Bibcode
Fernandez, Yanga R.; Kelley, M. S.; Lamy, P. L.; Reach, W. T.; Toth, I.; Groussin, O.; Lisse, C. M.; A'Hearn, M. F.; Bauer, J. M.; Campins, H.; Fitzsimmons, A.; Licandro, J.; Lowry, S. C.; Meech, K. J.; Pittichova, J.; Weaver, H. A.
Bibliographical reference
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #211, #56.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.827
Advertised on:
12
2007
Citations
0
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0
Description
We present results from SEPPCoN, our Survey of Ensemble Physical
Properties of Cometary Nuclei. This survey involves studying 100
Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) -- about 30% of the known population --
using the Spitzer Space Telescope for mid-infrared measurements of
thermal emission and several ground-based telescopes for
visible-wavelength measurements of reflected sunlight. The Spitzer
observations (imaging with IRS PU and MIPS) are complete, and the
ground-based observations (imaging in at least R band) are about half
complete. Almost all our targets are imaged while farther than 4 AU from
the Sun, to minimize (and often eliminate) confusion caused by dust from
cometary activity. The Spitzer data constrain the effective radii of the
JFC nuclei and thus give us an independent measurement of the cumulative
size distribution (CSD). We find preliminarily that the CSD power-law
slope is similar to what has been found by others using visible
wavelength studies, suggesting that there is no strong trend of albedo
with size. The Spitzer data also tell us about the JFC thermal inertia,
and we find that many -- though not all -- cometary nuclei seem to have
low values of this, consistent with a porous, fluffy, poorly-conducting,
dusty surface layer. To our surprise, the Spitzer images show that about
one-third of our sample appeared with extended dust emission despite
being close to aphelion, and in many cases the dust originated from
cometary activity happening right then. Interestingly, we find that the
activity observed at these distances seems to turn off rather abruptly
once a JFC passes aphelion. We have used dynamical analysis to constrain
the dust grain sizes and thereby distinguish dust tails from dust
trails. The dust temperatures are in most cases consistent with
isothermal, low-albedo grains in LTE. We thank the Spitzer Science
Center for supporting this research.