@article{TosiCapaccioniCapriaetal.2019, author = {Tosi, Federico and Capaccioni, F. and Capria, M. T. and Mottola, Stefano and Zinzi, A. and Ciarniello, M. and Filacchione, G. and Hofstadter, M. and Fonti, S. and Formisano, M. and Kappel, David and K{\"u}hrt, E. and Leyrat, C. and Vincent, J-B and Arnold, G. and De Sanctis, M. C. and Longobardo, Andrea and Palomba, E. and Raponi, A. and Rousseau, Batiste and Schmitt, Bernard and Barucci, Maria Antonietta and Bellucci, Giancarlo and Benkhoff, Johannes and Bockelee-Morvan, D. and Cerroni, P. and Combe, J-Ph and Despan, D. and Erard, St{\´e}phane and Mancarella, F. and McCord, T. B. and Migliorini, Alessandra and Orofino, V and Piccioni, G.}, title = {The changing temperature of the nucleus of comet 67P induced by morphological and seasonal effects}, series = {Nature astronomy}, volume = {3}, journal = {Nature astronomy}, number = {7}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2397-3366}, doi = {10.1038/s41550-019-0740-0}, pages = {649 -- 658}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Knowledge of the surface temperature distribution on a comet's nucleus and its temporal evolution at different timescales is key to constraining its thermophysical properties and understanding the physical processes that take place at and below the surface. Here we report on time-resolved maps of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko retrieved on the basis of infrared data acquired by the Visible InfraRed and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) onboard the Rosetta orbiter in 2014, over a roughly two-month period in the pre-perihelion phase at heliocentric distances between 3.62 and 3.31 au from the Sun. We find that at a spatial resolution ≤15 m per pixel, the measured temperatures point out the major effect that self-heating, due to the complex shape of the nucleus, has on the diurnal temperature variation. The bilobate nucleus of comet 67P also induces daytime shadowing effects, which result in large thermal gradients. Over longer periods, VIRTIS-derived temperature values reveal seasonal changes driven by decreasing heliocentric distance combined with an increasing abundance of ice within the uppermost centimetre-thick layer, which implies the possibility of having a largely pristine nucleus interior already in the shallow subsurface}, language = {en} } @misc{FilacchioneGroussinHernyetal.2019, author = {Filacchione, Gianrico and Groussin, Olivier and Herny, Clemence and Kappel, David and Mottola, Stefano and Oklay, Nilda and Pommerol, Antoine and Wright, Ian and Yoldi, Zurine and Ciarniello, Mauro and Moroz, Lyuba and Raponi, Andrea}, title = {Comet 67P/CG Nucleus Composition and Comparison to Other Comets}, series = {Space science reviews}, volume = {215}, journal = {Space science reviews}, number = {19}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Dordrecht}, issn = {0038-6308}, doi = {10.1007/s11214-019-0580-3}, pages = {46}, year = {2019}, abstract = {We review our current knowledge of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko nucleus composition as inferred from measurements made by remote sensing and in-situ instruments aboard Rosetta orbiter and Philae lander. Spectrophotometric properties (albedos, color indexes and Hapke parameters) of 67P/CG derived by Rosetta are discussed in the context of other comets previously explored by space missions. Composed of an assemblage made of ices, organic materials and minerals, cometary nuclei exhibit very dark and red surfaces which can be described by means of spectrophotometric quantities and reproduced with laboratory measurements. The presence of surface water and carbon dioxide ices was found by Rosetta to occur at localized sites where the activity driven by solar input, gaseous condensation or exposure of pristine inner layers can maintain these species on the surface. Apart from these specific areas, 67P/CG's surface appears remarkably uniform in composition with a predominance of organic materials and minerals. The organic compounds contain abundant hydroxyl group and a refractory macromolecular material bearing aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. The mineral components are compatible with a mixture of silicates and fine-grained opaques, including Fe-sulfides, like troilite and pyrrhotite, and ammoniated salts. In the vicinity of the perihelion several active phenomena, including the erosion of surface layers, the localized activity in cliffs, fractures and pits, the collapse of overhangs and walls, the transfer and redeposition of dust, cause the evolution of the different regions of the nucleus by inducing color, composition and texture changes.}, language = {en} } @article{GrottKnollenbergHammetal.2019, author = {Grott, Matthias and Knollenberg, J. and Hamm, M. and Ogawa, K. and Jaumann, R. and Otto, Katharina Alexandra and Delbo, M. and Michel, Patrick and Biele, J. and Neumann, Wladimir and Knapmeyer, Martin and K{\"u}hrt, E. and Senshu, H. and Okada, T. and Helbert, Jorn and Maturilli, A. and M{\"u}ller, N. and Hagermann, A. and Sakatani, Naoya and Tanaka, S. and Arai, T. and Mottola, Stefano and Tachibana, Shogo and Pelivan, Ivanka and Drube, Line and Vincent, J-B and Yano, Hajime and Pilorget, C. and Matz, K. D. and Schmitz, N. and Koncz, A. and Schr{\"o}der, Stefan E. and Trauthan, F. and Schlotterer, Markus and Krause, C. and Ho, T-M and Moussi-Soffys, A.}, title = {Low thermal conductivity boulder with high porosity identified on C-type asteroid (162173) Ryugu}, series = {Nature astronomy}, volume = {3}, journal = {Nature astronomy}, number = {11}, publisher = {Nature Publishing Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2397-3366}, doi = {10.1038/s41550-019-0832-x}, pages = {971 -- 976}, year = {2019}, abstract = {C-type asteroids are among the most pristine objects in the Solar System, but little is known about their interior structure and surface properties. Telescopic thermal infrared observations have so far been interpreted in terms of a regolith-covered surface with low thermal conductivity and particle sizes in the centimetre range. This includes observations of C-type asteroid (162173) Ryugu1,2,3. However, on arrival of the Hayabusa2 spacecraft at Ryugu, a regolith cover of sand- to pebble-sized particles was found to be absent4,5 (R.J. et al., manuscript in preparation). Rather, the surface is largely covered by cobbles and boulders, seemingly incompatible with the remote-sensing infrared observations. Here we report on in situ thermal infrared observations of a boulder on the C-type asteroid Ryugu. We found that the boulder's thermal inertia was much lower than anticipated based on laboratory measurements of meteorites, and that a surface covered by such low-conductivity boulders would be consistent with remote-sensing observations. Our results furthermore indicate high boulder porosities as well as a low tensile strength in the few hundred kilopascal range. The predicted low tensile strength confirms the suspected observational bias6 in our meteorite collections, as such asteroidal material would be too frail to survive atmospheric entry7}, language = {en} }