ON THE DUST ENVIRONMENT OF COMET C/2012 S1 (ISON) FROM 12 AU PRE-PERIHELION TO THE END OF ITS ACTIVITY AROUND PERIHELION

A Monte Carlo dust tail model has been applied to extract the dust environment parameters of the comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) from both Earth-based and SOHO LASCO C3 observations, performed from about six astronomical units (AU) inbound, to just after perihelion passage, when only a small portion of the o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2014-08, Vol.791 (2), p.1-16
Main Authors: Moreno, F, POZUELOS, F, Aceituno, F, Casanova, V, DUFFARD, R, Lopez-Moreno, J J, Molina, A, Ortiz, J L, Santos-Sanz, P, Sota, A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ALFVEN WAVES
Astronomy and Astrophysics
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
Aérospatiale, astronomie & astrophysique
Clouds
Comet nuclei
COMETS
comets: general
comets: individual (C/2012 S1 (ISON))
CONFIGURATION
DENSITY
Dust
DUSTS
EMISSION
FRAGMENTATION
GALAXY NUCLEI
MASS
methods: numerical
MONTE CARLO METHOD
Monte Carlo methods
Oort Cloud
PARTICLES
Perihelions
Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences
Physique, chimie, mathématiques & sciences de la terre
Space and Planetary Science
Space science, astronomy & astrophysics
SPHERES
SPIN
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Summary:A Monte Carlo dust tail model has been applied to extract the dust environment parameters of the comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) from both Earth-based and SOHO LASCO C3 observations, performed from about six astronomical units (AU) inbound, to just after perihelion passage, when only a small portion of the original comet nucleus has survived in the form of a cloud of tiny particles. The early Af[rho] and image data are consistent with particle ejection from an extended active area located at latitudes 35[degrees]N to 90[degrees]N (for a prograde rotating nucleus), with the spin axis having a large obliquity (I ~ 70[degrees]). This configuration nicely fits the early images and Af[rho] data until 3.9 AU inbound, when the emission should become isotropic in order to fit the data. The analysis of LASCO images reveals that, assuming an original nucleus of R sub(N) = 500 m with [rho] = 1000 kg m super(-3), at least half of its mass was vaporized when the comet was at about 17 R sub([middot in circle]) inbound. We conclude that at that time the nucleus suffered a cataclysmic fragmentation releasing a huge amount of material of 2.3 x10 super(11) kg, equivalent to a sphere of 380 m in radius with density 1000 kg m super(-3). The surviving material after perihelion passage consists of very small dust particles of 0.1-50 mu m in radius with a total mass of just 6.7x10 super(8) kg.
ISSN:1538-4357
0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/791/2/118