Radial Distribution of the Dust Comae of Comets 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdusáková and 46P/Wirtanen

C. Lejoly; W. Harris; N. Samarasinha; B. E.A. Mueller; E. Howell; J. Bodnarik; A. Springmann; T. Kareta; B. Sharkey; J. Noonan; P. Campaign; L. R. Bedin; J. G. Bosch; A. Brosio; E. Bryssinck; J. B. de Vanssay; F. J. Hambsch; O. Ivanova; V. Krushinsky; Z. Y. Lin; F. Manzini; A. Maury; N. Moriya; P. Ochner; V. Oldani

doi:10.3847/PSJ/ac4501

Radial Distribution of the Dust Comae of Comets 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdusáková and 46P/Wirtanen

C. Lejoly, W. Harris, N. Samarasinha, B. E.A. Mueller, E. Howell, J. Bodnarik, A. Springmann, T. Kareta, B. Sharkey, J. Noonan, P. Campaign, L. R. Bedin, J. G. Bosch, A. Brosio, E. Bryssinck, J. B. de Vanssay, F. J. Hambsch, O. Ivanova, V. Krushinsky, Z. Y. LinF. Manzini, A. Maury, N. Moriya, P. Ochner, V. Oldani

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Abstract

There was an unprecedented opportunity to study the inner dust coma environments, where the dust and gas are not entirely decoupled, of comets 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdusáková (45P/HMP) from 2016 December 26 to 2017 March 15, and 46P/Wirtanen from 2018 November 10 to 2019 February 13, both in visible wavelengths. The radial profile slopes of these comets were measured in the R and HB-BC filters most representative of dust, and deviations from a radially expanding coma were identified as significant. The azimuthally averaged radial profile slope of comet 45P/HMP gradually changes from −1.81 ± 0.20 at 5.24 days preperihelion to −0.35 ± 0.16 at 74.41 days postperihelion. Contrastingly, the radial profile slope of 46P/Wirtanen stays fairly constant over the observed time period at −1.05 ± 0.05. Additionally, we find that the radial profile of 46P/Wirtanen is azimuthally dependent on the sky-plane-projected solar position angle, while that of 45P/HMP is not. These results suggest that comets 45P/HMP and 46P/Wirtanen have vastly different coma dust environments and that their dust expansion properties are distinct. As evident from these two comets, well-resolved inner comae are vital for detailed characterization of dust environments.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	17
Journal	Planetary Science Journal
Volume	3
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac4501
State	Published - Jan 2022

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Geophysics
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
Space and Planetary Science

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Lejoly, C., Harris, W., Samarasinha, N., Mueller, B. E. A., Howell, E., Bodnarik, J., Springmann, A., Kareta, T., Sharkey, B., Noonan, J., Campaign, P., Bedin, L. R., Bosch, J. G., Brosio, A., Bryssinck, E., de Vanssay, J. B., Hambsch, F. J., Ivanova, O., Krushinsky, V., ... Oldani, V. (2022). Radial Distribution of the Dust Comae of Comets 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdusáková and 46P/Wirtanen. Planetary Science Journal, 3(1), Article 17. https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac4501

Lejoly, C, Harris, W, Samarasinha, N, Mueller, BEA, Howell, E, Bodnarik, J, Springmann, A, Kareta, T, Sharkey, B, Noonan, J, Campaign, P, Bedin, LR, Bosch, JG, Brosio, A, Bryssinck, E, de Vanssay, JB, Hambsch, FJ, Ivanova, O, Krushinsky, V, Lin, ZY, Manzini, F, Maury, A, Moriya, N, Ochner, P & Oldani, V 2022, 'Radial Distribution of the Dust Comae of Comets 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdusáková and 46P/Wirtanen', Planetary Science Journal, vol. 3, no. 1, 17. https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac4501

@article{b4b91f0da7964b599dfcf381ee67937d,

title = "Radial Distribution of the Dust Comae of Comets 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdus{\'a}kov{\'a} and 46P/Wirtanen",

abstract = "There was an unprecedented opportunity to study the inner dust coma environments, where the dust and gas are not entirely decoupled, of comets 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdus{\'a}kov{\'a} (45P/HMP) from 2016 December 26 to 2017 March 15, and 46P/Wirtanen from 2018 November 10 to 2019 February 13, both in visible wavelengths. The radial profile slopes of these comets were measured in the R and HB-BC filters most representative of dust, and deviations from a radially expanding coma were identified as significant. The azimuthally averaged radial profile slope of comet 45P/HMP gradually changes from −1.81 ± 0.20 at 5.24 days preperihelion to −0.35 ± 0.16 at 74.41 days postperihelion. Contrastingly, the radial profile slope of 46P/Wirtanen stays fairly constant over the observed time period at −1.05 ± 0.05. Additionally, we find that the radial profile of 46P/Wirtanen is azimuthally dependent on the sky-plane-projected solar position angle, while that of 45P/HMP is not. These results suggest that comets 45P/HMP and 46P/Wirtanen have vastly different coma dust environments and that their dust expansion properties are distinct. As evident from these two comets, well-resolved inner comae are vital for detailed characterization of dust environments.",

