Deciphering cometary outbursts: linking gas composition changes to trigger mechanisms
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Authors
Müller, D.R.
Altwegg, K.
Berthelier, J.-J.
Combi, M.R.
De Keyser, J.
Fuselier, S.A.
Garnier, P.
Hänni, N.
Mall, U.
Rubin, M.
Wampfler, S.F.
Wurz, P.
Discipline
Physical sciences
Subject
detectors
data analysis
comets
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Audience
Scientific
Date
2024Metadata
Show full item recordDescription
Dust and gas outbursts are recurrent cometary phenomena, playing a crucial role in shaping the coma. Proposed outburst trigger mechanisms include cliff collapse, pressure pockets, and amorphous-to-crystalline phase transition of water ice; however, the underlying processes remain inadequately understood. In this study, we analyse Rosetta/ROSINA data from multiple outbursts on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and present the evolution of the gas composition in the comet’s coma during outburst events. We distinguish two distinct categories of cometary outbursts on the comet: water-driven events characterized by rapid (minutes to hours) changes in coma composition, and CO2-driven events displaying a slow, prolonged (hours to days) increase in highly volatile species. We tentatively associate these different gas composition patterns with different trigger mechanisms. Exposure of fresh ice due to cliff collapse leads to a notable water enhancement, while most perihelion outbursts coincide with substantial density increases of CO2. We propose that these CO2-driven events originate from subsurface gas-filled cavities, whose walls are suggested to have been sealed by earlier refreezing of CO2 migrating from warmer spots, hence increasing the cavity pressure required to burst.
Citation
Müller, D.R.; Altwegg, K.; Berthelier, J.-J.; Combi, M.R.; De Keyser, J.; Fuselier, S.A.; Garnier, P.; Hänni, N.; Mall, U.; Rubin, M.; Wampfler, S.F.; Wurz, P. (2024). Deciphering cometary outbursts: linking gas composition changes to trigger mechanisms. , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 529, Issue 3, 2763-2776, DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stae622.Identifiers
url:
Type
Article
Peer-Review
Yes
Language
eng