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The Comet's Tale, and Therefore the Object As a Whole Would the Section Director Nick James Highlighted Have a Low Surface Brightness
1 Diebold Schilling, Disaster in connection with two comets sighted in 1456, Lucerne Chronicle, 1513 (Wikimedia Commons) THE COMET’S TALE Comet Section – British Astronomical Association Journal – Number 38 2019 June britastro.org/comet Evolution of the comet C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) along a total of ten days on January 2018. Composition of pictures taken with a zoom lens from Teide Observatory in Canary Islands. J.J Chambó Bris 2 Table of Contents Contents Author Page 1 Director’s Welcome Nick James 3 Section Director 2 Melvyn Taylor’s Alex Pratt 6 Observations of Comet C/1995 01 (Hale-Bopp) 3 The Enigma of Neil Norman 9 Comet Encke 4 Setting up the David Swan 14 C*Hyperstar for Imaging Comets 5 Comet Software Owen Brazell 19 6 Pro-Am José Joaquín Chambó Bris 25 Astrophotography of Comets 7 Elizabeth Roemer: A Denis Buczynski 28 Consummate Comet Section Secretary Observer 8 Historical Cometary Amar A Sharma 37 Observations in India: Part 2 – Mughal Empire 16th and 17th Century 9 Dr Reginald Denis Buczynski 42 Waterfield and His Section Secretary Medals 10 Contacts 45 Picture Gallery Please note that copyright 46 of all images belongs with the Observer 3 1 From the Director – Nick James I hope you enjoy reading this issue of the We have had a couple of relatively bright Comet’s Tale. Many thanks to Janice but diffuse comets through the winter and McClean for editing this issue and to Denis there are plenty of images of Buczynski for soliciting contributions. 46P/Wirtanen and C/2018 Y1 (Iwamoto) Thanks also to the section committee for in our archive. -
Mission to Catch Comet ISON
Mission to Catch Comet ISON Andrew Cheng (JHU/APL; [email protected]) Steve Arnold (JHU/APL) Pietro Bernasconi (JHU/APL) Karl Hibbitts (JHU/APL) Eliot Young (SwRI) Tibor Kremic (GRC) Comet ISON . Comet ISON discovered September, 2012 An Oort Cloud comet believed to be making its first apparition . ISON perihelion in November, 2013 A sun-grazer which may not survive perihelion passage intact Observe the comet before perihelion . An important target of opportunity To study volatile-rich material from the epoch of planet formation To learn how comets work 26 May 2013 2 Oort Cloud Comets • Provide clues to the origins of the Solar System • Consist of pris8ne, icy material that was never heated in the inner solar system In late 2013, ISON may become the brightest Oort Cloud comet to appear in decades Comet Ikeya-Seki, sun-grazer of 1965 Comet McNaught in 2007 26 May 2013 3 Comet ISON Observability • Comet ISON is observable from the Northern Hemisphere, with solar elongaon >40°, from September 15, 2013 through Nov 12, 2013 • ISON becomes steadily brighter through this period • ISON may remain spectacularly bright aer December, 2013 Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok, discoverers (space.com) 26 May 2013 4 Comet ISON Brightness . Observations are consistent with V~12 at time of BRRISON flight . Due to small solar elongation, additional observations BRRISON flight prior to flight are not expected CIOC web site, sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil 12 June 2013 BRRISON Project Review 3 5 What is BRRISON? . BRRISON = Balloon Rapid Response for the comet ISON Goal is to observe the comet ISON from a balloon platform Leverages the balloon study concepts Coordinate the science measurements with the greater scientific community, including ground and space observations 12 months from comet discovery to mission . -
Capture of Interstellar Objects: a Source of Long-Period Comets
