Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jul 1992
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992aj....104..398j&link_type=abstract
Astronomical Journal (ISSN 0004-6256), vol. 104, no. 1, July 1992, p. 398-404, 492. Research supported by NSF and Smithsonian In
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
22
Astronomical Models, Astronomical Photometry, Black Body Radiation, Chiron, Submillimeter Waves, Comets, Cosmic Dust, Surface Temperature
Scientific paper
New submillimeter photometry of 2060 Chiron taken at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on Mauna Kea is presented. The measurements are used to constrain the diameter of Chiron. Submillimeter wavelengths fall in the Rayleigh-Jeans portion of the blackbody spectrum of the nucleus, and are relatively insensitive to surface temperature uncertainties. These wavelengths are also insensitive to small dust particles in the coma. A 3-sigma upper limit to the 800-micron flux density equal to 11 mJy is found. The photometry is interpreted using an analytic model of the submillimeter emission, and a numerical model which takes conduction into account. With either model, a 3-sigma upper limit to the diameter not greater than 300 km is found. This is consistent with, but smaller than, the 372 km upper limit obtained by Sykes and Walker (1991) based on photometry at shorter wavelengths. Submillimeter photometry provides a strong and relatively model-independent observational constraint on the size of the nucleus.
Jewitt David
Luu Jane
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