A Search for the Origin of the Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov
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KAREN J. MEECH February 7, 2019 Astronomer
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH – KAREN J. MEECH February 7, 2019 Astronomer Institute for Astronomy Tel: 1-808-956-6828 2680 Woodlawn Drive Fax: 1-808-956-4532 Honolulu, HI 96822-1839 [email protected] PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION Rice University Space Physics B.A. 1981 Massachusetts Institute of Tech. Planetary Astronomy Ph.D. 1987 APPOINTMENTS 2018 – present Graduate Chair 2000 – present Astronomer, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii 1992-2000 Associate Astronomer, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii 1987-1992 Assistant Astronomer, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii 1982-1987 Graduate Research & Teaching Assistant, Massachusetts Inst. Tech. 1981-1982 Research Specialist, AAVSO and Massachusetts Institute of Technology AWARDS 2018 ARCs Scientist of the Year 2015 University of Hawai’i Regent’s Medal for Research Excellence 2013 Director’s Research Excellence Award 2011 NASA Group Achievement Award for the EPOXI Project Team 2011 NASA Group Achievement Award for EPOXI & Stardust-NExT Missions 2009 William Tylor Olcott Distinguished Service Award of the American Association of Variable Star Observers 2006-8 National Academy of Science/Kavli Foundation Fellow 2005 NASA Group Achievement Award for the Stardust Flight Team 1996 Asteroid 4367 named Meech 1994 American Astronomical Society / DPS Harold C. Urey Prize 1988 Annie Jump Cannon Award 1981 Heaps Physics Prize RESEARCH FIELD AND ACTIVITIES • Developed a Discovery mission concept to explore the origin of Earth’s water. • Co-Investigator on the Deep Impact, Stardust-NeXT and EPOXI missions, leading the Earth-based observing campaigns for all three. • Leads the UH Astrobiology Research interdisciplinary program, overseeing ~30 postdocs and coordinating the research with ~20 local faculty and international partners. -
Early Observations of the Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov
geosciences Article Early Observations of the Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov Chien-Hsiu Lee NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA; [email protected]; Tel.: +1-520-318-8368 Received: 26 November 2019; Accepted: 11 December 2019; Published: 17 December 2019 Abstract: 2I/Borisov is the second ever interstellar object (ISO). It is very different from the first ISO ’Oumuamua by showing cometary activities, and hence provides a unique opportunity to study comets that are formed around other stars. Here we present early imaging and spectroscopic follow-ups to study its properties, which reveal an (up to) 5.9 km comet with an extended coma and a short tail. Our spectroscopic data do not reveal any emission lines between 4000–9000 Angstrom; nevertheless, we are able to put an upper limit on the flux of the C2 emission line, suggesting modest cometary activities at early epochs. These properties are similar to comets in the solar system, and suggest that 2I/Borisov—while from another star—is not too different from its solar siblings. Keywords: comets: general; comets: individual (2I/Borisov); solar system: formation 1. Introduction 2I/Borisov was first seen by Gennady Borisov on 30 August 2019. As more observations were conducted in the next few days, there was growing evidence that this might be an interstellar object (ISO), especially its large orbital eccentricity. However, the first astrometric measurements do not have enough timespan and are not of same quality, hence the high eccentricity is yet to be confirmed. This had all changed by 11 September; where more than 100 astrometric measurements over 12 days, Ref [1] pinned down the orbit elements of 2I/Borisov, with an eccentricity of 3.15 ± 0.13, hence confirming the interstellar nature. -
Comet Section Observing Guide
