1. Analysis of night-side dust activity on comet 67P observed by VIRTIS-M: a new method to constrain the thermal inertia on the surface
- Author
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Rinaldi, G., Formisano, M., Kappel, D., Capaccioni, F., Bockelée-Morvan, D., Cheng, Y.-C., Vincent, J.-B., Deshapriya, P., Arnold, G., Capria, M., Ciarniello, M., D’Aversa, E., D'aversa, E, De Sanctis, M., Doose, L., Erard, S., Federico, C., Filacchione, G., Fink, U., Leyrat, C., Longobardo, A., Magni, G., Migliorini, A., Mottola, S., Naletto, G., Raponi, A., Taylor, F., Tosi, F., Tozzi, G., Salatti, M., IASI (IASI), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali - INAF (IAPS), Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), DLR Institut für Planetenforschung, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt [Berlin] (DLR), Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica cosmica - Roma (IASF-Roma), Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique (LESIA), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institute of Astronomy [Taiwan] (IANCU), National Central University [Taiwan] (NCU), Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung (MPS), Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique (LESIA (UMR_8109)), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique Textiles (LPMT), ENSITM-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Matériaux et nanosciences d'Alsace (FMNGE), Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), IASF-Roma - Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica cosmica - Roma, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory [Tucson] (LPL), University of Arizona, Instituto de Estudos Avançados (IEAV), Institut, DLR Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Centro di Ateneo di Studi e Attività Spaziali 'Giuseppe Colombo' (CISAS), Universita degli Studi di Padova, INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (OAA), Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI), Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-ENSITM-Matériaux et Nanosciences Grand-Est (MNGE), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Università degli Studi di Padova = University of Padua (Unipd), and Bockelée-Morvan, Dominique
- Subjects
Asteroiden und Kometen ,67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko -infrared ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Comet ,Imaging spectrometer ,Coma (optics) ,Astrophysics ,[SDU.ASTR] Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] ,01 natural sciences ,general -comets ,Mantle (geology) ,[SDU] Sciences of the Universe [physics] ,comet ,0103 physical sciences ,Thermal ,comets ,individual ,infrared: planetary systems ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,planetary systems ,ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Physics ,[PHYS]Physics [physics] ,Jet (fluid) ,Range (particle radiation) ,[SDU.ASTR]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] ,comets: general ,Leitungsbereich PF ,comets: individual: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Plume ,13. Climate action ,Space and Planetary Science ,[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] ,[PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] - Abstract
On 2015 July 18, near perihelion at a heliocentric distance of 1.28 au, the Visible InfraRed Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS-M) on board the Rosetta spacecraft had the opportunity of observing dust activity in the inner coma with a view of the night side (shadowed side) of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. At the time of the measurements we present here, we observe a dust plume that originates on the far side of the nucleus. We are able to identify the approximate location of its source at the boundary between the Hapi and Anuket regions, and we find that it has been in darkness for some hours before the observation. Assuming that this time span is equal to the conductive time scale, we obtain a thermal inertia in the range 25–36 W K−1 m−2 s−1/2. These thermal inertia values can be used to verify with a 3D finite-element method (FEM) numerical code whether the surface and subsurface temperatures agree with the values found in the literature. We explored three different configurations: (1) a layer of water ice mixed with dust beneath a dust mantle of 5 mm with thermal inertia of 36 J m−2 K−1 s−0.5; (2) the same structure, but with thermal inertia of 100 J m−2 K−1 s−0.5; (3) an ice-dust mixture that is directly exposed. Of these three configurations, the first seems to be the most reasonable, both for the low thermal inertia and for the agreement with the surface and subsurface temperatures that have been found for the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The spectral properties of the plume show that the visible dust color ranged from 16 ± 4.8%/100 nm to 13 ± 2.6%/100 nm, indicating that this plume has no detectable color gradient. The morphology of the plume can be classified as a narrow jet that has an estimated total ejected mass of between 6 and 19 tons when we assume size distribution indices between −2.5 and −3.
- Published
- 2019