MNRAS 000,1–5 (2019) Preprint 7 January 2020 Compiled using MNRAS LATEX style file v3.0 Capture of interstellar objects: a source of long-period comets T. O. Hands1?, W. Dehnen2;3 1Institut f¨urComputergest¨utzteWissenschaften, Universit¨atZ¨urich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Z¨urich, Switzerland 2Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK 3Universit¨ats-Sternwarteder Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit¨at,Scheinerstrasse 1, M¨unchen D-81679, Germany 7 January 2020 ABSTRACT We simulate the passage through the Sun-Jupiter system of interstellar objects (ISOs) sim- ilar to 1I/‘Oumuamua or 2I/Borisov. Capture of such objects is rare and overwhelmingly from low incoming speeds onto orbits akin to those of known long-period comets. This sug- gests that some of these comets could be of extra-solar origin, in particular inactive ones. Assuming ISOs follow the local stellar velocity distribution, we infer a volume capture rate of 0:051au3yr−1. Current estimates for orbital lifetimes and space densities then imply steady- state captured populations of ∼ 102 comets and ∼ 105 ‘Oumuamua-like rocks, of which 0.033% are within 6 au at any time. Key words: comets:general – asteroids:general – celestial mechanics – minor planets, aster- oids: individual: 1I/‘Oumuamua – comets: individual: 2I/Borisov – Oort cloud 1 INTRODUCTION obvious cometary activity (see e.g., Guzik et al. 2019; Fitzsimmons et al. 2019). It was also discovered relatively early on its approach Comets have fascinated humanity for centuries. These exotic ob- to the Solar system, meaning we can expect further observations jects present what many believe to be an immaculate sample of the in the coming months. -
Earth and Planetary Science Letters 490 (2018) 122–131
Earth and Planetary Science Letters 490 (2018) 122–131 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Earth and Planetary Science Letters www.elsevier.com/locate/epsl Cosmic history and a candidate parent asteroid for the quasicrystal-bearing meteorite Khatyrka ∗ Matthias M.M. Meier a, , Luca Bindi b,c, Philipp R. Heck d, April I. Neander e, Nicole H. Spring f,g, My E.I. Riebe a,1, Colin Maden a, Heinrich Baur a, Paul J. Steinhardt h, Rainer Wieler a, Henner Busemann a a Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland b Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze, Florence, Italy c CNR-Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, Sezione di Firenze, Florence, Italy d Robert A. Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA e Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA f School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK g Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada h Department of Physics, and Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, Princeton University, Princeton, USA a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: The unique CV-type meteorite Khatyrka is the only natural sample in which “quasicrystals” and associated Received 6 October 2017 crystalline Cu, Al-alloys, including khatyrkite and cupalite, have been found. They are suspected to Received in revised form 11 March 2018 have formed in the early Solar System. To better understand the origin of these exotic phases, and Accepted 13 March 2018 the relationship of Khatyrka to other CV chondrites, we have measured He and Ne in six individual, Available online 22 March 2018 ∼40–μm-sized olivine grains from Khatyrka. -
Occultation Newsletter Volume 8, Number 4
Volume 12, Number 1 January 2005 $5.00 North Am./$6.25 Other International Occultation Timing Association, Inc. (IOTA) In this Issue Article Page The Largest Members Of Our Solar System – 2005 . 4 Resources Page What to Send to Whom . 3 Membership and Subscription Information . 3 IOTA Publications. 3 The Offices and Officers of IOTA . .11 IOTA European Section (IOTA/ES) . .11 IOTA on the World Wide Web. Back Cover ON THE COVER: Steve Preston posted a prediction for the occultation of a 10.8-magnitude star in Orion, about 3° from Betelgeuse, by the asteroid (238) Hypatia, which had an expected diameter of 148 km. The predicted path passed over the San Francisco Bay area, and that turned out to be quite accurate, with only a small shift towards the north, enough to leave Richard Nolthenius, observing visually from the coast northwest of Santa Cruz, to have a miss. But farther north, three other observers video recorded the occultation from their homes, and they were fortuitously located to define three well- spaced chords across the asteroid to accurately measure its shape and location relative to the star, as shown in the figure. The dashed lines show the axes of the fitted ellipse, produced by Dave Herald’s WinOccult program. This demonstrates the good results that can be obtained by a few dedicated observers with a relatively faint star; a bright star and/or many observers are not always necessary to obtain solid useful observations. – David Dunham Publication Date for this issue: July 2005 Please note: The date shown on the cover is for subscription purposes only and does not reflect the actual publication date. -
