The Dust Coma of Comet C/1999 S4 (Linear)

Comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) showed a very special behaviour between 28 June and1 July 2000. Optical observations of the dust coma in two distinct continuum bandsrevealed that it changed morphologically as well as in colour. The two-dimensionalcoma morphology indicates a splitting of the nucleus which probably occurred shortlybefore the observations of 28 June 2000. The distribution of the dust particles in sunand tail direction reflected by the slopes of the radial profiles indicate the presence ofa considerable amount of disintegrating dust particles in the sunward hemisphere andan overabundance of dust, reflecting at 440 nm, within the first 18,000 km of the dusttail. The spatial profiles of the (BC–RC) colour index in sun direction are distinctly different on 28 June and 1 July, indicating the production of a large amount of particles observable in blue continuum after 28 June.     

Visible and Infrared Images of C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) during the Disruption of Its Nucleus

An analysis of the behavior of the dust coma of the Comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) from visible and infrared images acquired shortly before and after the disruption of the comet's nucleus is presented. During the predisruption phase, the overall dust production increased by a factor of 11 in two steps; an initial outburst occurred between July 18 and 19 and a second stronger one occurred between July 20 and 21. Postdisruption images obtained on July 26 and 27 suggest that most of the dust was released in the huge outburst produced during the disruption of the nucleus a few days before. The color of the dust coma did not show any measurable day-to-day variation and was also very uniform throughout the coma. The latter is an indication of the homogeneity of the dust component of the nucleus.     

Long-Term Amateur Ccd Monitoring Of Comet C/1999 S4 (Linear)

The results from the analysis of the extensive CCD photometry that we haveobtained during the long-term monitoring (from its discovery until its break-up)of comet C/1999 S4 (linear) are presented here. Our observations showthat the comet did not always behave as expected: it showed activity ahead oftime and in the end became fainter instead of brighter as it approached perihelion.A sequence of images and a lightcurve are shown.     

Dust coma of Comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR): imaging polarimetry during nucleus disruption

Imaging and polarimetry of Comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) during its disruption provide information about the physical properties of the scattering dust particles, and some insight into the structure of the nucleus. A significant decrease in the brightness was noticed, together with a drastic change in the shape of the dust coma. The whole-coma polarization increased, which was typical of a comet with a near 27 percent maximum in polarization, the increase being comparable to previous observations for comets suffering a limited fragmentation. An important gradient in the intensity on the solar side corresponds to the ejected material. The degree of polarization in this region is higher than generally observed in jets and it increases with time as the nucleus (or its fragments) breaks up and ejects relatively large and compact particles. In the surrounding coma, these large particles are fragmented on short time-scales, indicated by the decrease of polarization. These results suggest that the fragile nucleus was not, as far as the physical properties of the dust are concerned, differentiated, and that it was possibly built of primordial cometesimals originating from the same formation region.     

Circular polarization in comets: Observations of Comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) and tentative interpretation

Comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) was exceptional in many respects. Its nucleus underwent multiple fragmentations culminating in the complete disruption around July 20, 2000. We present circular polarization measurements along the cuts through the coma and nucleus of the comet during three separate observing runs, in June 28-July 2, July 8-9, and July 21-22, 2000. The circular polarization was detected at a rather high level, up to 0.8%. The left-handed as well as right-handed polarization was observed over the coma with the left circularly polarized light systematically observed in the sunward part of the coma. During our observations the phase angle of the comet varied from 61 up to 122°, which allowed us to reveal variations of circular polarization with the phase angle. Correlation between the degree of circular polarization, visual magnitude, water production rate, and linear polarization of Comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) during its final fragmentation in July 2000 was found. The mechanisms that may produce circular polarization in comets and specifically in Comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) are discussed and some tentative interpretation is presented.     

Spectra Of Split Comet C/1999 S4 (Linear)

We obtained spectra of comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) with the UAGS spectrograph(long slit and CCD) installed on the 1-m Zeiss reflector of the SAO of the RAS(Northern Caucuses, Nizhny Arkhyz) on July 23/24, 26/27 and 27/28, 2000. OnJuly 22/23, before the splitting of the cometary nucleus, several emission lines,such as C₂, C₃, CN, NH, CH, NH₂, CO⁺, H₂O⁺ wereclearly identified in the spectra. The inspections of the CCD spectra obtainedon July 27/28, 2000 reveals only very weak emission lines superimposed on thesolar reflection spectrum. From analyzing the surface brightness profile of C₂ along the slit the velocity of separation of two secondary fragments (V = 10 km/h) and the energy of the fragment separation (E = 8.7 × 10¹⁵ erg) were estimated. A luminescence cometary continuum of 26% of the total continuum level is detected in the spectra of the comet at 5000 Å. Possible mechanisms of nucleus splitting are discussed.     