Comet Section Observing Guide 1 The British Astronomical Association Comet Section www.britastro.org/comet BAA Comet Section Observing Guide Front cover image: C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) by Geoffrey Johnstone on 1997 April 10. Back cover image: C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) by Lester Barnes on 2011 December 23. © The British Astronomical Association 2018 2018 December (rev 4) 2 CONTENTS 1 Foreword .................................................................................................................................. 6 2 An introduction to comets ......................................................................................................... 7 2.1 Anatomy and origins ............................................................................................................................ 7 2.2 Naming .............................................................................................................................................. 12 2.3 Comet orbits ...................................................................................................................................... 13 2.4 Orbit evolution .................................................................................................................................... 15 2.5 Magnitudes ........................................................................................................................................ 18 3 Basic visual observation ........................................................................................................ -
The Comet's Tale
THE COMET’S TALE Newsletter of the Comet Section of the British Astronomical Association Volume 5, No 1 (Issue 9), 1998 May A May Day in February! Comet Section Meeting, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, 1998 February 14 The day started early for me, or attention and there were displays to correct Guide Star magnitudes perhaps I should say the previous of the latest comet light curves in the same field. If you haven’t day finished late as I was up till and photographs of comet Hale- got access to this catalogue then nearly 3am. This wasn’t because Bopp taken by Michael Hendrie you can always give a field sketch the sky was clear or a Valentine’s and Glynn Marsh. showing the stars you have used Ball, but because I’d been reffing in the magnitude estimate and I an ice hockey match at The formal session started after will make the reduction. From Peterborough! Despite this I was lunch, and I opened the talks with these magnitude estimates I can at the IOA to welcome the first some comments on visual build up a light curve which arrivals and to get things set up observation. Detailed instructions shows the variation in activity for the day, which was more are given in the Section guide, so between different comets. Hale- reminiscent of May than here I concentrated on what is Bopp has demonstrated that February. The University now done with the observations and comets can stray up to a offers an undergraduate why it is important to be accurate magnitude from the mean curve, astronomy course and lectures are and objective when making them. -
Initial Characterization of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov
Initial characterization of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov Piotr Guzik1*, Michał Drahus1*, Krzysztof Rusek2, Wacław Waniak1, Giacomo Cannizzaro3,4, Inés Pastor-Marazuela5,6 1 Astronomical Observatory, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland 2 AGH University of Science and Technology, Kraków, Poland 3 SRON, Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, the Netherlands 4 Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands 5 Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands 6 ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Dwingeloo, the Netherlands * These authors contributed equally to this work; email: [email protected], [email protected] Interstellar comets penetrating through the Solar System had been anticipated for decades1,2. The discovery of asteroidal-looking ‘Oumuamua3,4 was thus a huge surprise and a puzzle. Furthermore, the physical properties of the ‘first scout’ turned out to be impossible to reconcile with Solar System objects4–6, challenging our view of interstellar minor bodies7,8. Here, we report the identification and early characterization of a new interstellar object, which has an evidently cometary appearance. The body was discovered by Gennady Borisov on 30 August 2019 UT and subsequently identified as hyperbolic by our data mining code in publicly available astrometric data. The initial orbital solution implies a very high hyperbolic excess speed of ~32 km s−1, consistent with ‘Oumuamua9 and theoretical predictions2,7. Images taken on 10 and 13 September 2019 UT with the William Herschel Telescope and Gemini North Telescope show an extended coma and a faint, broad tail. We measure a slightly reddish colour with a g′–r′ colour index of 0.66 ± 0.01 mag, compatible with Solar System comets. -
