2010 Annual Research Report

Mueller and colleagues successfully observed the Stardust mission target comet 81P/Wild 2 in March and April and deduced a rotation period (which was previously unknown).

They observed the EPOXI target 103P/Hartley 2 in September, October, November and December and are deducing periodicities from the CN coma morphology. The comet’s spin state is changing and these ground based observations will be critical in deducing the entire spin state which will be crucial in interpreting the spacecraft data.

Papers

Mueller, B.E.A., N.H. Samarasinha, H. Rauer, J. Helbert 2010.

Determination of a precise rotation period for the Deep Space 1 target, Comet 19P/Borrelly.

Icarus 209, 745-752.

Abstracts, IAU circulars, PDS

Mueller, Beatrice E. A., Farnham, T. L., Samarasinha, N. H., A'Hearn, M. F. 2010.

Determination of the Rotation Period of Comet 81P/Wild 2.

DPS meeting #42, 28.31.

Samarasinha, Nalin H., Gutierrez, P. J., Belton, M. J. S., Farnham, T., Mueller, B. E. A., Chesley, S. R. 2010.

Bulk Density of Comet 9P/Tempel 1.

DPS meeting #42, 28.34.

Fernandez, Yanga R., Samarasinha, N. H., Mueller, B. E. A., Woodney, L. M. 2010.

Using Imaging of Multiple Outbursts to Investigate the Behavior and Nucleus Properties of Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1.

DPS meeting #42, 28.25.

Fernandez, Yanga R., Samarasinha, N. H., Mueller, B. E. A., Woodney, L. M. 2010.

Understanding Outbursts in Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1.

AAS meeting #216, 409.03.

Samarasinha, N. H., Mueller, B. E. A., A'Hearn, M. F., Farnham, T. L. 2010.

Comet 103P/Hartley.

IAUC 9178.

Samarasinha, N. H., Mueller, B. E. A., A'Hearn, M. F., Farnham, T. L. 2010.

Comet 103P/Hartley.

CBET 2515.

Farnham, T. L., Samarasinha, N. H., Mueller, B. E. A. 2010.

Comet 81P/Wild.

IAUC 9138.

Samarasinha, N. H., Mueller, B. E. A., Belton, M. J. S., Jorda, L. 2010.

Rotation of Comet Nuclei: Table 1.

NASA Planetary Data System, EAR-C-COMPIL-5-COMET-NUC-ROTATION-V1.0.

Mueller, B. E. A., Samarasinha, N. H., Raugh, A. C. 2010.

CTIO Images of 19P/BORRELLY with Photometry.

NASA Planetary Data System, EAR-C-CFCCD-5-RDR-CTIO-BORR-PHOTOM-V1.0.