| 1. |
- Kueppers, Michael, et al.
(författare)
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Triple F-a comet nucleus sample return mission
- 2009
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Ingår i: Experimental astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 23:3, s. 809-847
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Triple F (Fresh From the Fridge) mission, a Comet Nucleus Sample Return, has been proposed to ESA's Cosmic Vision program. A sample return from a comet enables us to reach the ultimate goal of cometary research. Since comets are the least processed bodies in the solar system, the proposal goes far beyond cometary science topics (like the explanation of cometary activity) and delivers invaluable information about the formation of the solar system and the interstellar molecular cloud from which it formed. The proposed mission would extract three sample cores of the upper 50 cm from three locations on a cometary nucleus and return them cooled to Earth for analysis in the laboratory. The simple mission concept with a touch-and-go sampling by a single spacecraft was proposed as an M-class mission in collaboration with the Russian space agency ROSCOSMOS.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Biver, N., et al.
(författare)
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Radio observations of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 before and after Deep Impact
- 2007
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Ingår i: Icarus. - : Elsevier BV. - 1090-2643 .- 0019-1035. ; 191:2, s. 494-512
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Comet 9P/Tempel 1 was the target of a multi-wavelength worldwide investigation in 2005. The NASA Deep Impact mission reached the comet on 4.24 July 2005, delivering a 370-kg impactor which hit the comet at 10.3 km s -1 . Following this impact, a cloud of gas and dust was excavated from the comet nucleus. The comet was observed in 2005 prior to and after the impact, at 18-cm wavelength with the Nançay radio telescope, in the millimeter range with the IRAM and CSO radio telescopes, and at 557 GHz with the Odin satellite. OH observations at Nançay provided a 4-month monitoring of the outgassing of the comet from March to June, followed by the observation of H 2 O with Odin from June to August 2005. The peak of outgassing was found to be around 1 × 10 28 molec. s -1 between May and July. Observations conducted with the IRAM 30-m radio telescope in May and July 2005 resulted in detections of HCN, CH 3 OH and H 2 S with classical abundances relative to water (0.12, 2.7 and 0.5%, respectively). In addition, a variation of the HCN production rate with a period of 1.73 ± 0.10 days was observed in May 2005, consistent with the 1.7-day rotation period of the nucleus. The phase of these variations, as well as those of CN seen in July by Jehin et al. [Jehin, E., Manfroid, J., Hutsemékers, D., Cochran, A.L., Arpigny, C., Jackson, W.M., Rauer, H., Schulz, R., Zucconi, J.-M., 2006. Astrophys. J. 641, L145-L148], is consistent with a rotation period of the nucleus of 1.715 days and a strong variation of the outgassing activity by a factor 3 from minimum to maximum. This also implies that the impact took place on the rising phase of the "natural" outgassing which reached its maximum ≈4 h after the impact. Post-impact observations at IRAM and CSO did not reveal a significant change of the outgassing rates and relative abundances, with the exception of CH 3 OH which may have been more abundant by up to one order of magnitude in the ejecta. Most other variations are linked to the intrinsic variability of the comet. The Odin satellite monitored nearly continuously the H 2 O line at 557 GHz during the 38 h following the impact on the 4th of July, in addition to weekly monitoring. Once the periodic variations related to the nucleus rotation are removed, a small increase of outgassing related to the impact is present, which corresponds to the release of ≈ 5000 ± 2000 tons of water. Two other bursts of activity, also observed at other wavelengths, were seen on 23 June and 7 July; they correspond to even larger releases of gas. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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| 4. |
- Biver, N., et al.
(författare)
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Radio observations of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 before and after Deep Impact
- 2007
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Ingår i: Icarus. - : Elsevier BV. - 1090-2643 .- 0019-1035. ; 187:1, s. 253-271
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Comet 9P/Tempel 1 was the target of a multi-wavelength worldwide investigation in 2005. The NASA Deep Impact mission reached the comet on 4.24 July 2005, delivering a 370-kg impactor which hit the comet at 10.3 km s -1 . Following this impact, a cloud of gas and dust was excavated from the comet nucleus. The comet was observed in 2005 prior to and after the impact, at 18-cm wavelength with the Nançay radio telescope, in the millimeter range with the IRAM and CSO radio telescopes, and at 557 GHz with the Odin satellite. OH observations at Nançay provided a 4-month monitoring of the outgassing of the comet from March to June, followed by the observation of H 2 O with Odin from June to August 2005. The peak of outgassing was found to be around 1 × 10 28 molec. s -1 between May and July. Observations conducted with the IRAM 30-m radio telescope in May and July 2005 resulted in detections of HCN, CH 3 OH and H 2 S with classical abundances relative to water (0.12, 2.7 and 0.5%, respectively). In addition, a variation of the HCN production rate with a period of 1.73 ± 0.10 days was observed in May 2005, consistent with the 1.7-day rotation period of the nucleus. The phase of these variations, as well as those of CN seen in July by Jehin et al. [Jehin, E., Manfroid, J., Hutsemékers, D., Cochran, A.L., Arpigny, C., Jackson, W.M., Rauer, H., Schulz, R., Zucconi, J.-M., 2006. Astrophys. J. 641, L145-L148], is consistent with a rotation period of the nucleus of 1.715 days and a strong variation of the outgassing activity by a factor 3 from minimum to maximum. This also implies that the impact took place on the rising phase of the "natural" outgassing which reached its maximum ≈4 h after the impact. Post-impact observations at IRAM and CSO did not reveal a significant change of the outgassing rates and relative abundances, with the exception of CH 3 OH which may have been more abundant by up to one order of magnitude in the ejecta. Most other variations are linked to the intrinsic variability of the comet. The Odin satellite monitored nearly continuously the H 2 O line at 557 GHz during the 38 h following the impact on the 4th of July, in addition to weekly monitoring. Once the periodic variations related to the nucleus rotation are removed, a small increase of outgassing related to the impact is present, which corresponds to the release of ≈ 5000 ± 2000 tons of water. Two other bursts of activity, also observed at other wavelengths, were seen on 23 June and 7 July; they correspond to even larger releases of gas. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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| 5. |
- Crovisier, J., et al.
