Gas outflow and dust transport of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko

Ian-Lin Lai (1) , Wing-Huen Ip (2, 3, 1) , Cheng-Chin Su (4) , Jong-Shinn Shi (4) , Jui-Chi Lee (5) , Zhong-Yi Lin (2) , Ying Liao (6) , Nicolas Thomas (6) , Holger Sierks (7) , Cesare Barbieri (8) , Philippe Lamy (9) , Rafael Rodrigo (10) , Detlef Koschny (11) , Hans Rickman (12) , Horst Uwe Keller (13) , Jessica Agarwal (7) , Michael A’hearn (14, 7) , Maria Antonella Barucci (15) , Jean-Loup Bertaux (16) , Ivano Bertini (17) , Steven Boudreault (7) , Gabriele Cremonese (18) , Vania da Deppo (19) , Björn Davidsson (12) , Stefano Debei (20) , Mariolino de Cecco (21) , Jakob Deller (7) , Sonia Fornasier (15) , Marc Fulle (22) , Olivier Groussin (9) , Pedro J. Gutiérrez (23) , Carsten Güttler (6) , Marc Hofmann (7) , Stubbe F. Hviid (6, 24) , Laurent Jorda (9) , Jörg Knollenberg (24) , Gabor Kovacs (7) , J.-Rainer Kramm (7) , Ekkehard Kührt (24) , Michael Küppers (25) , Luisa M. Lara (23) , Monica Lazzarin (8) , Josè J. Lopez Moreno (24) , Francesco Marzari (8) , Giampiero Naletto (26) , Nilda Oklay (7) , Xian Shi (7) , Cecilia Tubiana (7) , Jean-Baptiste Vincent (7)

1 Institute of Space Science [Taiwan]
2 IANCU - Institute of Astronomy [Taiwan]
3 SSI - Space Science Institute [Macau]
4 Department of Mechanical Engineering [NCTU]
5 Department of Atmospheric Sciences [Taoyuan City]
6 Physikalisches Institut [Bern]
7 MPS - Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung
8 Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia "Galileo Galilei"
9 LAM - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
10 CAB - Centro de Astrobiologia [Madrid]
11 ESTEC - European Space Research and Technology Centre
12 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Uppsala]
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 CISAS - Centro di Ateneo di Studi e Attività Spaziali “Giuseppe Colombo”
18 OAPD - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova
19 IFN - CNR Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies
20 Department of Industrial Engineering [Padova]
21 University of Trento [Trento]
22 OAT - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste
23 IAA - Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
24 DLR Institut für Planetenforschung
25 ESAC - European Space Astronomy Centre
26 DEI - Department of Information Engineering [Padova]

Because of the diurnal thermal cycle and the irregular shape of the nucleus, gas outflow of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko could be highly anisotropic as indicated by the colliminated dust jet structures on the sunlit side. Based on the OSIRIS imaging observations of the outgassing effect, a simple model of surface sublimation can be constructed by taking into account the dependence on the solar insolation. With preliminary information on the time variability of the global gas production rate, a sequence of gas coma models can be generated at different epochs before and after perihelion. We also investigate different patterns of dust particle dynamics under the influences of nuclear rotation and gas drag. From these considerations, a consistent picture of the spatial distribution of dusty materials across the surface of comet 67P as it moves around the perihelion can be developed. It is found that because of the redeposition of the ejected dust from the Southern hemisphere to the Northern hemisphere during the southern summer season the Hapi region could gain up to 0.4 m while the Wosret region would lose up to 1.8 m of dust mantle per orbit.

Keywords: methods: numerical; comets: general; comets: individual: comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

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

Ian-Lin Lai, Wing-Huen Ip, Cheng-Chin Su, Jong-Shinn Shi, Jui-Chi Lee, et al.. Gas outflow and dust transport of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2016, 462 (Suppl_1), pp.S533 - S546. ⟨10.1093/mnras/stx332⟩. ⟨insu-01495254⟩