Six Outbursts of Comet 46P/Wirtanen

Michael S. P. Kelley, Tony L. Farnham, Jian Yang Li, Dennis Bodewits, Colin Snodgrass, Johannes Allen, Eric C. Bellm, Michael W. Coughlin, Andrew J. Drake, Dmitry A. Duev, Matthew J. Graham, Thomas Kupfer, Frank J. Masci, Dan Reiley, Richard Walters, , M. Dominik, U. G. Jørgensen, A. E. Andrews, N. Bach-MøllerV. Bozza, M. J. Burgdorf, J. Campbell-White, S. Dib, Y. I. Fujii, T. C. Hinse, M. Hundertmark, E. Khalouei, P. Longa-Peña, M. Rabus, S. Rahvar, S. Sajadian, J. Skottfelt, J. Southworth, J. Tregloan-Reed, E. Unda-Sanzana,

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Abstract

Cometary activity is a manifestation of sublimation-driven processes at the surface of nuclei. However, cometary outbursts may arise from other processes that are not necessarily driven by volatiles. In order to fully understand nuclear surfaces and their evolution, we must identify the causes of cometary outbursts. In that context, we present a study of mini-outbursts of comet 46P/Wirtanen. Six events are found in our long-term lightcurve of the comet around its perihelion passage in 2018. The apparent strengths range from -0.2 to -1.6 mag in a 5″ radius aperture and correspond to dust masses between ∼104 and 106 kg, but with large uncertainties due to the unknown grain size distributions. However, the nominal mass estimates are on the same order of magnitude as the mini-outbursts at comet 9P/Tempel 1 and 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, events that were notably lacking at comet 103P/Hartley 2. We compare the frequency of outbursts at the four comets, and suggest that the surface of 46P has large-scale (∼10-100 m) roughness that is intermediate to that of 67P and 103P, if not similar to the latter. The strength of the outbursts appear to be correlated with time since the last event, but a physical interpretation with respect to solar insolation is lacking. We also examine Hubble Space Telescope images taken about two days following a near-perihelion outburst. No evidence for macroscopic ejecta was found in the image, with a limiting radius of about 2 m 2021. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

Original languageEnglish
Article number131
Number of pages18
JournalThe Planetary Science Journal
Volume2
Issue number4
Early online date21 Jul 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2021

Keywords

  • Broad band photometry (184)
  • Coma dust (2159)
  • Comets (280)
  • Short period comets (1452)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • Space and Planetary Science
  • Geophysics

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  • Six Outbursts of Comet 46P/Wirtanen

    Kelley, M. S. P., Farnham, T. L., Li, J.-Y., Bodewits, D., Snodgrass, C., Allen, J., Bellm, E. C., Coughlin, M. W., Drake, A. J., Duev, D. A., Kupfer, T., Masci, F. J., Reiley, D., Walters, R., Dominik, M., Jørgensen, U. G., Bach-Møller, N., Bozza, V., Burgdorf, M. J. & Campbell-White, J. & 13 others, Dib, S., Fujii, Y. I., Hinse, T. C., Hundertmark, M., Khalouei, E., Longa-Peña, P., Rabus, M., Rahvar, S., Sajadian, S., Skottfelt, J., Southworth, J., Tregloan-Reed, J. & Unda-Sanzana, E., May 2021, Cornell University: arXiv, 33 p.

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