EPOXI: Comet 103P/Hartley 2 Observations from a Worldwide Campaign

Creators: Meech, K. J.; Lis, D. C.

Abstract

Earth- and space-based observations provide synergistic information for space mission encounters by providing data over longer timescales, at different wavelengths and using techniques that are impossible with an in situ flyby. We report here such observations in support of the EPOXI spacecraft flyby of comet 103P/Hartley 2. The nucleus is small and dark, and exhibited a very rapidly changing rotation period. Prior to the onset of activity, the period was ~16.4 hr. Starting in 2010 August the period changed from 16.6 hr to near 19 hr in December. With respect to dust composition, most volatiles and carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios, the comet is similar to other Jupiter-family comets. What is unusual is the dominance of CO_2-driven activity near perihelion, which likely persists out to aphelion. Near perihelion the comet nucleus was surrounded by a large halo of water-ice grains that contributed significantly to the total water production.

Additional Information

© 2011 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2011 March 4; accepted 2011 April 20; published 2011 May 16. Odin is a Swedish-led satellite project funded jointly by the Swedish National Space Board, the Canadian Space Agency, the National Technology Agency of Finland, and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES, France). The Swedish Space Corporation is the prime contractor, also responsible for Odin operations. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA. We thank A. Tokunaga, Director of the NASA IRTF, for allocating time for an observing campaign at this telescope. The Faulkes Telescope North contributed to the CARA observing campaign. TRAPPIST is a project driven by the University of Liège, in close collaboration with the Observatory of Geneva, supported by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS) and the Swiss National Science Foundation. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013 under grant agreement no. 229517. Faulkes Telescope North contributed to CARA around the flyby period. The CSIC–IEEC and CSIC–IAA teams acknowledge support from grants AYA2008-01839/ESP and AyA2009-08011 from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovaciόn and PE2007-TIC 02744 from Junta de Andalucía. This work was supported in part by the NASA Planetary Astronomy Program and was performed in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory under contract with NASA. This work is also supported in part at The Aerospace Corporation by the Independent Research and Development Program. This work was supported by NASA's Discovery Program through contract NNM07AA99C to the University of Maryland, and in part through the NASA Astrobiology Institute under cooperative agreement no. NNA04CC08A.

Attached Files

Published - Meech2011p15630Astrophys_J_Lett.pdf

Files

Meech2011p15630Astrophys_J_Lett.pdf

Files (1.8 MB)

Name	Size	Download all
Meech2011p15630Astrophys_J_Lett.pdf md5:66905a984151c5c58125733ea147579e	1.8 MB	Preview Download

Additional details

	All versions	This version
Views	0	0
Downloads	0	0
Data volume	0 Bytes	0 Bytes