Bibcode
Meech, Karen; Tanga, Paolo; Licandro, J.; Bó, Marco Del; Boehnhardt, Hermann; Brucato, John Robert; Lara, Luisa; Patriarchi, Patrizio; Hainaut, Olivier R.; Epifani, Elena Mazzotta; Tozzi, Gian Paolo
Bibliographical reference
Icarus, Volume 222, Issue 2, p. 766-773.
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2
2013
Journal
Citations
5
Refereed citations
5
Description
Comet 103P/Hartley 2 was observed on November 1-6, 2010, coinciding with
the fly-by of the space probe EPOXI. The goal was to connect the large
scale phenomena observed from the ground, with those at small scale
observed from the spacecraft. The comet showed strong activity
correlated with the rotation of its nucleus, also observed by the
spacecraft. We report here the characterization of the solid component
produced by this activity, via observations of the emission in two
spectral regions where only grain scattering of the solar radiation is
present. We show that the grains produced by this activity had a
lifetime of the order of 5 h, compatible with the spacecraft
observations of the large icy chunks. Moreover, the grains produced by
one of the active regions have a very red color. This suggests an
organic component mixed with the ice in the grains.
Related projects
Minor Bodies of the Solar System
This project studies the physical and compositional properties of the so-called minor bodies of the Solar System, that includes asteroids, icy objects, and comets. Of special interest are the trans-neptunian objects (TNOs), including those considered the most distant objects detected so far (Extreme-TNOs or ETNOs); the comets and the comet-asteroid
Julia de
León Cruz