Sirius Astronomer
September 2015 Free to members, subscriptions $12 for 12 issues Volume 42, Number 9 Jeff Horne created this image of the crater Copernicus on September 13, 2005 from his observing site in Irvine. September 19 is International Observe The Moon Night, so get out there and have a look at a source of light pollution we really don’t mind! OCA MEETING STAR PARTIES COMING UP The free and open club meeng will The Black Star Canyon site will open on The next session of the Beginners be held September 18 at 7:30 PM in September 5. The Anza site will be open on Class will be held at the Heritage Mu‐ the Irvine Lecture Hall of the Hashing‐ September 12. Members are encouraged to seum of Orange County at 3101 West er Science Center at Chapman Univer‐ check the website calendar for the latest Harvard Street in Santa Ana on Sep‐ sity in Orange. This month, JPL’s Dr. updates on star pares and other events. tember 4. The following class will be Dave Doody will discuss the Grand held October 2. Finale of the historic Cassini mission to Please check the website calendar for the Saturn in 2017! outreach events this month! Volunteers are GOTO SIG: TBA always welcome! Astro‐Imagers SIG: Sept. 8, Oct. 13 NEXT MEETINGS: October 9, Novem‐ Remote Telescopes: TBA You are also reminded to check the web ber 13 Astrophysics SIG: Sept. 11, Oct. 16 site frequently for updates to the calendar Dark Sky Group: TBA of events and other club news. -
Chaos in the Inert Oort Cloud
EPSC Abstracts Vol. 13, EPSC-DPS2019-1303-1, 2019 EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2019 c Author(s) 2019. CC Attribution 4.0 license. Chaos in the inert Oort cloud Melaine Saillenfest (1), Marc Fouchard (1), and Arika Higuchi (2) (1) IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, France, (2) RISE Project Office/NAOJ, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan e-mail: [email protected] µ 16 Abstract 2 εP − εG ÝÖ 14 2 We investigate the orbital dynamics of small bodies in aÙ 9 12 the intermediate regime between the Kuiper belt and − 10 the Oort cloud, i.e. where the planetary perturbations ´ 10 and the galactic tides have the same order of magni- 8 tude. We show that this region is far less inert than it could appear at first sight, despite very weak orbital 6 perturbations. Ô eÖØÙÖbaØiÓÒ 4 Øhe Óf 2 1. Introduction ×iÞe 0 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 aÜi× ´aÙµ The orbits of distant trans-Neptunian objects are sub- ×eÑi¹Ña jÓÖ a ject to internal perturbations from the planets, and ex- ternal perturbations from the galactic tides. A distinc- Figure 1: Size of the small parameters appearing in tion is generally made between the Kuiper belt and the the Hamiltonian function (Eq. 1) with respect to the Oort cloud, which are thought to have been initially semi-major axis of the small body. The red curve rep- populated through distinct mechanisms (see e.g. the resents the planetary perturbations, and the blue curve recent review by [4]). However, there is no dynamical represents the galactic tides. boundary between the two populations, and numerical simulations show a continuous transfer of objects in 2. -
Ice& Stone 2020
Ice & Stone 2020 WEEK 33: AUGUST 9-15 Presented by The Earthrise Institute # 33 Authored by Alan Hale About Ice And Stone 2020 It is my pleasure to welcome all educators, students, topics include: main-belt asteroids, near-Earth asteroids, and anybody else who might be interested, to Ice and “Great Comets,” spacecraft visits (both past and Stone 2020. This is an educational package I have put future), meteorites, and “small bodies” in popular together to cover the so-called “small bodies” of the literature and music. solar system, which in general means asteroids and comets, although this also includes the small moons of Throughout 2020 there will be various comets that are the various planets as well as meteors, meteorites, and visible in our skies