A Survey of Debris Trails from Short-period Comets

Details A Survey of Debris Trails from Short-period Comets A Survey of Debris Trails from Short-period Comets

Sep 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.4302r&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #43.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.562

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We present the results of a survey of 31 comets using the 24 micron camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope. Each image contains the nucleus and covers at least 106 km of each comet's orbit. Large-particle debris was found along the orbits of 24 comets; 4 comets had small-particle dust tails and a viewing geometry that made debris trails impossible to distinguish; and only 3 comets had no debris trail despite favorable observing conditions. By comparison to orbital calculations for particles of a range of sizes ejected over 2 yr prior to observation, we find that particles comprising 4 comets' debris are typically mm-sized, in a neck-line structure, while the remainder of the distinguishable trails require particles larger than this. The lower-limit masses of the debris trails are typically 1011 g, and the median mass loss rate is 2 kg/s. The mass-loss rate in trail particles comparable to that inferred from OH production rates and larger than that inferred from visible-light scattering in comae.

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