Earth-based detection of the millimetric thermal emission from the nucleus of comet 8P/Tuttle⋆

Context.Little is known about the physical properties of cometary nuclei. Measuring the thermal emission of a nucleus is one of the few means of deriving its size, independently of its albedo, and constraining some of its thermal properties. This emission is difficult to detect from Earth but space telescopes, such as th Infrared Space Observatory, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Herschel Space Observatory, allow reliable measurements to be made in the infrared and the sub-millimetre domains.