author = "C. Lejoly and W. Harris and N. Samarasinha and Mueller, {B. E.A.} and E. Howell and J. Bodnarik and A. Springmann and T. Kareta and B. Sharkey and J. Noonan and P. Campaign and Bedin, {L. R.} and Bosch, {J. G.} and A. Brosio and E. Bryssinck and {de Vanssay}, {J. B.} and Hambsch, {F. J.} and O. Ivanova and V. Krushinsky and Lin, {Z. Y.} and F. Manzini and A. Maury and N. Moriya and P. Ochner and V. Oldani",

note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank everyone who participated in the data-gathering process. This includes all students from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory course PTYS 495B/595B (Fall 2018). We would also like to thank the additional organizers of the 4*P Campaign: Matthew Knight (United States Naval Academy) and Tony Farnham (University of Maryland). We would like the thank the Steward Observatory technical staff for the amount of time they dedicated to this project. Finally, we would like to thank the SSO grant No. NNX16A670G (Walt Harris) and the NESSF grant No. 80NSSC18K1241 (Cassandra Lejoly; P.I.: Walt Harris) for allowing this work to be completed. We would also like to thank the Slovak Academy of Sciences grant No. VEGA 2/ 0023/18 (Oleksandra Ivanova) and the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the Contract no. APVV-19-0072 (Oleksandra Ivanova). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.",

year = "2022",

month = jan,

doi = "10.3847/PSJ/ac4501",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "3",

journal = "Planetary Science Journal",

issn = "2632-3338",

publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",

number = "1",

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T1 - Radial Distribution of the Dust Comae of Comets 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdusáková and 46P/Wirtanen

AU - Lejoly, C.

AU - Harris, W.

AU - Samarasinha, N.

AU - Mueller, B. E.A.

AU - Howell, E.

AU - Bodnarik, J.

AU - Springmann, A.

AU - Kareta, T.

AU - Sharkey, B.

AU - Noonan, J.

AU - Campaign, P.

AU - Bedin, L. R.

AU - Bosch, J. G.

AU - Brosio, A.

AU - Bryssinck, E.

AU - de Vanssay, J. B.

AU - Hambsch, F. J.

AU - Ivanova, O.

AU - Krushinsky, V.

AU - Lin, Z. Y.

AU - Manzini, F.

AU - Maury, A.

AU - Moriya, N.

AU - Ochner, P.

AU - Oldani, V.

N1 - Funding Information: We would like to thank everyone who participated in the data-gathering process. This includes all students from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory course PTYS 495B/595B (Fall 2018). We would also like to thank the additional organizers of the 4*P Campaign: Matthew Knight (United States Naval Academy) and Tony Farnham (University of Maryland). We would like the thank the Steward Observatory technical staff for the amount of time they dedicated to this project. Finally, we would like to thank the SSO grant No. NNX16A670G (Walt Harris) and the NESSF grant No. 80NSSC18K1241 (Cassandra Lejoly; P.I.: Walt Harris) for allowing this work to be completed. We would also like to thank the Slovak Academy of Sciences grant No. VEGA 2/ 0023/18 (Oleksandra Ivanova) and the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the Contract no. APVV-19-0072 (Oleksandra Ivanova). Publisher Copyright: © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

PY - 2022/1

Y1 - 2022/1

N2 - There was an unprecedented opportunity to study the inner dust coma environments, where the dust and gas are not entirely decoupled, of comets 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdusáková (45P/HMP) from 2016 December 26 to 2017 March 15, and 46P/Wirtanen from 2018 November 10 to 2019 February 13, both in visible wavelengths. The radial profile slopes of these comets were measured in the R and HB-BC filters most representative of dust, and deviations from a radially expanding coma were identified as significant. The azimuthally averaged radial profile slope of comet 45P/HMP gradually changes from −1.81 ± 0.20 at 5.24 days preperihelion to −0.35 ± 0.16 at 74.41 days postperihelion. Contrastingly, the radial profile slope of 46P/Wirtanen stays fairly constant over the observed time period at −1.05 ± 0.05. Additionally, we find that the radial profile of 46P/Wirtanen is azimuthally dependent on the sky-plane-projected solar position angle, while that of 45P/HMP is not. These results suggest that comets 45P/HMP and 46P/Wirtanen have vastly different coma dust environments and that their dust expansion properties are distinct. As evident from these two comets, well-resolved inner comae are vital for detailed characterization of dust environments.

AB - There was an unprecedented opportunity to study the inner dust coma environments, where the dust and gas are not entirely decoupled, of comets 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdusáková (45P/HMP) from 2016 December 26 to 2017 March 15, and 46P/Wirtanen from 2018 November 10 to 2019 February 13, both in visible wavelengths. The radial profile slopes of these comets were measured in the R and HB-BC filters most representative of dust, and deviations from a radially expanding coma were identified as significant. The azimuthally averaged radial profile slope of comet 45P/HMP gradually changes from −1.81 ± 0.20 at 5.24 days preperihelion to −0.35 ± 0.16 at 74.41 days postperihelion. Contrastingly, the radial profile slope of 46P/Wirtanen stays fairly constant over the observed time period at −1.05 ± 0.05. Additionally, we find that the radial profile of 46P/Wirtanen is azimuthally dependent on the sky-plane-projected solar position angle, while that of 45P/HMP is not. These results suggest that comets 45P/HMP and 46P/Wirtanen have vastly different coma dust environments and that their dust expansion properties are distinct. As evident from these two comets, well-resolved inner comae are vital for detailed characterization of dust environments.

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Radial Distribution of the Dust Comae of Comets 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdusáková and 46P/Wirtanen

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