Kiel 2004 – scientific programme

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EP: Extraterrestrische Physik

EP 3: Teilchen und Wellen

EP 3.6: Fachvortrag

Tuesday, March 9, 2004, 17:25–17:45, C

Modelling the Environment of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko — •Jessica Agarwal¹, Michael Müller², and Eberhard Grün¹ — ¹MPI für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg — ²ESOC, Robert-Bosch-Str. 5, 64293 Darmstadt

The short-period comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is the target of ESA’s Rosetta mission. For the planning of operations and experiments detailed knowledge of the physical conditions near the comet is needed. On the basis of observational data we characterise the environment of the comet using the ESA Cometary Environment Model (M. Müller, 1998). The densities and velocities of the gas and of dust particles on a wide range of sizes are calculated as functions of time and location within the coma. The model is also used to estimate the infrared and visible radiation received by an observer inside the coma due to the dust. For 67P/C–G, a trail has been observed which consists of large particles emitted on long time scales and accumulating along the comet’s orbit. Analysis of the trail brightness and geometry contributes to determining the size distribution of dust particles near the comet.