Comet Interceptor: a Mission to an Ancient World
EPSC Abstracts Vol. 14, EPSC2020-574, 2020 https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2020-574 Europlanet Science Congress 2020 © Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Comet Interceptor: A mission to an ancient world Cecilia Tubiana1, Geraint Jones2,3, Colin Snodgrass4, and the the Comet Interceptor Team* 1Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Goettingen, Germany ([email protected]) 2Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Surrey, UK 3The Centre for Planetary Sciences at UCL/Birkbeck, London, UK 4Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh *A full list of authors appears at the end of the abstract Comets are the most pristine objects in our Solar System. Having spent most of their life at large distance from the Sun, where they remained mostly unaffected by solar radiation, comets are the most unaltered remnants from the era of planet formation. In June 2019, a multi-spacecraft project – Comet Interceptor – was selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) as its next planetary mission, and the first in its new class of Fast (F) projects [1]. The mission’s primary science goal is to characterise, for the first time, a long-period comet – preferably one which is dynamically new – or an interstellar object. An encounter with a comet approaching the Sun for the first time will provide valuable data to complement that from all previous comet missions: the surface of such an object would be being heated to temperatures above the its constituent ices’ sublimation point for the first time since its formation. -
Spherex: New NASA MIDEX All-Sky 1-5 Um Spectral Survey
SPHEREx: New NASA MIDEX All-Sky 1-5 um Spectral Survey Designed to Explore ▪ The Origin of the Universe ▪ The Origin and History of Galaxies ▪ The Origin of Water in Planetary Systems ▪ PI Jamie Bock, CalTech The First All-Sky Near-IR Spectral Survey A Rich Legacy Archive for the Astronomy Community with 100s of Millions of Stars and Galaxies Low-Risk Implementation ▪ 2022 NASA MIDEX Launch ▪ Single Observing Mode ▪ Large Design Margins Co-I Carey Lisse, SES/SRE ▪ No Moving Optics NASA SBAG Jun 25, 2019 Copyright 2017 California Institute of Technology. U.S. Government sponsorship acknowledged. New MIDEX SPHEREx (2022-2025): All-Sky 0.8 – 5.0 µm Spectral Legacy Archives Medium- High- Accuracy Accuracy Detected Spectra Spectra Clusters > 1 billion > 100 million 10 million 25,000 All-Sky surveys demonstrate high Galaxies scientiFic returns with a lasting Main data legacy used across astronomy Sequence Brown Spectra Dust-forming Dwarfs Cataclysms For example: > 100 million 10,000 > 400 > 1,000 COBE J IRAS J Stars GALEX Asteroid WMAP & Comet Galactic Quasars Quasars z >7 Spectra Line Maps Planck > 1.5 million 1 – 300? > 100,000 PAH, HI, H2 WISE J Other More than 400,000 total citations! SPHEREx Data Products & Tools: A spectrum (0.8 to 5 micron) for every 6″ pixel on the sky Planned Data Releases Survey Data Date (Launch +) Associated Products Survey 1 1 – 8 mo S1 spectral images Survey 2 8 – 14 mo S1/2 spectral images Early release catalog Survey 3 14 – 20 mo S1/2/3 spectral images Survey 4 20 – 26 mo S1/2/3/4 spectral images Final Release -
Detecting the Yarkovsky Effect Among Near-Earth Asteroids From
