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Volume 444 / No 1 (December II 2005)

A&A, 444 1 (2005) 287-295

Abstract

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Issue		A&A Volume444, Number1, December II 2005


Page(s)		287 - 295
Section		Planets and planetary systems
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20053237
Published online		21 November 2005

A&A 444, 287-295 (2005)

The nuclei of comets 7P/Pons-Winnecke, 14P/Wolf and 92P/Sanguin

C. Snodgrass,A. Fitzsimmons andS. C. Lowry

APS Division, School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Received: 13 April 2005
Accepted: 16 August 2005

Abstract

Jupiter Family comets (JFCs) are short period comets which have recently entered the inner solar system, having previously orbited in the Kuiper Belt since the formation of the planets. We used two nights on the 3.6 m New Technology Telescope (NTT) at the European Southern Observatory, to obtainVRI photometry of three JFCs; 7P/Pons-Winnecke, 14P/Wolf and 92P/Sanguin. These were observed to be stellar in appearance. We find mean effective radii of $2.24 \pm 0.02$ km for 7P, $3.16 \pm 0.01$ km for 14P and $2.08 \pm 0.01$ km for 92P, assuming a geometric albedo of 0.04. From light-curves for each comet we find rotation periods of $7.53 \pm 0.10$ and $6.22 \pm 0.05$ h for 14P and 92P respectively. 7P exhibits brightness variations which imply a rotation period of $6.8 \le P_{\mathrm{rot}} \le 9.5$ h. Assuming the nuclei to be ellipsoidal the measured brightness variations imply minimum axial ratios $a/b$ of $1.3 \pm 0.1$ for 7P and $1.7 \pm 0.1$ for both 14P and 92P. This in turn implies minimum densities of $0.23 \pm 0.08$ g cm^-3 for 7P, $0.32 \pm 0.02$ g cm^-3 for 14P and $0.49 \pm 0.06$ g cm^-3 for 92P. Finally, we measure colour indices of $(V-R) = 0.40 \pm 0.05$ and $(R-I) = 0.41 \pm 0.06$ for 7P/Pons-Winnecke, $(V-R) = 0.57 \pm 0.07$ and $(R-I) = 0.51 \pm 0.06$ for 14P/Wolf, and $(V-R) = 0.54 \pm 0.04$ and $(R-I) = 0.54 \pm 0.04$ for 92P/Sanguin.

Key words:comets: general / comets: individual: 7P/Pons-Winnecke / comets: individual: 14P/Wolf / comets: individual: 92P/Sanguin / techniques: photometric

© ESO, 2005

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