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Title: An early look of comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring): Breathtaker or nightmare?

Abstract

The dynamically new comet, C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring), is to make a close approach to Mars on 2014 October 19 at 18:30 UT at a distance of 40 ± 1 Martian radii. Such an extremely rare event offers a precious opportunity for the spacecrafts on Mars to closely study a dynamically new comet itself as well as the planet-comet interaction. Meanwhile, the high-speed meteoroids released from C/Siding Spring also pose a threat to physically damage the spacecrafts. Here we present our observations and modeling results of C/Siding Spring to characterize the comet and assess the risk posed to the spacecrafts on Mars. We find that the optical tail of C/Siding Spring is dominated by larger particles at the time of the observation. Synchrone simulation suggests that the comet was already active in late 2012 when it was more than 7 AU from the Sun. By parameterizing the dust activity with a semi-analytic model, we find that the ejection speed of C/Siding Spring is comparable to comets such as the target of the Rosetta mission, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Under a nominal situation, the simulated dust cone will miss the planet by about 20 Martian radii. At the extreme ends of uncertainties, the simulatedmore » dust cone will engulf Mars, but the meteoric influx at Mars is still comparable to the nominal sporadic influx, seemly indicating that an intense and enduring meteoroid bombardment due to C/Siding Spring is unlikely. Further simulation also suggests that gravitational disruption of the dust tail may be significant enough to be observable at Earth.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2]
  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 3K7 (Canada)
  2. Nhut Thung Pau Observatory, Guangzhou (China)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22356788
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 787; Journal Issue: 2; 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; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; DAMAGE; DISTANCE; DUSTS; INTERACTIONS; MARS PLANET; METEORITES; METEOROIDS; SATELLITES; SIMULATION; SUN; VELOCITY

Citation Formats

Ye, Quan-Zhi, and Hui, Man-To. An early look of comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring): Breathtaker or nightmare?. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/787/2/115.
Ye, Quan-Zhi, & Hui, Man-To. An early look of comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring): Breathtaker or nightmare?. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/787/2/115
Ye, Quan-Zhi, and Hui, Man-To. 2014. "An early look of comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring): Breathtaker or nightmare?". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/787/2/115.
@article{osti_22356788,
title = {An early look of comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring): Breathtaker or nightmare?},
author = {Ye, Quan-Zhi and Hui, Man-To},
abstractNote = {The dynamically new comet, C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring), is to make a close approach to Mars on 2014 October 19 at 18:30 UT at a distance of 40 ± 1 Martian radii. Such an extremely rare event offers a precious opportunity for the spacecrafts on Mars to closely study a dynamically new comet itself as well as the planet-comet interaction. Meanwhile, the high-speed meteoroids released from C/Siding Spring also pose a threat to physically damage the spacecrafts. Here we present our observations and modeling results of C/Siding Spring to characterize the comet and assess the risk posed to the spacecrafts on Mars. We find that the optical tail of C/Siding Spring is dominated by larger particles at the time of the observation. Synchrone simulation suggests that the comet was already active in late 2012 when it was more than 7 AU from the Sun. By parameterizing the dust activity with a semi-analytic model, we find that the ejection speed of C/Siding Spring is comparable to comets such as the target of the Rosetta mission, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Under a nominal situation, the simulated dust cone will miss the planet by about 20 Martian radii. At the extreme ends of uncertainties, the simulated dust cone will engulf Mars, but the meteoric influx at Mars is still comparable to the nominal sporadic influx, seemly indicating that an intense and enduring meteoroid bombardment due to C/Siding Spring is unlikely. Further simulation also suggests that gravitational disruption of the dust tail may be significant enough to be observable at Earth.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/787/2/115},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22356788}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 2,
volume = 787,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}