Related papers: Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) crossing the Jupiter orbit

Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) was an dynamically new Oort cloud comet whose apparition presented a favorable geometry for observations near close Earth approach (~0.93au) at heliocentric distances ~2au when insolation and sublimation of…

We present a study of interstellar comet 2I/2019 Q4 (Borisov) using both preperihelion and postperihelion observations spanning late September 2019 through late January 2020. The intrinsic brightness of the comet was observed to…

We report on photometry and imaging of Comet 10P/Tempel 2 obtained at Lowell Observatory from 1983 through 2011. We measured a nucleus rotation period of 8.950 +/- 0.002 hr from 2010 September to 2011 January. This rotation period is longer…

Hubble Space Telescope observations of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov near perihelion show the ejection of large (>~100 um) particles at <~9 m/s speeds, with estimated mass-loss rates of ~35 kg/s. The total mass loss from comet Borisov…

Spectra of comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) were taken with a low resolution spectrograph mounted on the 0.5 m telescope at the Mount Abu Infrared Observatory (MIRO), India during January to May 2015 covering the perihelion and post-perihelion…

C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) is an Oort cloud comet previously observed to be active at heliocentric distances r>20 au on what is likely its first passage through the inner solar system. We observed the comet on 2021 March 19-20 at r=6.82 au…

Beginning in March 2014, the OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System) cameras began capturing images of the nucleus and coma (gas and dust) of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko using both the wide angle camera (WAC)…

Comets and asteroids have long captured human curiosity, and until recently, all documented examples belonged to our Solar System. That changed with the discovery of the first known interstellar object, 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua), in 2017. Two…

Orbital elements of C2011 L4 (PanStarrs) Oort cloud comet, computed by MPC (Minor Planet Center, Minor Planet Electronic Circular 2012-T08), show that the closest approach to the Sun occurred on 2013 March 10th, at about 0.3 A.U., then…

We present time-resolved photometric observations of Jupiter family comet 17P/Holmes during its dramatic outburst of 2007. The observations, from the orbiting Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI), provide the most complete measure of the…

Comets spend most of their lives at large distances from any star, during which time their interior compositions remain relatively unaltered. Cometary observations can therefore provide direct insight into the chemistry that occurred during…

Comet 73P-B/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 was observed with IRCS/Subaru at geocentric distance of 0.074 AU on UT 10 May 2006. Multiple H2O emission lines were detected in non-resonant fluorescence near 2.9 microns. No significant variation in…

Extensive observations of comet C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) were carried out between August 2004 and May 2005. The images obtained were used to investigate the comet's inner coma features at resolutions between 350 and 1500 km/pixel. A photometric…

Comet C/2017 K2 (Pan-STARRS) provided a rare opportunity to investigate the evolution of coma composition and outgassing patterns over a transitional heliocentric distance (Rh) range where activity drivers in comets are thought to change…

Between 2019 and 2024, we used the Gemini-N and JWST observatories to conduct a detailed case study of the active Centaur 450P/LONEOS, whose orbit was significantly altered by a close Saturn encounter in 1992. Gemini-N GMOS optical images…

Sungrazing comets have always captured a lot of interest and curiosity among the general public as well as scientists since ancient times. The perihelion passage of comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) at the end of this year (on 2013 November 28) is an…

We present R-band observations of comet C2004B1 obtained in the period June, 21 - August 20, 2006. The data have been reduced to surface brightness maps, light curves, and mean radial profiles of the coma. In two cases a decrease of the…

We present a study of comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) using prediscovery archival data taken from 2013 to 2017. Our measurements show that the comet has been marginally increasing in activity since at least 2013 May (heliocentric distance of…

Comet C/2020 V2 (ZTF) is categorized as a dynamically new long-period comet, making its first approach to the inner Solar system. We have observed this comet for around 32 months (from January 2022 to July 2024) at heliocentric distances…

Recent observations show activity in long-period comet C/2017 K2 at heliocentric distances beyond the orbit of Uranus. With this as motivation, we constructed a simple model that takes a detailed account of gas transport modes and simulates…