Bibcode
Pittichova, Jana; Lowry, S. C.; Laird, R.; A'Hearn, M. F.; Bauer, J. M.; Campins, H.; Fernández, Y.; Fitzsimmons, A.; Groussin, O.; Hsieh, H.; Kelley, M.; Lamy, P.; Licandro, J.; Lisse, C. M.; Meech, K. J.; Reach, W. T.; Snodgrass, C.; Toth, I.; Weaver, H. A.; Weaissman, P.
Referencia bibliográfica
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #28.26; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.964
Fecha de publicación:
10
2010
Número de citas
0
Número de citas referidas
0
Descripción
We present the latest analysis and results from SEPPCoN (Survey of
Ensemble Physical Properties of Cometary Nuclei). This on-going survey
involves studying 100 JFCs - about 25% of the known population - at both
mid-infrared and visible wave-lengths to constrain the distributions of
sizes, shapes, spins, and albedos of this population. Having earlier
reported results from measuring thermal emissions of our sample nuclei
[1,2,3,4], we report here progress on the visible-wavelength
observations that we have obtained at many ground-based facilities in
Chile, Spain, and the United States. To date we have attempted
observations of 91% of our sample of 100 JFCs, and at least 64 of those
were successfully detected. In most cases the comets were at
heliocentric distances between 3.0 and 6.5 AU so as to decrease the odds
of a comet having a coma. Of the 64 detected comets, 48 were apparently
bare, having no extended emission. Our datasets are further augmented by
archival data and photometry from the NEAT program [5]. An important
goal of SEPPCoN is to accumulate a large comprehensive set of high
quality physical data on cometary nuclei in order to make accurate
statistical comparisons with other minor-body populations such as
Trojans, Centaurs, and Kuiper-belt objects. Information on the size,
shape, spin-rate, albedo and color distributions is critical for
understanding their origins and evolutionary processes affecting them.
This work was supported in part by grants from NASA (NNX09AB44G) and NSF
(AST-0808004).
[1] Fernandez, Y., et al. 2008, Asteroids Comets Mete-ors 2008, LPI Co.
No. 1405, paper id. 8307.
[2] Kelley, M., et al. 2008, Asteroids Comets Meteors 2008, LPI Co. No.
1405, paper id. 8272.
[3] Groussin, O., et al. 2009, Icarus 199, 568.
[4] Licandro, J., et al. 2009, A&A 507, 1667.
[5] Bauer, J., et al. 2010, AAS Meeting 216, paper 409.01.