Dust production and coma morphology of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during the 2002/2003 apparition. II. A comparative study of dust production in 46P/Wirtanen and 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during their 2002/2003 apparition

A comparison is made of the light curves and and dust production of the initial target for the ROSETTA mission, 46P/Wirtanen and the new target 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during their recent 2002/2003 apparition. The study is based on amateur CCD monitoring using a standardised method to produce cons...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAstronomy and astrophysics (Berlin) Vol. 420; no. 1; pp. 389 - 395
Main Author KIDGER, M. R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Les Ulis EDP Sciences 02.06.2004
Subjects
Comets
Production rate
comets: individual: 46P/Wirtanen, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
techniques: photometric
Morphology
Light curves
Heliocentric distance
instrumentation: miscellaneous
Comparative study
Photometry
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Summary:A comparison is made of the light curves and and dust production of the initial target for the ROSETTA mission, 46P/Wirtanen and the new target 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during their recent 2002/2003 apparition. The study is based on amateur CCD monitoring using a standardised method to produce consistent photometry in Johnson-Kron-Cousins system. Although the dust production of the two comets is similar at perihelion (Af rho approximately 200-cm), dust production in 46P/Wirtanen peaked before perihelion, while in 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko it peaks after perihelion. Dust activity shows the same post-perihelion dependence with heliocentric distance in both comets. Overall 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has a dust production rate an order of magnitude greater at the same heliocentric distance post-perihelion as 46P/Wirtanen, but 46P/Wirtanen has greater maximum dust production immediately prior to perihelion.
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ISSN:0004-6361
1432-0746
DOI:10.1051/0004-6361:20035877