Related papers: Recent Chemo-morphological Coma Evolution of Comet…

A 3-D numerical model of comet nuclei is presented. An implicit numerical scheme was developed for the thermal evolution of a spherical nucleus composed of a mixture of ice and dust. The model was tested against analytical solutions,…

Grand Canonical Monte Carlo simulations are used to reproduce the N$_2$/CO ratio ranging between 1.7 $\times$ 10$^{-3}$ and 1.6 $\times$ 10$^{-2}$ observed {\it in situ} in the Jupiter family comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by the ROSINA…

The interstellar comet 2I/Borisov bears a strong resemblance to Oort Cloud comets, judging from its appearance in images taken over the first six weeks of observation. To test the proposed affinity in more diagnostic terms, 2I is compared…

Following our previous detection of ubiquitous H2O and O2 absorption against the far-UV continuum of stars located near the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, we present a serendipitously observed stellar occultation that occurred…

Recently the ROSINA mass spectrometer suite on board the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft discovered an abundant amount of molecular oxygen, O2, in the coma of Jupiter family comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko of O2/H2O =…

We present the results of imaging photometric and long-slit spectroscopic observations of comet 2P/Encke performed at the heliocentric distance 0.56 au, geocentric distance 0.65 au, and phase angle 109.2 deg on November 4, 2013 and at 1.05…

We investigated Wosret, a region located on the small lobe of the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet subject to strong heating during the perihelion passage. This region includes Abydos, the final landing site of the Philae lander. We analyzed…

We describe pre-perihelion optical observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS taken during July - September 2025 using the Nordic Optical Telescope. Fixed aperture photometry of the comet is well described by a power law function of…

Context. Comets are primitive objects, remnants of the volatile-rich planetesimals from which the solar system condensed. Knowing their structure and composition is thus crucial for the understanding of our origins. After the successful…

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 made a close approach to the Earth in October 2010. It was the target of an extensive observing campaign and was visited by the Deep Impact spacecraft (mission EPOXI). We present observations of HCN and CH3OH emission…

The so-called "early activity" of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has been observed to originate mostly in parts of the concave region or "neck" between its two lobes. Since activity is driven by the sublimation of volatiles, this is a…

We present time-series medium-band (R~20-40) observations of the third interstellar object 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1) obtained with the 7-Dimensional Telescope (7DT), enabling spatially resolved monitoring of its gas and dust activity from 2025…

Dust jets, i.e. fuzzy collimated streams of cometary material arising from the nucleus, have been observed in-situ on all comets since the Giotto mission flew by comet 1P/Halley in 1986. Yet their formation mechanism remains unknown.…

We report a new imaging spectroscopic observation of Oort-cloud comet C/2017 K2 (hereafter K2) on its way to perihelion at 2.53 au, around a heliocentric distance where H2O ice begins to play a key role in comet activation. Normalized…

Comets, asteroids, and other small bodies are thought to be remnants of the original planetesimal population of the Solar System. As such, their physical, chemical, and isotopic properties hold crucial details on how and where they formed…

Aims. We aim to determine whether dissociative excitation of cometary neutrals by electron impact is the major source of far-ultraviolet (FUV) emissions at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in the southern hemisphere at large heliocentric…

The interstellar traveler, 2I/Borisov, is the first clearly active extrasolar comet, ever detected in our Solar system. We obtained high-resolution interferometric observations of 2I/Borisov with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter…

The results of the photometric observations of comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 are analyzed. The comet demonstrates substantial activity at heliocentric distances larger than 5 AU, outside the water ice sublimation zone. The CCD images of…

We report on photometry and high resolution spectroscopy of the chemically peculiar Jupiter-family Comet (hereafter JFC) 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. Comet 21P is a well known member of the carbon-chain depleted family but displays also a…

Context. On October 24, 2007 the periodic comet 17P/Holmes underwent an astonishing outburst that increased its apparent total brightness from magnitude V\sim17 up to V\sim2.5 in roughly two days. We report on Wendelstein 0.8 m telescope…