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Cometary Activity beyond the Planets
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DOI：10.3847/1538-4357/ac323b.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Recent observations show activity in long-period comet C/2017 K2 at heliocentric distances beyond the orbit of Uranus. With this as motivation, we constructed a simple model that takes a detailed account of gas transport modes and simulates the time-dependent sublimation of supervolatile ice from beneath a porous mantle on an incoming cometary nucleus. The model reveals a localized increase in carbon monoxide (CO) sublimation close to heliocentric distance r ( H ) = 150 au (local blackbody temperature similar to 23 K), followed by a plateau and then a slow increase in activity toward smaller distances. This localized increase occurs as heat transport in the nucleus transitions between two regimes characterized by the rising temperature of the CO front at larger distances and nearly isothermal CO at smaller distances. As this transition is a general property of sublimation through a porous mantle, we predict that future observations of sufficient sensitivity will show that inbound comets (and interstellar interlopers) will exhibit activity at distances far beyond the planetary region of the solar system.
Keywords:
C/2017 K2
INTERSTELLAR
MANTLE
DUST
ICES
Journal
IF:
5.4
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8.3W
Citations:
32.0W
