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Title:
Spitzer Observations of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at 5.5-4.3 AU from the Sun
Authors:
Kelley, Michael S.; Wooden, Diane H.; Tubiana, Cecilia; Boehnhardt, Hermann; Woodward, Charles E.; Harker, David E.
Affiliation:
AA(Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, FL 32816-2385, USA ; Current address: Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2421, USA; ), AB(NASA Ames Research Center, Space Science Division, MS 245-3, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA ), AC(Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Max-Planck-Str. 2, 37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany ), AD(Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Max-Planck-Str. 2, 37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany ), AE(Department of Astronomy, University of Minnesota, 116 Church St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA ), AF(Center for Astronomy and Space Science, University of California-San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, Department 0424, San Diego, CA 92093, USA )
Publication:
The Astronomical Journal, Volume 137, Issue 6, pp. 4633-4642 (2009). (AJ Homepage)
Publication Date:
06/2009
Origin:
IOP
AJ Keywords:
comets: individual: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, infrared: solar system, meteors, meteoroids
DOI:
10.1088/0004-6256/137/6/4633
Bibliographic Code:
2009AJ....137.4633K

Abstract

We report Spitzer Space Telescope observations of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at 5.5 and 4.3 AU from the Sun, post-aphelion. Comet 67P is the primary target of the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission. The Rosetta spacecraft will rendezvous with the nucleus at heliocentric distances similar to our observations. Rotationally resolved observations at 8 and 24 μm (at a heliocentric distance, rh , of 4.8 AU) that sample the size and color-temperature of the nucleus are combined with aphelion R-band light curves observed at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and yield a mean effective radius of 2.04 ± 0.11 km, and an R-band geometric albedo of 0.054 ± 0.006. The amplitudes of the R-band and mid-infrared light curves agree, which suggests that the variability is dominated by the shape of the nucleus. We also detect the dust trail of the comet at 4.8 and 5.5 AU, constrain the grain sizes to be lsim6 mm, and estimate the impact hazard to Rosetta. We find no evidence for recently ejected dust in our images. If the activity of 67P is consistent from orbit to orbit, then we may expect the Rosetta spacecraft will return images of an inactive or weakly active nucleus as it rendezvous with the comet at rh = 4 AU in 2014.
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