3- to 14- μm Spectroscopy of Comet 55P/Tempel–Tuttle, Parent Body of the Leonid Meteors
✍ Scribed by David K. Lynch; Ray W. Russell; Michael L. Sitko
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2000
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 58 KB
- Volume
- 144
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0019-1035
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✦ Synopsis
Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle was observed between 3 and 14 µm using the Broadband Array Spectrograph System (BASS) on the NASA 3-m Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea. Observations were made February 8.25 and 9.25 1998 UT when the heliocentric distance of the comet was 1.03 AU and decreasing as the comet approached perihelion (February 28, 1998). The spectra from both nights showed no emission features indicative of silicates or other solid substances, and they showed no difference between the two nights. They were well fit with a 330 K blackbody between 3 and 13 µm. The 330 K color temperature was 60 K above the equilibrium blackbody temperature of 274 K. These results are somewhat unusual for a comet, because most comets show silicate emission, indicative of small olivine-and/or pyroxene-based particles. We present a simple analysis of thermal emission and show that some useful though limited knowledge can be inferred about the particles' radiative properties.