Temporal morphological changes in the Imhotep region of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Journal
Date Issued
2015
Author(s)
Groussin, O.
•
Sierks, H.
•
Barbieri, C.
•
Lamy, P.
•
Rodrigo, R.
•
Koschny, D.
•
Rickman, H.
•
Keller, H. U.
•
A'Hearn, M. F.
•
Auger, A. -T.
•
Barucci, M. A.
•
Bertaux, J. -L.
•
Bertini, I.
•
Besse, S.
•
•
Da Deppo, V.
•
Davidsson, B.
•
Debei, S.
•
De Cecco, M.
•
El-Maarry, M. R.
•
Fornasier, S.
•
•
Gutiérrez, P. J.
•
Güttler, C.
•
Hviid, S.
•
Ip, W. -H.
•
Jorda, L.
•
Knollenberg, J.
•
Kovacs, G.
•
Kramm, J. R.
•
Kührt, E.
•
Küppers, M.
•
Lara, L. M.
•
Lazzarin, M.
•
Lopez Moreno, J. J.
•
Lowry, S.
•
Marchi, S.
•
Marzari, F.
•
Massironi, M.
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Mottola, S.
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Naletto, G.
•
Oklay, N.
•
•
Pommerol, A.
•
Thomas, N.
•
Toth, I.
•
•
Vincent, J. -B.
Description
OSIRIS was built by a consortium of the Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany; the 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 ESA, Noordwijk, 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. We thank the Rosetta Science Operations Centre and the Rosetta Mission Operations Centre for the successful rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Abstract
Aims: We report on the first major temporal morphological changes observed on the surface of the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in the smooth terrains of the Imhotep region. Methods: We used images of the OSIRIS cameras onboard Rosetta to follow the temporal changes from 24 May 2015 to 11 July 2015. Results: The morphological changes observed on the surface are visible in the form of roundish features that are growing in size from a given location in a preferential direction at a rate of 5.6-8.1 × 10-5 m s-1 during the observational period. The location where the changes started and the contours of the expanding features are bluer than the surroundings, which suggests that ices (H2O and/or CO2) are exposed on the surface. However, sublimation of ices alone is not sufficient to explain the observed expanding features. No significant variations in the dust activity pattern are observed during the period of changes.
Volume
583
Start page
A36
Issn Identifier
0004-6361
Ads BibCode
2015A&A...583A..36G
Rights
open.access
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