Related papers: A link between the size and composition of comets
During their formation, planets form large, hot atmospheres due to the ongoing accretion of solids. It has been customary to assume that all solids end up at the center constituting a "core" of refractory materials, whereas the envelope…
We propose a scenario that explains the apparent nitrogen deficiency in comets in a way consistent with the fact that the surfaces of Pluto and Triton are dominated by nitrogen-rich ice. We use a statistical thermodynamic model to…
Comets are a rich reservoir of complex organic molecules. Ground and space-based observatories have recently greatly enhanced the cometary molecular inventory. Although these molecules' origin is believed to be the cometary nucleus, they…
Volatility-dependent fractionation of the rock-forming elements at high temperatures is an early, widespread process during formation of the earliest solids in protoplanetary disks. Equilibrium condensation calculations allow prediction of…
Comets are icy objects that orbitally evolve from the trans-Neptunian region (the Kuiper belt and beyond) into the inner Solar System, where they are heated by solar radiation and become active due to sublimation of water ice. Here we…
In this chapter, we provide a review of radiative processes in cometary atmospheres spanning a broad range of wavelengths, from radio to X-rays. We focus on spectral modeling, observational opportunities, and anticipated challenges in the…
In order to understand the origin and evolution of comets, one must decipher the processes that formed and processed cometary ice and dust. Cometary materials have diverse physical and chemical properties and are mixed in various ways.…
We use morphological measurements and the scatter of clusters about observed and simulated scaling relations to examine the impact of merging and core-related phenomena on the structure of galaxy clusters. All relations constructed from…
In the late stages of accretion leading up to the formation of planetesimals, particles grew to pebbles the size of 1-mm to tens of cm. That is the same size range that dominates the present-day comet mass loss. Meteoroids that size cause…
The compositions of the Solar System terrestrial bodies are fractionated from that of the Sun, where elemental depletions in the bulk rocky bodies correlate with element volatility, expressed in its 50% condensation temperature. However,…
We present results from SEPPCoN, an on-going Survey of the Ensemble Physical Properties of Cometary Nuclei. In this report we discuss mid-infrared measurements of the thermal emission from 89 nuclei of Jupiter-family comets (JFCs). All data…
When viewed from Earth, most of what we observe of a comet is dust. The influence of solar radiation pressure on the trajectories of dust particles depends on their cross-section to mass ratio. Hence solar radiation pressure acts like a…
The gas transport through non-volatile random porous media is investigated numerically. We extend our previous research of the transport of molecules inside the uppermost layer of a cometary surface (Skorov and Rickmann, 1995; Skorov et al.…
Impacts from icy and rocky bodies have helped shape the composition of solar system objects, for example the Earth-Moon system, or the recent impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter. It is likely that such impacts also shape the…
Comets likely formed in the outer regions of the protosolar nebula where they incorporated and preserved primitive presolar materials, volatiles resident in the outer disk, and more refractory materials from throughout the disk. The return…
We use the gravitational instability formation scenario of cometesimals to derive the aggregate size that can be released by the gas pressure from the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for different heliocentric distances and…
In our solar system, terrestrial planets and meteoritical matter exhibit various bulk compositions. To understand this variety of compositions, formation mechanisms of meteorites are usually investigated via a thermodynamic approach that…
The process of cometary activity continues to pose a challenging question in cometary science. The activity modeling of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, based on data from the Rosetta mission, has significantly enhanced our comprehension of…
Super Earths and mini Neptunes likely have a wide range of atmospheric compositions, ranging from low-molecular mass atmospheres of H2 to higher molecular atmospheres of water, CO2, N2, or other species. Here, we systematically investigate…
Most comets are volatile-rich bodies that have recently entered the inner solar system following long-term storage in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud reservoirs. These reservoirs feed several distinct, short-lived "small body"…