Cometary activity and subsurface sublimation. Lessons from the Deep Impact

Details Cometary activity and subsurface sublimation. Lessons from the Deep Impact Cometary activity and subsurface sublimation. Lessons from the Deep Impact

Sep 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008epsc.conf..809s&link_type=abstract

European Planetary Science Congress 2008, Proceedings of the conference held 21-25 September, 2008 in Münster, Germany. Online a

Physics

Scientific paper

We continue to investigate the problem where the ice is in comets. The Deep Impact observation of a dry hot cometary nucleus is evidence of an extremely low thermal inertia of the surface layers of comet 9P/Tempel 1. It certainly indicates that the effective conductivity of near-surface layers is extremely low and that the thermal skin depth is hence very small too. The simultaneous presence of a hot surface and visible gas activities was successfully explained by the assumption that the ice occurs within the refractory matrix of the nucleus covered by a thin layer (a few cm and possibly less) of depleted matrix of nonvolatile grains (Skorov and Keller, EPSC2007). The ice near the surface is heated partly by thermal conduction and by solar radiation penetrating into the high-porous dusty layer. Only a small amount of the available ice may peek through the dusty mantle. We present the further development of our model of the near-surface region of a cometary nucleus that was described in details earlier ([1-5]). The basic new features of the model are: volume light absorption in a stochastic porous media and kinetic treatment of sublimation and gas transport leading to the displacement (erosion) of the sublimation front and the transient evolution of a porous layer of dust. The various scenarios of near-surface layers and their evolution are tested. We discuss how close to the surface the water ice can be found and how substantial the local variations in outgassing can be. We discuss also the importance of the obtained model results for the observations to be made by the Rosetta spacecraft at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Cometary activity and subsurface sublimation. Lessons from the Deep Impact does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Cometary activity and subsurface sublimation. Lessons from the Deep Impact, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cometary activity and subsurface sublimation. Lessons from the Deep Impact will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1795137