Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Nov 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001dps....33.2012h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS Meeting #33, #20.12; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 33, p.1076
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Comet 81P/Wild 2 was observed in the thermal infrared over 6 months during its 1997 perihelion passage. The comet was most active in late February, about 3 months pre-perihelion; dust production declined by a factor of 3 between February and August. For the GIOTTO Halley dust size distribution, maximum dust production rate was ~ 2 x 103 kg/s. The comet displayed a 10 micron silicate feature about 25% above the continuum, similar to several other short-period comets, but much lower than that seen in a number of Oort Cloud comets. NASA's Stardust sample return mission will encounter P/Wild 2 98 days postperihelion in January 2004. Based on our observations at a similar point in the orbit and the Halley size distribution, we predict that the mass fluence on the spacecraft for a 150 km miss distance will be about 8 x 10-5 kg/m2 for particles up to 1 cm in radius. The corresponding areal coverage will be about 10-4. This research was conducted in part at JPL under contract with NASA (Planetary Astronomy Program).
Hanner Martha S.
Hayward Thomas L.
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