Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Sep 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.0301w&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #03.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.484
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
1
Scientific paper
Most comets may meet their ultimate demise as a result of catastrophic fragmentation events, and that process was prominently displayed during the 2006 apparition of comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (73P/SW3). This Jupiter-family comet with an orbital period of 5.4 yr was discovered when it passed within 0.06 AU of the Earth during the spring of 1930. However, it was subsequently lost until 1979 when it arrived at perihelion about 5 weeks later than predicted, probably owing to a close approach to Jupiter in 1965. Several remarkable outbursts in dust and gas activity were observed during the 1995 apparition, and four separate fragments were clearly detected and followed for several months. The solar elongation angle was unfavorably small, and the geocentric distance rather large, throughout the 2000-2001 apparition, and only two fragments were definitely detected then. Thus, it was with considerable uncertainty that cometary researchers approached the 2006 apparition, when the geometry would be nearly as favorable as for the discovery apparition with the comet passing within 0.08 AU during May 2006. Owing to the extremely fragile nature of cometary nuclei in general, and the previously recorded breakup of 73P/SW3, there was no guarantee that any fragment would return this year. To the delight of professional and amateur astronomers alike, the 2006 apparition of 73P/SW3 was nothing short of spectacular, as over 60 new fragments were detected and monitored during the late-winter and spring. Ground-based and space-based observatories, large and small, intensively monitored 73P/SW3 to document the disintegration of its nuclei and to measure the composition of its larger fragments. This paper will review the scientific results obtained during the 2006 apparition of 73P/SW3 and reflect on what the disintegration of this comet reveals about the nature of cometary nuclei.
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