Computer Science
Scientific paper
Jun 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005sptz.prop20697f&link_type=abstract
Spitzer Proposal ID #20697
Computer Science
Scientific paper
We propose to observe comet 2P/Encke while it is near aphelion. While the comet has been studied extensively recently, understanding its mysterious photometric behavior has been difficult. The comet appears to be anomalously bright when near aphelion compared to what we know about the nucleus's size, albedo, shape, and rotation period. One solution is that the comet is active and has a variable coma, even at these large heliocentric distances. The comet however always appears as a point-source at aphelion, so any coma must remain within the seeing disk. Near aphelion the comet is too faint to study from the ground at the mid-IR wavelengths where more detailed characterizations of the dust can be measured. An active P/Encke at aphelion would require a reevaluation of its total mass loss per orbit, and by extension of the rest of the Jupiter family of comets. The phenomenon has implications for cometary evolution as well as for the source of the interplanetary dust environment. We propose to address this issue by obtaining infrared spectrophotometry and imaging of P/Encke. We will focus on the Wien-law side of the comet's spectral energy distribution over the course of an 11.1-hour rotation period. Our scientific goals are: (a) make an independent measurement of the nucleus's size, (b) determine the contribution of dust to the comet's flux, (c) monitor the dust's contribution over a whole rotation, and (d) understand the comet's aphelion mass loss rate in the context of its life history.
Campins Humberto
Fernandez Yanga
Lisse Carey
Reach William
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