English
Related papers

Related papers: Prediscovery Activity of New Interstellar Object 3…

200 papers

We aimed to measure the H2O and dust production rates in C/2006 W3 (Christensen) with the Herschel Space Observatory at a heliocentric distance of ~ 5 AU. We have searched for emission in the H2O and NH3 ground-state rotational transitions…

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…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2020-06-17 Man-To Hui , Quan-Zhi Ye , Dora Föhring , Denise Hung , David J. Tholen

Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) have orbital periods of less than 20 years and therefore undergo more frequent sublimation compared to other comet populations. The JFCs therefore represent the ideal dynamical population for investigating the…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-06-12 A. Fraser Gillan , Alan Fitzsimmons , Larry Denneau , Robert J. Siverd , Ken W. Smith , John L. Tonry , David R. Young

Comet ATLAS (C/2024 S1) is a bright dwarf sungrazer, the second Kreutz comet discovery from the ground this century, 13 years after comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3). The Population II membership of comet ATLAS sets it apart from the overwhelming…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-11-21 Zdenek Sekanina

29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 is a distant Centaur/comet, showing persistent CO-driven activity and frequent outbursts. We used the Herschel space observatory in 2010, 2011, and 2013 to observe H$_2$O and NH$_3$ and to image the dust coma.…

2I/Borisov - hereafter 2I - is the first visibly active interstellar comet observed in the solar system, allowing us for the first time to sample the composition of a building block from another system. We report on the monitoring of 2I…

We conducted contemporaneous optical and near-infrared polarimetric and spectroscopic observations of C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, hereafter T-A) from 2024 October 16 to December 17, covering a wide range of phase angles (20-123 deg) and…

Jupiter co-orbital comets have orbits that are not long-term stable. They may experience flybys with Jupiter close enough to trigger tidal disruptions like the one suffered by comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. Our aim was to study the activity and…

We present observations of main-belt comet 358P/PANSTARRS (P/2012 T1) obtained using the Gemini South telescope from 2017 July to 2017 December, as the object approached perihelion for the first time since its discovery. We find best-fit…

We present an investigation into the fate of disrupting near-Sun comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS). Imaging observations with the Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT), obtained 3--5 months after the reported disruption and the last sighting, constrained…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-12-02 Salvatore A. Cordova Quijano , Quanzhi Ye , Michael S. P. Kelley

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…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-17 J. Boissier , D. Bockelée-Morvan , N. Biver , P. Colom , J. Crovisier , R. Moreno , V. Zakharov , O. Groussin , L. Jorda , D. C. Lis

Jupiter-family Comets (JFCs) exhibit a wide range of activity levels and mass-loss over their orbits. We analyzed high-cadence observations of 42 active JFCs with the wide-field Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2023-12-13 A. Fraser Gillan , Alan Fitzsimmons , Larry Denneau , Robert J. Siverd , Ken W. Smith , John L. Tonry , David R. Young

In this paper, we present a unique data set of more than one year's worth of regular observations of comet C/2013 A1(Siding Spring) with TRAPPIST in Chile, along with low-resolution spectra obtained with the ESO/VLT FORS 2 instrument. The…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2016-04-20 C. Opitom , A. Guilbert-Lepoutre , E. Jehin , J. Manfroid , D. Hutsemékers , M. Gillon , P. Magain , G. Roberts-Borsani , O. Witasse

We used the UltraViolet-Optical Telescope on board Swift to systematically follow the dynamically new comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) on its approach to the Sun. The comet was observed from a heliocentric distance of 4.5 AU pre-perihelion…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-24 Dennis Bodewits , Michael S. P. Kelley , Jian-Yang Li , Tony L. Farnham , Michael F. A'Hearn

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…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-10-01 Goldy Ahuja , K. Aravind , Shashikiran Ganesh , Said Hmiddouch , Mathieu Vander Donckt , Emmanuel Jehin , Devendra Sahu , T. Sivarani

We report the recovery of returning Halley-type comet 12P/Pons-Brooks using the 4.3 m Lowell Discovery Telescope, at a heliocentric distance of 11.89 au. Comparative analysis with a dust model suggests that the comet may have been active…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2020-07-06 Quanzhi Ye , Tony L. Farnham , Matthew M. Knight , Carrie E. Holt , Lori M. Feaga

We report results of intensive time-resolved imaging photometry and synoptic deep imaging of the comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) performed in February 2013. The data were obtained at the Wise Observatory in Israel (WO), at the Himalayan Chandra…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-07-02 Margarita Safonova , Noah Brosch , Shai Kaspi , David Polishook , R. Michael Rich , Firoza Sutaria , Jayant Murthy

The discovery of the second interstellar object 2I/Borisov on 2019 August 30 raises the question of whether it was ejected recently from a nearby stellar system. Here we compute the asymptotic incoming trajectory of 2I/Borisov, based on…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2020-02-05 Coryn A. L. Bailer-Jones , Davide Farnocchia , Quanzhi Ye , Karen J. Meech , Marco Micheli

Conventional narrowband photoelectric photometry of Comet Hale-Bopp (1995 O1) was obtained on 99 nights from mid-1995 to early-2000, yielding gas and dust production rates over an unprecedented range of time and distance. The appearance of…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2024-09-23 David G. Schleicher , Peter V. Birch , Tony L. Farnham , Allison N. Bair