The Breakup of C/1999 S4 (Linear), Days 0–10

The evolution of the morphology of C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) is examined from aseries of images taken from shortly before the disruption of the nucleus until10 days afterwards. This is combined with light curve data to provide a uniquedocumentation of the early evolution of the disruption event. Neither imagesfrom the 1-m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope nor the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescopeat the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain)show no evidence of bright sub-nuclei, although the presence of a well-definedstable lance-point structure in the head of the comet indicates that a dust and gasproducing source remained active in this region. The centre of brightness of thecoma moved in the anti-solar direction at a few tens of metres per second afterdisruption indicating that it was a mainly dust structure. The contrast in thefragmentation history of comets such as C/1999 S4, C/2001 A2 and 141P/Machholz2 suggests that there is a wide variation in nucleus properties from highly unstableand loosely bound rubble piles to relatively consolidated conglomerates.     

Comparison of X-rays from Comets LINEAR (C/1999 S4) and McNaught-Hartley (C/1999 T1)

The Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO) observations of Comets McNaught-Hartley (MH) and LINEAR S4 (S4) have been processed in the same way to compare X-rays from those comets. The X-ray isophotes are crescent-like in S4 and more circular in MH because of the different phase angles (98° and 44°, respectively). The peak X-ray brightness is greater in S4 than that in MH by a factor of 1.5 and smaller by a factor of 1.7 after the correction for heliocentric distance. The X-ray luminosities of MH and S4 are equal to 8.6 and 1.4×10¹⁵ erg s⁻¹ inside the apertures of ρ=1.5 and 0.5×10⁴ km, respectively. (Brightness is 20% of the peak value at these ρ.) Efficiencies of X-ray excitation corrected to the solar wind flow are similar and equal to 4.3×10⁻¹⁴ erg AU^3/2 in both comets. This confirms the solar wind excitation of X-rays in comets. Spectra of the comets were extracted with a special care of the background correction and using an energy-dependent spectral resolution code. The MH spectrum consists of ten emissions instead of nine emissions in the previously published spectrum. The new emission at 307 eV fills in a strong minimum in the previous spectrum and removes the major difference between that spectrum and the synthetic spectrum. This emission is assigned to the C⁺⁴ and Mg⁺⁹ lines. The positions of the other emissions and their identification are similar to those in the previous spectrum. The S4 spectrum consists of eight emissions, and four emissions are the same as in MH. The line identification is given. Ion ratios in the solar wind have been extracted from the spectra. O⁺⁸/O⁺⁷ is equal to 0.29±0.04 and 0.14±0.02 in MH and S4, and this difference correlates with the higher solar wind speed in S4. Ne⁺⁹/O⁺⁷ is (15±6)×10⁻³ and (19±7)×10⁻³, and these are the first data on Ne⁺⁹ in the solar wind. C⁺⁶/O⁺⁷ is 0.7±0.2 in both MH and S4. X-ray spectroscopy of comets may be used as a diagnostic tool to study the solar wind composition.     

Dust Morphology Of Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1): I. Pre-Perihelion Coma Structures In

In 1996 comet Hale-Bopp exhibited a porcupine-like coma with straight jets of dust emission from several active regions on the nucleus. The multi-jet coma geometry developed during the first half of 1996. While the jet orientation remained almost constant over months, the relative intensity of the jets changed with time. By using the embedded fan model of Sekanina and Boehnhardt (1997a) the jet pattern of comet Hale-Bopp in 1996 can be interpreted as boundaries of dust emission cones (fans) from four — possibly five — active regions on the nucleus (for a numerical modelling see part II of the paper by Sekanina and Boehnhardt, 1997b). This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Orbits of Comets C/1845 L1 (Great June Comet) and C/1846 D1 (de Vico)

Orbits are calculated for Comet C/1845 L1 (the Great June Comet) and C/1846 D1 (de Vico), the former based on 157 observations in right ascension and 152 in declination and the latter on 10 and 9, respectively. Both orbits are hyperbolic and statistically distinguishable from parabolas. Statistical tests indicate that the residuals are random and thus the orbits satisfactory. The Great June Comet is in no way associated with the comet Tycho Brahe observed in 1596 (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

polarimetric and photometric observations of split comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR)

We present the results of polarimetric and photometricobservations of split Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR), which wereobtained at the 70-cm telescope of the Astronomical Observatoryof Kharkiv National University between 30 June and 31 July 2001.The brightest fragment of the comet, nucleus B, was observed.Eight narrowband cometary filters in the continuum and in emissionbands and a wideband red filter have been used. The comet wasobserved through apertures of 88, 33, and 19 arcsec. Polarizationphase curves were obtained for the continuum and for the firsttime, for NH₂(0, 7, 0) emission. The degree of polarization ofthe light scattered by the dust decreases with the increase ofaperture size. An important temporal variation of the polarizationwith a rotation of the polarization plane was observed at twophase angles (26.5° and 36.2°). Molecular column densities and production rates of CN, C₂,C₃, and NH₂ species are calculated in the framework of theHaser model. A comparative analysis of the temporal variations ofthe visual magnitudes, gas and dust production rates, dust colorand polarization are presented.     

Comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR): Polarimetric and photometric studies

We present the results of polarimetric and photometric observations of dynamically new comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) at phase angles from 6° to 26°. During the observations, the comet was at a distance of 2.7–1.3 AU from the Sun and 1.7–2.0 AU from the Earth. The aperture polarimetry was made with the 2.6-m Shain telescope and the 1.25-m AZT-11 telescope of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory and with the 0.7-m telescope of the Astronomical Institute of the Kharkiv National University during the period from November 21, 2003, to February 21, 2004. The wideband UBVRI and WRC (λ7228/1142 Å) filters and the narrowband GC (λ5260/56 Å) filter were used. The photometric observations of the comet were carried out on February 21, 2004, with narrowband filters isolated the BC (λ4845/65 Å) and RC (λ6840/90 Å) continuum and the C₂ emission (λ5140/90 Å). The phase-angle dependence of linear polarization of the comet has been obtained, and its parameters, such as the minimal polarization P _min = ?1.63%, the phase angle of the minimal polarization α_min = 10.6°, the inversion angle α_inv = 22.7°, and the slope of the phase curve at the inversion angle h = 0.24% per degree, were found. From the photometric observations, the following quantities have been obtained: the column density of molecules C₂ in the line of sight logN (C₂) = ?9.15 mol/cm² and their production rate log Q (C₂) = 27.11 mol/s, the spectral gradient of reflectivity for the dust S′(BC, RC) ≈ 3%/1000 Å, and the dust production parameter Afρ equal to 371 and 273 cm for the blue and red continuum ranges, respectively. According to these results, the physical parameters of comet C/2002 T7 are close to the average characteristics of typical dusty comets.     

New measures of the orientation of the linear structure in the sunward hemisphere of the coma of Comet 19P/Borrelly: apparitions of 1994, 2001, and 2008

The sky‐projected orientation (position angle) of the axis (line of maximum density or maximum brightness) of the long time‐known, linear structure (LS) in the sunward hemisphere of the coma of Comet 19P/Borrelly is measured on 45 photographs taken by different observers under different projection conditions and covering three consecutive apparitions (1994, 2001, and 2008) for a total time interval of 5174 days. The analysis of the results by a tomographic approach yields an LS axis constantly oriented towards a fixed point in the space, at Right Ascension 214°.4 ± 0°.5 and Declination –7°.0 ± 0°.5 (J2000), corresponding to an obliquity of 103°.5 ± 1° and an orbital longitude of 147°.2 ± 1°, throughout the relevant interval. Such coordinates are close to the ones found by other authors for the spatial orientation of the nucleus spin axis during the apparitions of 1994 and 2001. In the hypothesis of an LS orientation aligned with the nucleus spin axis, the new results confirm the previous ones and show that this orientation remained unchanged during the subsequent 2008 apparition (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Evolution of Dust Shells and Jets in the Inner Coma of Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)

Comet Hale-Bopp was observed with the 80 cm reflector + CCD at the Haute-Provence observatory (OHP) and with the 62 cm reflector + CCD at the Saint-Véran observatory (Queyras, France). The morphology of the shells was followed from their first appearence on 1997 Jan. 30, until their disappearance on May 9. These shells spread from the nucleus region with a velocity in agreement with a nuclear rotation period of about 11.33 hours. We report also a short and bright dust ejection on May 8. CN images show a long spiral jet in the tailward side invisible on continuum images. The circumnuclear structures have been followed at Saint-Véran from Apr. 5 to Apr. 11, 1997 with a high spatial resolution (200 km/pixel). We have followed the emergence of a recurrent linear polar jet. Measurements of its expansion show a constant acceleration of material with typical expansion velocity of 1 km/s. The CCD frames show the interconnection between spiral jets and the successive shells. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Dust tail of the active distant Comet C/2003 WT42 (LINEAR) studied with photometric and spectroscopic observations

