"Back fall" dust controls seasonal erosion and composition measurements of 67P
Abstract
Seasonal effects of 67P's activity are very pronounced due to the strong insolation during southern summer when the comet is near its perihelion. About ¾ of the overall gas and dust production are released from the southern hemisphere when large parts of the surface near the north pole are in polar night (Keller et al. 2015). This leads to a dichotomy of the hemispheres. The southern regions show rough consolidated material whereas the northern plain surfaces are covered by what looks like dust (El Maary et al 2015). Recent close up observations of the northern territories show a granularity near the resolution limit of the images. This is comparable to the sizes of particles (10-20 cm) seen to cross the coma at velocities comparable to or below the escape speed from the nucleus around perihelion. These large particles are deprived from super volatiles but maintain their water ice content. A major part will cover the northern hemisphere as "back fall" over the aphelion passage and will lead to water controlled activity from the northern hemisphere during the next cometary approach. New dune-like features (Thomas et al. 2015) have been recently observed in the gravitational low Hapi region. Philae ROLIS images show wind tails and moats around obstacles, all oriented in a south-north direction, that are well modelled by abrasion by impinging back fall from the south (Mottola et al. 2015). Consequently activity from the northern hemisphere during the early Rosetta mission revealed mainly water molecules (Fougere et al. to be submitted) originating from back fall and not from the original consolidated surface, that was widely isolated by the cover of back fall. Hence more volatile compounds such as CO2 and CO are not reached by insolation. Composition measurements of the northern hemisphere are strongly influenced by the back fall cover and do not reflect the original composition of the nucleus. A further consequence is that erosion of the nucleus of 67P takes place predominantly on the south. The liberation of large (water active) particles probably requires activity driven by super volatiles (CO2 and CO). Back fall was also suggested for comet 103P (A'Hearn et al. 2011).
- Publication:
-
AAS/Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting Abstracts #48
- Pub Date:
- October 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016DPS....4820103K