) at Vera C. Rubin Observatory will deliver high-quality, temporally-sparse observations of millions of Solar System objects on an unprecedented scale. Such datasets will likely enable the precise…
We present new lightcurve measurements of Comet 10P/Tempel 2 carried out with Lowell Observatory's Discovery Channel Telescope in early 2013 when the comet was at aphelion. These data represent some of the first science obtained with this…
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…
A photometric method is described for accurately quantifying the brightness of short-period comets far from perihelion. The method utilizes the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Catalog (Data Release 7) as a homogeneous source of reference star…
Aims. We aim to constrain the size and porosity of ejected dust particles from comet 252P/LINEAR and their evolution near the perihelion via near-infrared multiband polarimetry. A close approach of the comet to the Earth in March 2016…
The rotations of cometary nuclei are known to change in response to outgassing torques. The nucleus of comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak exhibited particularly dramatic rotational changes when near perihelion in 2017 April. Here, we use…
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,…
Rotational spin-up due to outgassing of comet nuclei has been identified as a possible mechanism for considerable mass-loss and splitting. We report a search for spin changes for three large Jupiter-family comets (JFCs): 14P/Wolf,…
We present observations of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during its 2021/22 apparition, aiming to investigate its dust and gas environment and compare the results with those obtained in 2015/16 using the same telescope. Quasi-simultaneous…