Geomorphological mapping of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko’s Southern hemisphere

Jui-Chi Lee (1) , Matteo Massironi (2, 3) , Wing-Huen Ip (4, 5, 6) , Lorenza Giacomini (2) , Sabrina Ferrari (3) , Luca Penasa (3) , Mohamed Ramy El-Maarry (7) , Maurizio Pajola (8, 3) , Ian-Lin Lai (4) , Zhong-Yi Lin (6) , Francesca Ferri (3) , Holger Sierks (9) , Cesare Barbieri (10) , Philippe Lamy (11) , Rafael Rodrigo (12) , Detlef Koschny (13) , Hans Rickman (14) , Horst Uwe Keller (15) , Jessica Agarwal (9) , Michael A’hearn (9, 16) , Maria Antonella Barucci (17) , Jean-Loup Bertaux (18) , Ivano Bertini (3) , Gabriele Cremonese (19) , Vania da Deppo (20) , Björn Davidsson (14) , Stefano Debei (21) , Mariolino de Cecco (22) , Jakob Deller (9) , Sonia Fornasier (17) , Marc Fulle (23) , Olivier Groussin (11) , Pedro J. Gutiérrez (24) , Carsten Güttler (7) , Marc Hofmann (9) , Stubbe F. Hviid (9, 25) , Laurent Jorda (11) , Jörg Knollenberg (25) , Gabor Kovacs (9) , J.-Rainer Kramm (9) , Ekkehard Kührt (25) , Michael Küppers (26) , Luisa M. Lara (24) , Monica Lazzarin (10) , Francesco Marzari (10) , Josè J. Lopez Moreno (24) , Giampiero Naletto (27) , Nilda Oklay (9) , Xian Shi (9) , Nicolas Thomas (7) , Cecilia Tubiana (9) , Jean-Baptiste Vincent (9)

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

In 2015 May, the Southern hemisphere of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko became visible by the OSIRIS cameras on-board the Rosetta spacecraft. The resolution was high enough to carry out a detailed analysis of the surface morphology, which is quite different from the Northern hemisphere. Previous works show that fine particle deposits are the most extensive geological unit in the Northern hemisphere. In contrast, the Southern hemisphere is dominated by outcropping consolidated terrain. In this work, we provide geomorphological maps of the Southern hemisphere with the distinction of both geological units and linear features. The geomorphological maps described in this study allow us to gain a better understanding of the processes shaping the comet nucleus and the distribution of primary structures such as fractures and strata.

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

Jui-Chi Lee, Matteo Massironi, Wing-Huen Ip, Lorenza Giacomini, Sabrina Ferrari, et al.. Geomorphological mapping of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko’s Southern hemisphere. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2016, 462 (Suppl_1), pp.S573 - S592. ⟨10.1093/mnras/stx450⟩. ⟨insu-01495402⟩