(författare)
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The chemical composition of 9P/tempel 1 from radio observations
- 2009
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Ingår i: ESO Astrophysics Symposia. - Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg. - 1431-2433 .- 1611-6143. - 9783540769583 ; 2009, s. 243-248
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In 2005, as part of a world-wide multi-wavelength investigation of comet 9P/Tempel 1 in support to the Deep Impact mission, we conducted radio spectroscopic observations with the Nançay radio telescope, the Odin satellite, the CSO 10-m and the IRAM 30-m telescopes. We report here our results concerning the chemical composition of the comet. The relative abundances of the detected species (H2O, CH3OH, H2S, HCN) or their upper limits (CO, H2CO, CS) are comparable to the mean values observed in other comets. No significant changes of the outgassing rates (except possibly for CH3OH) or of the molecular abundances were observed following the impact.
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| 6. |
- Biver, N., et al.
(författare)
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Periodic variation in the water production of comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) observed with the Odin satellite
- 2009
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 501:1, s. 359-366
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context: Comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) was extensively studied with the 1.1-m submillimetre telescope of the Odin satellite. The H2O line at 557 GHz was regularly observed from 6 March to 16 May 2004 and nearly continuously monitored during 3 periods between 26 April and 2 May 2004. Aims: This last set of data shows periodic variations in the line intensity, and we looked for characterising the long- and short-term behaviour of this comet. Methods: We used the variance ratio method and χ2 minimization to find the period of variation in the water production rate and simulations to infer its amplitude at the nucleus surface. Results: A 40% periodic variation in the water production rate is measured with a period of 0.816±0.004 day (19.58±0.1 h). The comet also exhibits a seasonal effect with a mean peak of outgassing around 2.7×1029 molec. s-1 taking place about 18 days before perihelion.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Gunnarsson, M., et al.
(författare)
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Mapping the carbon monoxide coma of comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1
- 2008
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 484:2, s. 537-546
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. CO is assumed to be the main driver behind the activity of comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, which resides in a near-circular orbit at 6 AU from the Sun. Several properties of the outgassing of CO can be deduced from its millimetre-wave emission. Earlier studies have indicated CO production from the nucleus as well as an extended source. Aims. We have sought to further investigate the nature of the CO production in comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, through the use of newly available instrumentation. Methods. We used the HERA receiver array on the 30-m IRAM telescope to map the 230 GHz CO(J = 2-1) line in the comet with an unprecedented sensitivity and spatial coverage, and a high spectral resolution (20 kHz, i.e., 25 m s(-1)). A 36-point map, 60 by 60 '', was obtained in June 2003, and a 25-point map, 96 by 96 '', in January 2004. Results. The CO emission line has a characteristic asymmetric profile. Our analysis is based on a coma model, where the outgassing pattern is derived from the shape of this line at the central position of the map. When comparing to the observations, both maps show a line intensity at offset positions that is 2-3 times stronger than the model prediction. Different explanations for this are evaluated, and it is found that for the global coma character, an extremely low gas temperature in the inner coma reproduces the observed radial profile. A cold inner coma depletes the population of the CO J = 2 rotational level in the region closest to the nucleus, making spectra observed at offset positions relatively stronger. From the global appearance of the maps, the coma was found to be largely axisymmetric, and the presence of a strong extended source of CO, as indicated from earlier observations using the SEST telescope, was not seen. When examining the maps in more detail, a possible exception to this was seen in an area similar to 30 '' south of the comet, where an excess in emission is present in both maps. Model fits to the spectra based on the cold inner coma that we find, with an intital kinetic temperature T(kin) = 4 K, give a measure of Q(CO), the CO production rate. Q(CO) was found to be (3.9 +/- 0.2) x 10(28) mol s(-1) in June 2003, and (3.7 +/- 0.2) x 10(28) mol s(-1) in January 2004. These values are a factor similar to 1.5 higher than that derived using only the information available from non-mapped data, and this adjustment applies also to previously published production rates.
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