Bibcode
Lara, L. M.; Licandro, J.; Tozzi, G.-P.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 497, Issue 3, 2009, pp.843-846
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4
2009
Journal
Citations
7
Refereed citations
7
Description
Aims: An in depth analysis of the images acquired in broad-band optical
and infrared observations in the R, I, and J, H, Ks bands of comet
C/199T1 (McNaught-Hartley) acquired from Jan. 26 to Feb. 05, 2001 has
been performed and is presented here. Methods: Beside the Laplace
filtering technique applied to enhance structures in the dust coma of
the comet McNaught-Hartley, we have also made use of the radial
renormalization method to reveal large scale structures, usually broad
jets. Results: We find that, contrary to other work, the comet
did indeed show non-spherical structures besides the dust and ion tail.
These structures, while not unambiguously detected when applying a
Laplace filtering technique with small box sizes, have become evident by
making use of radial renormalization techniques and larger box sizes in
the Laplace filtering technique. This research note reports on these
features. Conclusions: Geometrical analysis of the features and
its evolution allows us to tentatively conclude that either the synodic
spin period is very close to 24 h, or it has a rotation period much
longer than 10 days, which could be indicative of the nucleus
approaching an excited spin state, or the rotation axis is oriented such
that an active area is permanently illuminated by the Sun and the jet is
pointing toward or away from the observer.
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This project studies the physical and compositional properties of the so-called minor bodies of the Solar System, that includes asteroids, icy objects, and comets. Of special interest are the trans-neptunian objects (TNOs), including those considered the most distant objects detected so far (Extreme-TNOs or ETNOs); the comets and the comet-asteroid
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