Other
Scientific paper
May 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009rmxac..35..285k&link_type=abstract
XII Latin American IAU Regional Meeting (Eds. G. Magris, G. Bruzual, & L. Carigi) Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica (
Other
Scientific paper
During the past 20 years four fly-bys of cometary nuclei took place. The images revealed bodies that looked seemingly different even though three of the comets (Borelly, Wild 2, Tempel 1) belong to the Jupiter family. Only the first target, comet Halley, is an Oort cloud comet. The cometary surfaces are very dark (albedo 0.04) and rough on all scales. They are much hotter (around 340 to 350 K) than the equilibrium temperature of subliming water ice. Consequently water ice does not exist on the surface and was not found (except minor amounts in small patches of comet Tempel 1). The by far most abundant volatile component of comets is water. While it is not on the surface it needs to be found very close below the surface. The top layer cannot be thick or the sublimation would be quenched. On the other hand it is thick enough to obscure the ice. The observed small heat capacity (Deep Impact) suggests a thermal skin depth of a few centimetres. The constraints of the observations for the physics of cometary activity will be discussed based on model calculations.
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