Authors

J. M. Bauer; R. G. Walker; A. K. Mainzer; J. R. Masiero; T. Grav; J. W. Dailey; R. S. McMillan; C. M. Lisse; Y. R. Fernandez; K. J. Meech; J. Pittichova; E. K. Blauvelt; F. J. Masci; M. F. A'Hearn; R. M. Cutri; J. V. Scotti; D. J. Tholen; E. DeBaun; A. Wilkins; E. Hand; E. L. Wright;Wise Team

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

Astrophys. J.

Keywords

comets: individual (103P/Hartley 2); infrared: planetary systems; INFRARED-SURVEY-EXPLORER; NEAR-EARTH ASTEROIDS; SHORT-PERIOD COMETS; DEEP IMPACT EJECTA; PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES; SPACE-TELESCOPE; THERMAL-MODEL; SOLAR-SYSTEM; SPITZER; NUCLEUS; Astronomy & Astrophysics

Abstract

We report results based on mid-infrared photometry of comet 103P/Hartley 2 taken during 2010 May 4-13 ( when the comet was at a heliocentric distance of 2.3 AU, and an observer distance of 2.0 AU) by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Photometry of the coma at 22 mu m and data from the University of Hawaii 2.2 m telescope obtained on 2010 May 22 provide constraints on the dust particle size distribution, d log n/d log m, yielding power-law slope values of alpha = - 0.97 +/- 0.10, steeper than that found for the inbound particle fluence during the Stardust encounter of comet 81P/Wild 2. The extracted nucleus signal at 12 mu m is consistent with a body of average spherical radius of 0.6 +/- 0.2 km ( one standard deviation), assuming a beaming parameter of 1.2. The 4.6 mu m band signal in excess of dust and nucleus reflected and thermal contributions may be attributed to carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide emission lines and provides limits and estimates of species production. Derived carbon dioxide coma production rates are 3.5(+/- 0.9) x 1024 molecules per second. Analyses of the trail signal present in the stacked image with an effective exposure time of 158.4 s yields optical-depth values near 9 x 10(-10) at a delta mean anomaly of 0.2 deg trailing the comet nucleus, in both 12 and 22 mu m bands. A minimum chi-squared analysis of the dust trail position yields a beta-parameter value of 1.0 x 10(-4), consistent with a derived mean trail-grain diameter of 1.1/rho cm for grains of rho g cm(-3) density. This leads to a total detected trail mass of at least 4 x 10(10) rho kg.

Journal Title

Astrophysical Journal

Volume

738

Issue/Number

2

Publication Date

1-1-2011

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

11

WOS Identifier

WOS:000294954200053

ISSN

0004-637X

Download

Share

COinS