Lejoly, C.C.LejolyHarris, W.W.HarrisSamarasinha, N.N.SamarasinhaMueller, B. E. A.B. E. A.MuellerHowell, E.E.HowellBodnarik, J.J.BodnarikSpringmann, A.A.SpringmannKareta, T.T.KaretaSharkey, B.B.SharkeyNoonan, J.J.NoonanBEDIN, LuigiLuigiBEDINBosch, J. -G.J. -G.BoschBrosio, A.A.BrosioBryssinck, E.E.Bryssinckde Vanssay, J. -B.J. -B.de VanssayHambsch, F. -J.F. -J.HambschIvanova, O.O.IvanovaKrushinsky, V.V.KrushinskyLin, Z. -Y.Z. -Y.LinManzini, F.F.ManziniMaury, A.A.MauryMoriya, N.N.MoriyaOchner, P.P.OchnerOldani, V.V.Oldani2023-01-232023-01-2320222632-3338http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/32990There was an unprecedented opportunity to study the inner dust coma environments, where the dust and gas are not entirely decoupled, of comets 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdus̆áková (45P/HMP) from 2016 December 26 to 2017 March 15, and 46P/Wirtanen from 2018 November 10 to 2019 February 13, both in visible wavelengths. The radial profile slopes of these comets were measured in the R and HB-BC filters most representative of dust, and deviations from a radially expanding coma were identified as significant. The azimuthally averaged radial profile slope of comet 45P/HMP gradually changes from -1.81 ± 0.20 at 5.24 days preperihelion to -0.35 ± 0.16 at 74.41 days postperihelion. Contrastingly, the radial profile slope of 46P/Wirtanen stays fairly constant over the observed time period at -1.05 ± 0.05. Additionally, we find that the radial profile of 46P/Wirtanen is azimuthally dependent on the sky-plane-projected solar position angle, while that of 45P/HMP is not. These results suggest that comets 45P/HMP and 46P/Wirtanen have vastly different coma dust environments and that their dust expansion properties are distinct. As evident from these two comets, well-resolved inner comae are vital for detailed characterization of dust environments.STAMPAenArticle10.3847/PSJ/ac45012-s2.0-85123710546https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/ac4501https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/851237105462022PSJ.....3...17LFIS/05 - ASTRONOMIA E ASTROFISICA