The Orbit and Size-Frequency Distribution of Long Period Comets Observed by PS1
Abstract
We modeled the detection efficiency of the PanSTARRS1 (PS1) survey telescope for long period comets. We then debiased the population of comets observed by PS1 with our model efficiencies to infer the true population distribution. We find that the size distribution of large comets (greater than 1 kilometer in diameter) is consistent with previous work, but there are much fewer small comets than expected. Our results have implications for comet formation and solar system evolution.
- Publication:
-
EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2019
- Pub Date:
- September 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019EPSC...13..923B