and various asteroids passing by Earth interplanetary dust. Although these objects may be -- some of which are already known, some of which “small” compared to the planets of our solar system, will be discovered “in the act” -- and there will also be they are nevertheless of high interest and importance various asteroids of the main asteroid belt that are visible for several reasons, including: as well as “occultations” of stars by various asteroids visible from certain locations on Earth’s surface. Ice a) they are believed to be the “leftovers” from the and Stone 2020 will make note of these occasions and formation of the solar system, so studying them provides appearances as they take place. The “Comet Resource valuable insights into our origins, including Earth and of Center” at the Earthrise web site contains information life on Earth, including ourselves; about the brighter comets that are visible in the sky at any given time and, for those who are interested, I will b) we have learned that this process isn’t over yet, and also occasionally share information about the goings-on that there are still objects out there that can impact in my life as I observe these comets. -
Tidal Fragmentation As the Origin of 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumua- Mua)
Tidal fragmentation as the origin of 1I/2017 U1 (‘Oumua- mua) Yun Zhang1;2;3;4˚ & Douglas N.C. Lin5;2 1National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. 2Institute for Advanced Studies, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. 3Universite´ Coteˆ d’Azur, Observatoire de la Coteˆ d’Azur, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, Nice, France. 4Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. 5Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA. *To whom correspondence should be addressed; Email: [email protected] The first discovered interstellar object (ISO), ‘Oumuamua (1I/2017 U1) shows a dry and rocky surface, an unusually elongated short-to-long axis ratio c{a À 1{6, a low velocity rela- tive to the local standard of rest („ 10 km s´1), non-gravitational accelerations, and tumbles on a few hours timescale1–9. The inferred number density („ 3:5 ˆ 1013 ´ 2 ˆ 1015 pc´3) for a population of asteroidal ISOs10, 11 outnumbers cometary ISOs12 by ¥ 103, in contrast to the much lower ratio (À 10´2) of rocky/icy Kuiper belt objects13. Although some scenarios can cause the ejection of asteroidal ISOs14, 15, a unified formation theory has yet to comprehen- sively link all ‘Oumuamua’s puzzling characteristics and to account for the population. Here we show by numerical simulations that ‘Oumuamua-like ISOs can be prolifically produced through extensive tidal fragmentation and ejected during close encounters of their volatile- rich parent bodies with their host stars. Material strength enhanced by the intensive heating during periastron passages enables the emergence of extremely elongated triaxial ISOs with shape c{a À 1{10, sizes a „ 100 m, and rocky surfaces. -
The Comet's Tale
THE COMET’S TALE Journal of the Comet Section of the British Astronomical Association Number 33, 2014 January Not the Comet of the Century 2013 R1 (Lovejoy) imaged by Damian Peach on 2013 December 24 using 106mm F5. STL-11k. LRGB. L: 7x2mins. RGB: 1x2mins. Today’s images of bright binocular comets rival drawings of Great Comets of the nineteenth century. Rather predictably the expected comet of the century Contents failed to materialise, however several of the other comets mentioned in the last issue, together with the Comet Section contacts 2 additional surprise shown above, put on good From the Director 2 appearances. 2011 L4 (PanSTARRS), 2012 F6 From the Secretary 3 (Lemmon), 2012 S1 (ISON) and 2013 R1 (Lovejoy) all Tales from the past 5 th became brighter than 6 magnitude and 2P/Encke, 2012 RAS meeting report 6 K5 (LINEAR), 2012 L2 (LINEAR), 2012 T5 (Bressi), Comet Section meeting report 9 2012 V2 (LINEAR), 2012 X1 (LINEAR), and 2013 V3 SPA meeting - Rob McNaught 13 (Nevski) were all binocular objects. Whether 2014 will Professional tales 14 bring such riches remains to be seen, but three comets The Legacy of Comet Hunters 16 are predicted to come within binocular range and we Project Alcock update 21 can hope for some new discoveries. We should get Review of observations 23 some spectacular close-up images of 67P/Churyumov- Prospects for 2014 44 Gerasimenko from the Rosetta spacecraft. BAA COMET SECTION NEWSLETTER 2 THE COMET’S TALE Comet Section contacts Director: Jonathan Shanklin, 11 City Road, CAMBRIDGE. CB1 1DP England. Phone: (+44) (0)1223 571250 (H) or (+44) (0)1223 221482 (W) Fax: (+44) (0)1223 221279 (W) E-Mail: [email protected] or [email protected] WWW page : http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds/ Assistant Director (Observations): Guy Hurst, 16 Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, BASINGSTOKE, Hampshire. -
