Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Oct 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.4303t&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #43.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.498
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
ESA's Rosetta spacecraft will rendezvous with the Jupiter family comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014.
Here, we present such results from visible imaging and spectroscopy of 67P observed with the ESO Very Large Telescope in June 2004, May 2006 and August 2006, when the comet was at r ≥ 4.9 AU.
A good knowledge of the activity and dust environment of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko far from the Sun is essential for the planning of the rendezvous approach of the Rosetta spacecraft. Moreover, these observations contribute to improve our knowledge about the activity and dust environment of short period comets at large heliocentric distances.
On May 2006 the full rotational light curve was obtained in the R filter and the rotational period of 12.82 h has been determined. We also estimate the shape and size of the comet's nucleus, together with colors and the slope of the reflectance spectra. The comet has an effective radius of 2.3 km and an axis ratio ≥ 1.33 +/- 0.03. The nucleus colors are slightly redder than the Sun, in agreement with the ones obtained from the spectra of the comet, which show a reddening of 10%/100 nm. At the time of the observation, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was at phase angle between 0.5° and 1.5°, an interesting range to assess the opposition affect of the comet. The June 2004 observations were dedicated to the detection and characterization of the comet's dust trail. It is clearly visible in the images, with an extension larger than 153", a width of about 8” and a surface brightness in R filter of 28 mag/arcsec^2. The trail has been detected also in the May 2006 images. At all observing epochs the nucleus profile resembles the ones of a point source, indicating that no coma is present around the nucleus.
Barrera Luis
Boehnhardt Hermann
Drahus Michal
Ortiz Juan J.
Schulz Robert
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