 |
| Titel |
Variation of the water production rate of comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) from
SOHO/SWAN observations throughout its apparition |
| VerfasserIn |
Michael Combi, Terhi Makinen, Jean-Loup Bertaux, Eric Quemerais, Stéphane Ferron |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2016
|
| Medientyp |
Artikel
|
| Sprache |
en
|
| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 18 (2016) |
| Datensatznummer |
250136487
|
| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2016-17532.pdf |
|
|
|
|
|
| Zusammenfassung |
| The all-sky hydrogen Lyman-alpha camera, SWAN (Solar Wind Anisotropies), on the SOlar
and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite makes observations of the hydrogen coma of
comets. Most water vapor produced by comets is ultimately photodissociated into two H
atoms and one O atom producing a huge atomic hydrogen coma that is routinely observed in
the daily full-sky SWAN images in comets of sufficient brightness. Water production rates are
calculated using our time-resolved model (Mäkinen & Combi, 2005, Icarus 177, 217),
typically yielding about 1 observation every 2 days on the average. Here we describe the
analysis of observations of comets observed during 2015 and 2016 of bright comet
C/2013 US10 (Catalina). C/2013 US10 reached a perihelion distance of 0.82286
AU on 15.7 November 2015. The pre-perihelion leg of the apparition followed
an average power law variation of 3.7 x 1029 r−1.3 molecules s−1, where r is the
heliocentric distance in AU. This rather flat variation is not atypical of new Oort
cloud comets on their first pass through the inner solar system. Support from grants
NNX11AH50G from the NASA Planetary Astronomy Program and NNX13AQ66G from the
NASA Planetary Mission Data Analysis Program are gratefully acknowledged, as
is support from CNRS, CNES, and the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI). |
|
|
|
|
|
|