Search for satellites near comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko using Rosetta/OSIRIS images
Journal
Date Issued
2015
Author(s)
Bertini, I.
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Gutiérrez, P. J.
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Lara, L. M.
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Marzari, F.
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Moreno, F.
•
•
La Forgia, F.
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Sierks, H.
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Barbieri, C.
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Lamy, P.
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Rodrigo, R.
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Koschny, D.
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Rickman, H.
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Keller, H. U.
•
Agarwal, J.
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A'Hearn, M. F.
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Barucci, M. A.
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Bertaux, J. -L.
•
•
Da Deppo, V.
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Davidsson, B.
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Debei, S.
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De Cecco, M.
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Ferri, F.
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Fornasier, S.
•
•
•
Groussin, O.
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Güttler, C.
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Hviid, S. F.
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Ip, W. -H.
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Jorda, L.
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Knollenberg, J.
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Kramm, J. R.
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Kührt, E.
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Küppers, M.
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Lazzarin, M.
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Lopez Moreno, J. J.
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Magrin, S.
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Massironi, M.
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Michalik, H.
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Mottola, S.
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Naletto, G.
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Oklay, N.
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Thomas, N.
•
•
Vincent, J. -B.
Description
OSIRIS was built by a consortium of the Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany, CISAS – University of Padova, Italy, the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, France, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucia, CSIC, Granada, Spain, the Research and Scientific Support Department of the European Space Agency, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Madrid, Spain, the Universidad Politéchnica de Madrid, Spain, the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Uppsala University, Sweden, and the Institut für Datentechnik und Kommunikationsnetze der Technischen Universität Braunschweig, Germany. The support of the national funding agencies of Germany (DLR), France (CNES), Italy (ASI), Spain (MEC), Sweden (SNSB), and the ESA Technical Directorate is gratefully acknowledged.
Abstract
Context. TheEuropean Space Agency Rosetta mission reached and started escorting its main target, the Jupiter-family comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, at the beginning of August 2014. Within the context of solar system small bodies, satellite searches from approaching spacecraft were extensively used in the past to study the nature of the visited bodies and their collisional environment. Aims: During the approaching phase to the comet in July 2014, the OSIRIS instrument onboard Rosetta performed a campaign aimed at detecting objects in the vicinity of the comet nucleus and at measuring these objects' possible bound orbits. In addition to the scientific purpose, the search also focused on spacecraft security to avoid hazardous material in the comet's environment. Methods: Images in the red spectral domain were acquired with the OSIRIS Narrow Angle Camera, when the spacecraft was at a distance between 5785 km and 5463 km to the comet, following an observational strategy tailored to maximize the scientific outcome. From the acquired images, sources were extracted and displayed to search for plausible displacements of all sources from image to image. After stars were identified, the remaining sources were thoroughly analyzed. To place constraints on the expected displacements of a potential satellite, we performed Monte Carlo simulations on the apparent motion of potential satellites within the Hill sphere.
Volume
583
Start page
A19
Issn Identifier
0004-6361
Ads BibCode
2015A&A...583A..19B
Rights
open.access
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