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The Evolution of Activity and Chemical Composition in Rosetta's Comet Targets across Multiple Apparitions: Complications for CS2 as the CS Parent in Comet Nuclei
Parker, Joel Wm.; Harris, Walter M.; Bodewits, Dennis +9 more
Jupiter-family comets are ephemeral small bodies injected into the inner solar system from the Kuiper Belt, doomed to either sublimate all their volatiles and become inert or violently shatter from the activity. We investigate two target candidates of the ESA Rosetta mission, comets 46P/Wirtanen and 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which had favorable a…
Pits on Jupiter-family Comets and the Age of Cometary Surfaces
Guilbert-Lepoutre, Aurélie; Besse, Sébastien; Benseguane, Selma +4 more
Large and deep depressions, also known as pits, are observed at the surface of all Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) imaged by spacecraft missions. They offer the opportunity to glimpse the subsurface characteristics of comet nuclei and study the complex interplay between surface structures and cometary activity. This work investigates the evolution of…