1. Chapter 7: Comets composition, origin, fate tail formation; the physics of sublimation

2. Review: comets and thermal equilibrium Thermal equilibrium is a balance between:  Heat production in the interior (gravitational potential? Radioactivity? Others?)  Surface heating due to solar radiation  Rate of conduction (or convection) Coma and tail form at a distance of ~2.5-3 AU, where ice can sublime The sublimation consumes a lot of energy, providing an additional, effective cooling source.

3. Orbits Most comets have orbital periods >200 year  A 1997 database for 937 comets lists only 191 short-period (P<200 yr) comets  From Kepler’s third law, the semimajor axis of these long-period comets must be >34 AU: halfway between Neptune and Pluto

4. Kuiper Belt Small objects detected in the region of Neptune, in 1992  Currently several hundred are known  Expect there are at least ~70,000 objects with diameters of 100km or more. Kuiper belt believed to extend from 40-400 AU  Flattened, in the plane of the rest of the solar system Almost certainly contain ice and carbonaceous dirt. Likely inactive comets

5. The Kuiper belt discovery image of Kuiper Belt object with diameter ~1200km  similar to Charon in size suggestive that inner KBOs are source of Pluto, Charon...

6. Comet Orbits Distribution of semi-major axes has a peak at a~10 4 AU  Orbits are highly eccentric, so aphelion is ~2a.  Originate in the very distant solar system  Very high orbital energy. Bound to the solar system… but just. 500 AU40 AU

7. Oort cloud Long-period comets come from all directions: not confined to the ecliptic Therefore it was postulated that a huge, spherical shell of cometary material surrounds the solar system. This is the Oort cloud. Outer edge expected to be at about 10 5 AU, where gravitational influence of Alpha Centauri will begin to dominate.

8. Asteroid and comet sources

9. Short-period comets Jupiter-type comets are those with P<20 yr  Small inclinations, relatively small eccentricities  E.g. Encke, Tempel2  Likely originate in the Kuiper belt. Perturbed by Neptune or Uranus? Halley-type comets have 20<P<200 yr  More eccentric, and higher inclinations  E.g. Halley has P=76 yr but e=0.97, and a retrograde orbit with i=162 deg  These probably originate from the Oort cloud, but have had their orbit perturbed.

10. Meteor showers Meteor showers appear at predictable times of year  meteors from a given shower all radiate from the same region of space and move with similar velocities These are due to the Earth passing through debris from cometary tails.

11. Cometary meteors From measurements of deceleration, we can tell that these meteors are tiny, low density dust particles No meteor from a shower has ever been known to make it to Earth Rockets and high-alititude aircraft have collected examples of this dust

12. Orbit changes Cometary orbits can be perturbed by gravitational interactions (somewhat predictable) However, mass loss can also change the orbit in unpredictable ways.  Mass ejected from the tail gives rise to a rocket effect that can change the orbit. Calculate the change in period caused by a small change in velocity as a comet approaches the Sun.

13. Orbit changes Cometary orbits can be perturbed by gravitational interactions (somewhat predictable) However, mass loss can also change the orbit in unpredictable ways.  Mass ejected from the tail gives rise to a rocket effect that can change the orbit. E.g. the comet Swift-Tuttle (P=120 y) was predicted to appear in 1982, but did not appear until 1992.  Comet is associated with the Perseid meteor shower, and therefore losing mass

14. Break

15. Coma composition Spectrum of the coma shows bright emission lines due to small molecules (2-3 atoms).  These emisison lines dominate the light  Atoms in the coma absorb solar photons, then re-emit them in all directions.

16. Coma Coma can begin to appear at distances as great as 5 AU Indicates significant fractions of volatiles: methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide, nitrogen From the heating rate and the chemical composition, we can calculate the amount of mass lost to sublimation.

17. Sublimation of comets Consider a hypothetic comet, with a pure water-ice nucleus 1 km in radius. If the sublimation rate is ~10 22 molecules/m 2 /s, how many passages will the comet be able to make through the inner solar system?

18. Tails Tails extend for millions of kilometers Always point away from the Sun Two types (often both are visible at once)  Ion tail: straight, bluish-coloured tail  Dust tail: broad, curved, and yellowish

19. Plasma (ion) tail Straight, but complex: with rays, streamers and knots Spectra dominated by ionized molecular emission lines Pushed away from the sun by the solar wind

20. Dust tail Smooth, featureless Spectrum nearly identical to the solar, absorption spectrum  Made up of dust particles less than about 1 micron in size Radiation pressure forces the dust particles steadily farther from the Sun

21. Comet Nuclei Halley (1986) Borrelly (2001) Wild (2004) Deep Impact (2005)

22. Visiting comets Need to know orbit accurately Comets have large velocities relative to Earth (10-70 km/s)  Thus visiting spacecraft launched from Earth will face debris of small particles flying at very high velocities E.g. Halley’s comet has a retrograde orbit, so the relative velocity is about 70 km/s  European Giotto probe passed within 600 km of Halley’s nucleus Discoveries:  Comet abundances are very near solar  Very low albedo, only 4% (darker than a lump of coal).  Most of the surface is covered with a thick dust crust, through which gas cannot escape.  Gas evaporating from the comet comes from vents or jets, on only about 10% of the surface  Density is low, only 300 kg/m 3, indicating that it is loosely bound icy material.

23. Wild The spacecraft Stardust visited comet Wild2 in 2004 Collected samples of dust, which were jettisoned back to Earth in Jan 2006 Nucleus is covered with numerous craters and hills At least 10 active gas vents

24. Tempel-1 Impacted by Deep Impact probe in 2005 Impact created a crater no more than about 50 m deep – only scratched the surface Demonstrates that nucleus is not a loose agglomeration of material Surface is more dusty than icy: and finer than normal sand.

25. Origins and evolution of comets

26. Collisions This “Sun-grazing” comet was observed by the SOHO spacecraft a few hours before it passed just 50,000 km above the Sun's surface. The comet did not survive its passage, due to the intense solar heating and tidal forces. Sun Shoemaker-Levy collided with Jupiter in 1994 Was previously tidally disrupted into a string of fragments Each fragment hit Jupiter with the energy of a 10 megaton nuclear bomb explosion

27. Next lecture: Star formation The interstellar medium: molecular clouds, dust grains etc. Formation of a protostar and evolution onto the main sequence