Phobos and Deimos: Planetary Protection Knowledge Gaps for Human Missions
Planetary Protection Knowledge Gaps for Human Extraterrestrial Missions (2015) 1007.pdf PHOBOS AND DEIMOS: PLANETARY PROTECTION KNOWLEDGE GAPS FOR HUMAN MISSIONS. Pascal Lee1,2,3 and Kira Lorber1,4, 1Mars Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, MS 245-3, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000, USA, [email protected], 2SETI Institute, 3NASA ARC, 4University of Cincinnati.. Summary: Phobos and Deimos, Mars’ two moons, are associated with significant planetary protection knowledge gaps for human missions, that may be filled by a low cost robotic reconnaissance mission focused on elucidating their origin and volatile content. Introduction: Phobos and Deimos are currently considered to be potentially worthwhile destinations Figure 1: Deimos (left) and Phobos (right), to scale. for early human missions to Mars orbit, and possibly in Deimos is 15 km long, and Phobos, 27 km long. Both the context of longer term human Mars exploration moons have, to first order, a D-type spectrum: they are strategies as well [1] (Fig. 1). Until recently, it was very dark (albedo ~ 0.07) and very red. (NASA MRO). widely considered that planetary protection (PP) con- cerns associated with the exploration of Phobos and Extinct Comet Hypothesis. As a variant of the Deimos would be fundamentally no different from “captured small body from the outer main belt” hy- those associated with the exploration of primitive pothesis, it has long been suggested that Phobos and/or NEAs [2], as the preponderance of scientific evidence Deimos might be captured comet nuclei. (now inactive suggested that 1) there was never liquid water on Pho- or extinct). Consistent with this idea, some grooves on bos and Deimos, except possibly very early in their Phobos (those resembling crater chains, or catenas) are history; 2) there is no metabolically useful energy interpreted as fissures lined with vents through which source except near their heavily irradiated surface; 3) volatiles were once outgassed [3] (Fig. -
PYTS/ASTR 206 – Comets 1
PYTS/ASTR 206 – Comets 1 Announcements HW6 available today, due in a week Use Kevin as the TA for this one 2 In-class assignments left in 3 lectures PYTS/ASTR 206 – Comets 2 Comets PTYS/ASTR 206 – The Golden Age of Planetary Exploration Shane Byrne – [email protected] PYTS/ASTR 206 – Comets 3 In this lecture… Observations of comets What are comets? Composition and structure Cometary tails Ion and dust tails Where do comets come from? Orbits of comets Oort cloud Scattered Kuiper Belt PYTS/ASTR 206 – Comets 4 Observations of comets Comets have been known from ancient times Thought to foreshadow disasters and major battles Pre-telescopes the known solar system was a pretty empty place Moon and the Sun Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn And COMETS No Uranus No Neptune No planetary Moons (except ours) No Asteroids No Kuiper Belt Objects PYTS/ASTR 206 – Comets 5 People have recorded comet sightings for millennia 167 BC 687 AD 1986 AD PYTS/ASTR 206 – Comets 6 Ancient Greeks thought comets were atmospheric phenomena In the west this went unchallenged until telescopes came along Tycho Brahe’s parallax measurements proved this wrong Comets were much further away than the Moon Renaissance astronomers thought comets moved in straight lines through the solar system Even Kepler argued they shouldn’t follow elliptical orbits like the planets In the 1680s astronomers tracked a comet and showed it had an elliptical orbit Comets were solar system objects – just like planets PYTS/ASTR 206 – Comets 7 Newton finally