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VLT observations of comet 46P/Wirtanen

Boehnhardt, H. ; Delahodde, C. ; Sekiguchi, T. ; Tozzi, G. P. ; Amestica, R. ; Hainaut, O. ; Spyromilio, J. ; Tarenghi, M. ; West, R. M. ; Schulz, R. ; Schwehm, G.

Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin), 2002-06, Vol.387 (3), p.1107-1113 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

EDP Sciences

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  • Title:
    VLT observations of comet 46P/Wirtanen
  • Author: Boehnhardt, H. ; Delahodde, C. ; Sekiguchi, T. ; Tozzi, G. P. ; Amestica, R. ; Hainaut, O. ; Spyromilio, J. ; Tarenghi, M. ; West, R. M. ; Schulz, R. ; Schwehm, G.
  • Subjects: comets: general ; comets: individual: 46P/Wirtanen
  • Is Part Of: Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin), 2002-06, Vol.387 (3), p.1107-1113
  • Notes: ark:/67375/80W-8WPHVRQT-Z
    istex:187C4BF051BB25D8EFC1AAE5F363DA750D3FF6BB
    Based on observations obtained at the VLT Observatory Cerro Paranal of European Southern Observatory ESO in Chile.
    publisher-ID:aa2160
    other:2002A%26A...387.1107B
  • Description: Comet 46P/Wirtanen, prime target of ESA's ROSETTA mission, was successfully observed at the Very Large Telescope Observatory in Chile: on 17 May 1999 with the Test Camera at the Cassegrain focus of the 8.2-m VLT Kueyen telescope and on 8 December 2001 with FORS1 at Unit Telescope 4 Yepun. May 1999: no coma was detected at heliocentric distance $r = 4.98$ AU. From the measured brightness in the Bessell R-filter, a mean nucleus radius of $555\pm40$ m is derived (for a geometric albedo of 0.04 and a phase darkening of 0.04 mag/deg). The nucleus signal varies during the 2.7 h observing interval and a peak-to-peak amplitude of ~0.38 mag is determined. The measured lightcurve is in agreement with a rotation period of 6–7.5 hours and a ratio of the main nucleus axes of at least 1.4. The non-detection of a coma allows one to put an approximate upper limit for Afρ of <0.45 cm (suggesting a dust production rate of 0.05 kg/s). December 2001: a weak and condensed coma seems to be present in the seeing disk of the comet at 2.9 AU inbound, causing a higher brightness than expected from the previous size estimates of the nucleus. The colour of the comet appears very red ($V-R$ spectral gradient ~47%/100 nm). The Afρ value of the comet was $6.5\pm2$ cm (equivalent to a dust production rate of about 1 kg/s).
  • Publisher: EDP Sciences
  • Language: English
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