'The 2009 Apparition of Methuselah Comet 107P/Wilson-Harrington: A Case of Comet Rejuvenation?'
Autor: | Eloy Sira, Ignacio Ferrin, Haibin Zhao, Hiromi Hamanowa, Hiroko Hamanowa, Richard Miles, Albert Sánchez, Jesús Hernández |
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Rok vydání: | 2012 |
Předmět: | |
DOI: | 10.48550/arxiv.1205.6874 |
Popis: | (1) We find that comet 107P/WH was active in 1949, 1979, 1992, 2005, and 2009. (2) Its age can be measured. We find T-AGE=4700 comet years, WB-AGE=7800 cy. (3) This is a methuselah comet very near to its dormancy phase, being temporarily rejuvenated due to a diminution of its perihelion distance. (4) We measured the diameter as Deffe=3.67\pm0.06 km, and the rotational period, Prot=6.093\pm0.002 h. (5) We define the region of the graveyard of comets, and three comets belong to the graveyard: 107P/Wilson-Harrington, 133P/Elst-Pizarro and D/1891W1 Blanpain. Comment: - Accepted for publication in Planetary and Space Science, 49 pages, 6 Tables, 18 Figures |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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