Detecting the Yarkovsky effect among near-Earth asteroids from astrometric data Alessio Del Vignaa,b, Laura Faggiolid, Andrea Milania, Federica Spotoc, Davide Farnocchiae, Benoit Carryf aDipartimento di Matematica, Universit`adi Pisa, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 5, Pisa, Italy bSpace Dynamics Services s.r.l., via Mario Giuntini, Navacchio di Cascina, Pisa, Italy cIMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universits, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Univ. Lille, 77 av. Denfert-Rochereau F-75014 Paris, France dESA SSA-NEO Coordination Centre, Largo Galileo Galilei, 1, 00044 Frascati (RM), Italy eJet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, 91109 CA, USA fUniversit´eCˆote d’Azur, Observatoire de la Cˆote d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, Boulevard de l’Observatoire, Nice, France Abstract We present an updated set of near-Earth asteroids with a Yarkovsky-related semi- major axis drift detected from the orbital fit to the astrometry. We find 87 reliable detections after filtering for the signal-to-noise ratio of the Yarkovsky drift esti- mate and making sure the estimate is compatible with the physical properties of the analyzed object. Furthermore, we find a list of 24 marginally significant detec- tions, for which future astrometry could result in a Yarkovsky detection. A further outcome of the filtering procedure is a list of detections that we consider spurious because unrealistic or not explicable with the Yarkovsky effect. Among the smallest asteroids of our sample, we determined four detections of solar radiation pressure, in addition to the Yarkovsky effect. As the data volume increases in the near fu- ture, our goal is to develop methods to generate very long lists of asteroids with reliably detected Yarkovsky effect, with limited amounts of case by case specific adjustments. -
Properties of Cometary Nuclei
Properties of Cometary Nuclei J, Rahe, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC V. Vanysek, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic P. R. Weissman Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA Abstract: Active long- and short-period comets contribute about 20 to 30% of the major impactors on the Earth. Cometary nuclei are irregular bodies, typically a few to ten kilometers in diameter, with masses in the range 10*5 to 10’8 g. The nuclei are composed of an intimate mixture of volatile ices, mostly water ice, and hydrocarbon and silicate grains. The composition is the closest to solar composition of any known bodies in the solar system. The nuclei appear to be weakly bonded agglomerations of smaller icy planetesimals, and material strengths estimated from observed tidal disruption events are fairly low, typically 1& to ld N m-2. Density estimates range between 0.2 and 1.2 g cm-3 but are very poorly determined, if at all. As comets age they develop nonvolatile crusts on their surfaces which eventually render them inactive, similar in appearance to carbonaceous asteroids. However, dormant comets may continue to show sporadic activity and outbursts for some time before they become truly extinct. The source of the long-period comets is the Oort cloud, a vast spherical cloud of perhaps 1012 to 10’3 comets surrounding the solar system and extending to interstellar distances. The likely source of the short-period comets is the Kuiper belt, a ring of perhaps 108 to 1010 remnant icy planetesimals beyond the orbit of Neptune, though some short-period comets may also be long- pcriod comets from the Oort cloud which have been perturbed to short-period orbits. -
Guide User Manual (PDF)
CONTENTS 1: 2 Installing Guide 2: 2 Getting Help 3: 3 What Guide is showing you 4: 4 Panning and zooming 5: 5 Finding objects 5a: 8 Finding stars 5b: 10 Finding galaxies 5c: 12 Finding nebulae 5d: 12 Entering coordinates 6: 13 Getting information about objects 6a: 15 Measuring angular distances on the screen 6b: 15 Quick info 7: 16 The Display menu 7a: 17 The Star Display menu 7b: 19 The Data Shown menu 7c: 21 Planet display 7d: 23 The Camera Frame menu 7e: 24 The Legend Menu 7f: 26 Measurement markings (grids, ticks, etc.) 7g: 28 Backgrounds dialog 8: 29 Changing settings 8a: 34 Location dialog 8b: 35 Inversion dialog 9: 36 Overlays menu 10: 38 User Object menu 11: 39 Telescope control 12: 42 DOS Printer setup and printing 13: 43 PostScript charts 14: 44 The time dialog 15: 46 Planetary animation and ephemeris generation 16: 50 Tables menu 17: 52 Extras menu 17a: 54 DSS/RealSky Images 17b: 56 Downloading star data from the Internet 17c: 58 Installing to the hard drive 17d: 59 Asteroid options 18: 62 Eclipses, occultations, transits 19: 63 Saving and going to marks 20: 64 User-added (.TDF) datasets 21: 65 Adding your own notes for objects 22: 66 About Guide's data 23: 67 Accessing Guide's data from your own programs 24: 68 Acknowledgments Appendices: A: 70 RA and Declination Explained B: 70 Precession and Epochs Explained C: 71 Altitude and Azimuth (Alt/Az) Explained D: 72 Troubleshooting Positions 1 E: 73 Notes on Accuracy F: 73 Adding New Comets G: 75 Astronomical Magnitudes H: 75 Copyright and Liability Notices I: 77 List of Program-Wide Hotkeys Index 79 Questions and bug reports should be sent to: Project Pluto 168 Ridge Road Bowdoinham ME 04008 Fax (207) 666 3149 Tel (207) 666 5750 Tel (800) 777 5886 E-mail: [email protected] WWW: http://www.projectpluto.com 1: HOW TO INSTALL GUIDE To install Guide, put the Guide DVD into the DVD drive. -