We present the study of dust environment of dynamically new Comet C/2003 WT42 (LINEAR) based on spectroscopic and photometric observations. The comet was observed before and after the perihelion passage at heliocentric distances from 5.2 to 9.5 AU. Although the comet moved beyond the zone where water ice sublimation could be significant, its bright coma and extended dust tail evidenced the high level of physical activity. Afρ values exceeded 3000 cm likely reaching its maximum before the perihelion passage. At the same time, the spectrum of the comet did not reveal molecular emission features above the reflected continuum. Reddening of the continuum derived from the cometary spectrum is nonlinear along the dispersion with the steeper slop in the blue region. The pair of the blue and red continuum images was analyzed to estimate a color of the comet. The mean normalized reflectivity gradient derived from the innermost part of the cometary coma equals to 8% per 1000 Å that is typical for Oort cloud objects. However, the color map shows that the reddening of the cometary dust varies over the coma increasing to 15% per 1000 Å along the tail axis. The photometric images were fitted with a Monte Carlo model to construct the theoretical brightness distribution of the cometary coma and tail and to investigate the development of the cometary activity along the orbit. As the dust particles of distant comets are expected to be icy, we propose here the model, which describes the tail formation taking into account sublimation of grains along their orbits. The chemical composition and structure of these particles are assumed to correspond with Greenberg’s interstellar dust model of comet dust. All images were fitted with the close values of the model parameters. According to the results of the modeling, the physical activity of the comet is mainly determined by two active areas with outflows into the wide cones. The obliquity of the rotation axis of the nucleus equals to 20° relative to the comet’s orbital plane. The grains occupying the coma and tail are rather large amounting to 1 mm in size, with the exponential size distribution of a^−4.5. The outflow velocities of the dust particles vary from a few centimeters to tens of meters per second depending on their sizes. Our observations and the model findings evidence that the activity of the nucleus decreased sharply to a low-level phase at the end of April–beginning of May 2007. About 190 days later, in the first half of November 2007 the nucleus stopped any activity, however, the remnant tail did not disappear for more than 1.5 years at least.     

Optical Spectroscopy and Near-Infrared Observations of Comet C/2000 Wm1 (Linear) in December 2001 from Chile and Brazil

We report on the preliminary analysis of the high-resolution spectrum of CometC/2000 WM1 (LINEAR), obtained on Dec. 1, 2001 with the Fiber fed ExtendedRange Optical Spectrograph (FEROS) installed on the 1.52-m telescope of ESO(Chile). Many emission lines of the molecules C₂, C₃, CN, CH, CH⁺,NH₂, CO, CO⁺, H₂O⁺ and, presumably, C₂ ^- were identifiedin the spectral range 400–900 nm. Also, near-infrared photometry was performed on Dec. 2 and 3, with the infraredcamera (CamIV) attached to the 0.60-m Boller and Chivens telescope of the Picodos Dias Observatory (LNA/MCT), Brazil. We report the preliminary and comparativeanalysis of the I-J and J-H color indices.     

Light curves and photometric parameters of the comets C/1999 S4 (LINEAR), C/2001 Q4 (NEAT), C/2002 T7 (LINEAR), C/2002 V1 (NEAT), C2004 Q2 (Machholz), and 153P/2002 C1 (Ikeya-Zhang)

Light curves of six comets, C/1999 S4 (LINEAR), C/2001 Q4 (NEAT), C/2002 T7 (LINEAR), C/2002 V1 (NEAT), C/2004 Q2 (Machholz), and 153P/2002 C1 (Ikeya-Zhang), were built and investigated. The photometric parameters H ₀, H ₁₀, and n were calculated for these comets, and they were found to change both before and after perihelion. The shift of light curve peak with respect to perihelion passage moment was determined for each comet. Our white-light curves are compared to the results of polarimetric and electrophotometric observations of the comets C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) and C/2004 Q2 (Machholz).     

Distribution Law For Particle Fragmentation Times In A Theory For Striated Tails Of Dust Comets: Application To Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1)

Sekanina and Farrell's model for the striated dust tails of comets describes the formation of striae as a two-step fragmentation process that is characterized by an ejection time t_e of parent particles, by their radiation pressure acceleration β_p, and by their fragmentation time t_f. Of these three, t_f is the weakest parameter in that a range oft_f offers a set of nearly equivalent solutions. In this context, we comment on Nishioka et al.'s finite-lifetime model, which is a modification of the fragmentation model. We propose a truncated Gaussian function as a first-approximation distribution law for particle fragmentation times. We apply this generalized model to a stria in comet Hale-Bopp detected on March 5–15, 1997 and analyzed by Pittichová et al. in a recent paper. We find that in order to fit the stria's estimated width of ∼150 000 km, the fragmentation times cannot be distributed over a period of more than approximately 2 to 3 days. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.