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Title: NARROW DUST JETS IN A DIFFUSE GAS COMA: A NATURAL PRODUCT OF SMALL ACTIVE REGIONS ON COMETS

Abstract

Comets often display narrow dust jets but more diffuse gas comae when their eccentric orbits bring them into the inner solar system and sunlight sublimates the ice on the nucleus. Comets are also understood to have one or more active areas covering only a fraction of the total surface active with sublimating volatile ices. Calculations of the gas and dust distribution from a small active area on a comet's nucleus show that as the gas moves out radially into the vacuum of space it expands tangentially, filling much of the hemisphere centered on the active region. The dust dragged by the gas remains more concentrated over the active area. This explains some puzzling appearances of comets having collimated dust jets but more diffuse gaseous atmospheres. Our test case is 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the Rosetta mission target comet, whose activity is dominated by a single area covering only 4% of its surface.

Authors:
; ; ;
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22020519
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 749; Journal Issue: 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; COMETS; DUSTS; ICE; ORBITS; SATELLITE ATMOSPHERES; SOLAR SYSTEM

Citation Formats

Combi, M R, Tenishev, V M, Rubin, M, Fougere, N, and Gombosi, T. I., E-mail: mcombi@umich.edu. NARROW DUST JETS IN A DIFFUSE GAS COMA: A NATURAL PRODUCT OF SMALL ACTIVE REGIONS ON COMETS. United States: N. p., 2012. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/749/1/29.
Combi, M R, Tenishev, V M, Rubin, M, Fougere, N, & Gombosi, T. I., E-mail: mcombi@umich.edu. NARROW DUST JETS IN A DIFFUSE GAS COMA: A NATURAL PRODUCT OF SMALL ACTIVE REGIONS ON COMETS. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/749/1/29
Combi, M R, Tenishev, V M, Rubin, M, Fougere, N, and Gombosi, T. I., E-mail: mcombi@umich.edu. 2012. "NARROW DUST JETS IN A DIFFUSE GAS COMA: A NATURAL PRODUCT OF SMALL ACTIVE REGIONS ON COMETS". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/749/1/29.
@article{osti_22020519,
title = {NARROW DUST JETS IN A DIFFUSE GAS COMA: A NATURAL PRODUCT OF SMALL ACTIVE REGIONS ON COMETS},
author = {Combi, M R and Tenishev, V M and Rubin, M and Fougere, N and Gombosi, T. I., E-mail: mcombi@umich.edu},
abstractNote = {Comets often display narrow dust jets but more diffuse gas comae when their eccentric orbits bring them into the inner solar system and sunlight sublimates the ice on the nucleus. Comets are also understood to have one or more active areas covering only a fraction of the total surface active with sublimating volatile ices. Calculations of the gas and dust distribution from a small active area on a comet's nucleus show that as the gas moves out radially into the vacuum of space it expands tangentially, filling much of the hemisphere centered on the active region. The dust dragged by the gas remains more concentrated over the active area. This explains some puzzling appearances of comets having collimated dust jets but more diffuse gaseous atmospheres. Our test case is 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the Rosetta mission target comet, whose activity is dominated by a single area covering only 4% of its surface.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/749/1/29},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22020519}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 1,
volume = 749,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Apr 10 00:00:00 EDT 2012},
month = {Tue Apr 10 00:00:00 EDT 2012}
}