The global meter-level shape model of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Frank Preusker (1) , F. Scholten (1) , K.-D. Matz (1) , T. Roatsch (1) , S. F. Hviid (1) , S. Mottola (1) , Jörg Knollenberg (1) , Ekkehard Kührt (1) , Maurizio Pajola (2) , Nilda Oklay (1) , Jean-Baptiste Vincent (1) , Björn Davidsson (3) , Michael F. A'Hearn (4) , Jessica Agarwal (5) , Cesare Barbieri (6) , Maria Antonella Barucci (7) , Jean-Loup Bertaux (8) , Ivano Bertini (9) , Gabriele Cremonese (10) , Vania da Deppo (11) , Stefano Debei (12) , Mariolino de Cecco (13) , Sonia Fornasier (7) , Marco Fulle (14) , Olivier Groussin (15) , Pedro J. Gutiérrez (16) , Carsten Güttler (5) , Wing-Huen Ip (17, 18) , Laurent Jorda (15) , Horst Uwe Keller (19, 1) , Detlef Koschny (20) , J. Rainer Kramm (5) , Michael Küppers (21) , Philippe Lamy (15) , Luisa-Maria Lara (16) , Monica Lazzarin (6) , José-Juan López-Moreno (16) , Francesco Marzari (6) , Matteo Massironi (9) , Giampiero Naletto (9, 11, 22) , Hans Rickman (3, 23) , Rafael Rodrigo (24, 25) , Holger Sierks (5) , Nicholas Thomas (26) , Cécilia Tubiana (5)

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

We performed a stereo-photogrammetric (SPG) analysis of more than 1500 Rosetta/OSIRIS NAC images of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P). The images with pixel scales in the range 0.2−3.0 m/pixel were acquired between August 2014 and February 2016. We finally derived a global high-resolution 3D description of 67P’s surface, the SPG SHAP7 shape model. It consists of about 44 million facets (1−1.5 m horizontal sampling) and a typical vertical accuracy at the decimeter scale. Although some images were taken after perihelion, the SPG SHAP7 shape model can be considered a pre-periheliondescription and replaces the previous SPG SHAP4S shape model. From the new shape model, some measures for 67P with very low 3σ uncertainties can be retrieved: 18.56 km³ ± 0.02 km³ for the volume and 537.8 kg/m³ ± 0.7 kg/m³ for the mean density assuming a mass value of 9.982 × 10¹² kg.

Mots clés: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko; Data analysis; Image processing; Comets

Domaines: Planétologie et astrophysique de la terre [astro-ph.EP]; Astrophysique stellaire et solaire [astro-ph.SR]

Frank Preusker, F. Scholten, K.-D. Matz, T. Roatsch, S. F. Hviid, et al.. The global meter-level shape model of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2017, 607 (November), L1 (5 p.). ⟨10.1051/0004-6361/201731798⟩. ⟨insu-01631548⟩