Comet C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy): Orbit Determination, Outbursts, Disintegration of Nucleus, Dust-tail Morphology, and Relationship to New Cluster of Bright Sungrazers

We describe the physical and orbital properties of C/2011 W3. After surviving perihelion passage, the comet was observed to undergo major physical changes. The permanent loss of the nuclear condensation and the formation of a narrow spine tail were observed first at Malargue, Argentina, on December 20 and then systematically at Siding Spring, Australia. The process of disintegration culminated with a terminal fragmentation event on December 17.6 UT. The postperihelion dust tail, observed for ~3 months, was the product of activity over <2 days. The nucleus' breakup and crumbling were probably caused by thermal stress due to the penetration of the intense heat pulse deep into the nucleus' interior after perihelion. The same mechanism may be responsible for cascading fragmentation of sungrazers at large heliocentric distances. The delayed response to the hostile environment in the solar corona is at odds with the rubble-pile model, since the residual mass of the nucleus, estimated at ~10¹² g (equivalent to a sphere 150-200 m across) just before the terminal event, still possessed nontrivial cohesive strength. The high production rates of atomic oxygen, observed shortly after perihelion, are compatible with a subkilometer-sized nucleus. The spine tail—the product of the terminal fragmentation—was a synchronic feature, whose brightest part contained submillimeter-sized dust grains, released at velocities of up to 30 m s^-1. The loss of the nuclear condensation prevented an accurate orbital-period determination by traditional techniques. Since the missing nucleus must have been located on the synchrone, whose orientation and sunward tip have been measured, we compute the astrometric positions of this missing nucleus as the coordinates of the points of intersection of the spine tail's axis with the lines of forced orbital-period variation, derived from the orbital solutions based on high-quality preperihelion astrometry from the ground. The resulting orbit gives 698 ± 2 yr for the osculating orbital period, showing that C/2011 W3 is the first member of the expected new, 21st-century cluster of bright Kreutz-system sungrazers, whose existence was predicted by these authors in 2007. From the spine tail's evolution, we determine that its measured tip, populated by dust particles 1-2 mm in diameter, receded antisunward from the computed position of the missing nucleus. The bizarre appearance of the comet's dust tail in images taken only hours after perihelion with the coronagraphs on board the SOHO and STEREO spacecraft is readily understood. The disconnection of the comet's head from the tail released before perihelion and an apparent activity attenuation near perihelion have a common cause—sublimation of all dust at heliocentric distances smaller than about 1.8 solar radii. The tail's brightness is strongly affected by forward scattering of sunlight by dust. From an initially broad range of particle sizes, the grains that were imaged the longest had a radiation-pressure parameter β ~= 0.6, diagnostic of submicron-sized silicate grains and consistent with the existence of the dust-free zone around the Sun. The role and place of C/2011 W3 in the hierarchy of the Kreutz system and its genealogy via a 14th-century parent suggest that it is indirectly related to the celebrated sungrazer X/1106 C1, which, just as the first-generation parent of C/2011 W3, split from a common predecessor during the previous return to perihelion.