Observations and analysis of a curved jet in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Z.-Y. Lin (1) , I.-L. Lai (2) , C.-C. Su (3) , W.-H. Ip (4, 2, 1) , J.-C. Lee (5) , J.-S. Wu (3) , Jean-Baptiste Vincent (6) , F. La Forgia (7) , H. Sierks (6) , C. Barbieri (7, 8) , R. Rodrigo (9, 10) , D. Koschny (11) , H. Rickman (12) , H. U. Keller (13) , J. Agarwal (6) , Michael F. A'Hearn (14) , M. A. Barucci (15) , Jean-Loup Bertaux (16) , Ivano Bertini (8) , Dennis Bodewits (14) , Gabriele Cremonese (17) , Vania Da deppo (18) , Björn Davidsson (19) , Stefano Debei (20) , Mariolino de Cecco (21) , Sonia Fornasier (15) , Marco Fulle (22) , Olivier Groussin (23) , Pedro J. Gutiérrez (24) , Carsten Güttler (6) , Stubbe F. Hviid (25) , Laurent Jorda (23) , Jörg Knollenberg (25) , Gabor Kovacs (6) , J.-Rainer Kramm (6) , Ekkehard Kührt (25) , Michael Küppers (26) , Luisa-Maria Lara (24) , Mario Lazzarin (7) , Josè Juan Lopez-Moreno (24) , Stephen Lowry (27) , Philippe Lamy (23) , Francesco Marzari (7) , Harald Michalik (14) , Stefano Mottola (25) , Giampiero Naletto (8, 18, 28) , Nilda Oklay (6) , Maurizio Pajola (8) , A. Rożek (8) , Nicholas Thomas (29) , Cécilia Tubiana (6)

1 IANCU - Institute of Astronomy [Taiwan]
2 Institute of Space Science [Taiwan]
3 Department of Mechanical Engineering [NCTU]
4 SSI - Space Science Institute [Macau]
5 Department of Atmospheric Sciences [Taoyuan City]
6 MPS - Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung
7 Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia "Galileo Galilei"
8 CISAS - Centro di Ateneo di Studi e Attività Spaziali “Giuseppe Colombo”
9 ISSI - International Space Science Institute [Bern]
10 CAB - Centro de Astrobiologia [Madrid]
11 RSSD - Research and Scientific Support Department, ESTEC
12 CBK - Space Research Centre of Polish Academy of Sciences
13 IGEP - Institut für Geophysik und Extraterrestrische Physik [Braunschweig]
14 Department of Astronomy [College Park]
15 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
16 PLANETO - LATMOS
17 OAPD - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova
18 IFN - CNR Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies
19 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Uppsala]
20 Department of Industrial Engineering [Padova]
21 University of Trento [Trento]
22 OAT - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste
23 LAM - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
24 IAA - Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
25 DLR Institute of Planetary Research
26 ESAC - European Space Astronomy Centre
27 CAPS - Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Science [Canterbury]
28 Department of Information Engineering
29 Physikalisches Institut [Bern]

We analyze the physical properties and dynamical origin of a curved jet of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko that was observed repeatedly in several nucleus rotations starting on May 30 and persisting until early August, 2015. Methods. We simulated the motion of dust grains ejected from the nucleus surface under the influence of the gravity and viscous drag effect of the expanding gas flow from the rotating nucleus. Results. The formation of the curved jet is a combination of the size of the dust particles (~0.1−1 mm) and the location of the source region near the nucleus equator. This enhances the spiral feature of the collimated dust stream after the dust is accelerated to a terminal speed on the order of m s-1.

Keywords: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko; comets

Domains: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]; Solar and Stellar Astrophysics [astro-ph.SR]

Z.-Y. Lin, I.-L. Lai, C.-C. Su, W.-H. Ip, J.-C. Lee, et al.. Observations and analysis of a curved jet in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2016, 588, pp.L3. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361/201527784⟩. ⟨insu-01288643⟩