Dust And Gas Morphology Of Comets 81P/Wild 2, 10P/Tempel 2, And 103P/Hartley 2

Details Dust And Gas Morphology Of Comets 81P/Wild 2, 10P/Tempel 2, And 103P/Hartley 2 Dust And Gas Morphology Of Comets 81P/Wild 2, 10P/Tempel 2, And 103P/Hartley 2

Oct 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.2828k&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #28.28; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.965

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

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Scientific paper

As part of the ongoing program to study comets at Lowell Observatory, we present our recent observations of Jupiter Family Comets 81P/Wild 2, 10P/Tempel 2, and 103P/Hartley 2. All comets were observed with the Hall 1.1-m telescope at Lowell Observatory using broadband and narrowband optical filters to isolate gas and dust coma morphology. These filters allow us to compare the spatial distribution of various gas species and to infer properties of the nucleus such as the pole orientation, rotation period, and the number and location of active regions.
Wild 2 reached perihelion in February 2010, its first return since the Stardust encounter in 2004. We observed it on 22 nights between October 2009 and June 2010. Image enhancement reveals two dust jets whose seasonal activities are consistent with those described by Farnham and Schleicher (2005; Icarus 173, 553-558). Additionally, we observed a CN jet that appears to be coincident with one of the dust jets. Tempel 2 has a favorable observing scenario in 2010, with viewing geometry significantly different than in the previous favorable apparitions of 1988 and 1999, which should further constrain the pole solution. We began observing Tempel 2 in March 2010, and observations will continue into 2011, with the comet near opposition throughout the fall. Preliminary analysis reveals a single CN jet that does not vary with rotational phase and a dust jet that is offset from the CN jet. These features are consistent with post-perihelion observations in 1999 that will be presented separately by Schwieterman et al. Hartley 2 passes within 0.12 AU of Earth in October 2010 and is the target of the EPOXI spacecraft flyby in November 2010. Imaging commenced in July 2010 and we will present ongoing results at the meeting.
This work was supported by the NASA Planetary Astronomy program.

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