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Comet 22P/Kopff: Dust environment and grain ejection anisotropy from visible and infrared observations by Moreno, Fernando; Pozuelos, Francisco; Aceituno, Francisco; Casanova, Victor; Sota, Alfredo; Castellano, Julio; Reina, Esteban is a scholarly article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Comet 22P/Kopff: Dust environment and grain ejection anisotropy from visible and infrared observations about?

We present optical observations and Monte Carlo models of the dust coma, tail, and trail structures of comet 22P/Kopff during the 2002 and 2009 apparitions. Dust loss rates, ejection velocities, and power-law size distribution functions are derived as functions of the heliocentric distance using pre- and post-perihelion imaging observations during both apparitions. The 2009 post-perihelion images can be accurately fitted by an isotropic ejection model. On the other hand, strong dust ejection anisotropies are required to fit the near-coma regions at large heliocentric distances (both inbound at $r_h$=2.5 AU and outbound at $r_h$=2.6 AU) for the 2002 apparition. These asymmetries are compatible with a scenario where dust ejection is mostly seasonally-driven, coming mainly from regions near subsolar latitudes at far heliocentric distances inbound and outbound. At intermediate to near-perihelion heliocentric distances, the outgassing would affect much more extended latitude regions, the emission becoming almost isotropic near perihelion. We derived a maximum dust production rate of 260 kg s$^{-1}$ at perihelion, and an averaged production rate over one orbit of 40 kg s$^{-1}$. An enhan

Author

Moreno, Fernando; Pozuelos, Francisco; Aceituno, Francisco; Casanova, Victor; Sota, Alfredo; Castellano, Julio; Reina, Esteban

Published

2012

Language

EN