Physical Characterization of NEA Large Super-Fast Rotator (436724) 2011 UW158
EPJ manuscript No. (will be inserted by the editor) Physical characterization of NEA Large Super-Fast Rotator (436724) 2011 UW158 A. Carbognani1, B. L. Gary2, J. Oey3, G. Baj4, and P. Bacci5 1 Astronomical Observatory of the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley (OAVdA), Aosta - Italy 2 Hereford Arizona Observatory (Hereford, Cochise - U.S.A.) 3 Blue Mountains Observatory (Leura, Sydney - Australia) 4 Astronomical Station of Monteviasco (Monteviasco, Varese - Italy) 5 Astronomical Observatory of San Marcello Pistoiese (San Marcello Pistoiese, Pistoia - Italy) Received: date / Revised version: date Abstract. Asteroids of size larger than 0.15 km generally do not have periods smaller than 2.2 hours, a limit known as cohesionless spin-barrier. This barrier can be explained by the cohesionless rubble-pile structure model. There are few exceptions to this “rule”, called LSFRs (Large Super-Fast Rotators), as (455213) 2001 OE84, (335433) 2005 UW163 and 2011 XA3. The near-Earth asteroid (436724) 2011 UW158 was followed by an international team of optical and radar observers in 2015 during the flyby with Earth. It was discovered that this NEA is a new candidate LSFR. With the collected lightcurves from optical observations we are able to obtain the amplitude-phase relationship, sideral rotation period (PS = 0.610752 ± 0.000001 ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ h), a unique spin axis solution with ecliptic coordinates λ = 290 ± 3 , β = 39 ± 2 and the asteroid 3D model. This model is in qualitative agreement with the results from radar observations. PACS. PACS-key discribing text of that key – PACS-key discribing text of that key 1 Introduction The near-Earth asteroid (436724) 2011 UW158 was discovered on 2011 Oct 25 by the Pan-STARRS 1 Observatory at Haleakala (Hawaii, USA). -
Project Pan-STARRS and the Outer Solar System
Project Pan-STARRS and the Outer Solar System David Jewitt Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 ABSTRACT Pan-STARRS, a funded project to repeatedly survey the entire visible sky to faint limiting magnitudes (mR ∼ 24), will have a substantial impact on the study of the Kuiper Belt and outer solar system. We briefly review the Pan- STARRS design philosophy and sketch some of the planetary science areas in which we expect this facility to make its mark. Pan-STARRS will find ∼20,000 Kuiper Belt Objects within the first year of operation and will obtain accurate astrometry for all of them on a weekly or faster cycle. We expect that it will revolutionise our knowledge of the contents and dynamical structure of the outer solar system. Subject headings: Surveys, Kuiper Belt, comets 1. Introduction to Pan-STARRS Project Pan-STARRS (short for Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response Sys- tem) is a collaboration between the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy, the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the Maui High Performance Computer Center, and Science Ap- plications International Corporation. The Principal Investigator for the project, for which funding started in the fall of 2002, is Nick Kaiser of the Institute for Astronomy. Operations should begin by 2007. The science objectives of Pan-STARRS span the full range from planetary to cosmolog- ical. The instrument will conduct a survey of the solar system that is staggering in power compared to anything yet attempted. A useful measure of the raw survey power, SP , of a telescope is given by AΩ SP = (1) θ2 where A [m2] is the collecting area of the telescope primary, Ω [deg2] is the solid angle that is imaged and θ [arcsec] is the full-width at half maximum (FWHM) of the images { 2 { produced by the telescope.