Search for the Comet Activity of 107P/(4015)Wilson-Harrington during 2009/2010 Apparition

  • 발행 : 2010.10.06

초록

107P/(4015) Wilson-Harrington is one of possible candidates of the dormant or inactive comet nuclei. It was discovered on a photographic plate exposed with the 48-inch Schmidt at Palomar Observatory on 1949 November 19 UT, displaying the faint extended cometary tail. No comet activity has not been after 1949 apparition. Here we present the optical observations of 107P/(4015) Wilson - Harrington during 2009/2010 apparition taken in search of low-level comet activity. Our photometric and spectroscopic data were collected 28 - 86 days after the perihelion passage on 2009 October 22 in a wide range of solar phase angle of 39-68 degree. A disk-integrated phase function was constructed, giving a geometric albedo of 0.055+/-0.012, phase integral of q=0.34, and Bond albedo of A_B=0.019. The photometric property shows profile similar to low albedo asteroids and comet nuclei. Any emission lines were found in our spectrum, giving a flat reflectance similar to low albedo asteroids. Although we could not find any evidence for the comet activity in our photometric and spectroscopic data, we found an upper limit of the fractional active area of 0.001%. We derived the upper limit of the optical depth of the dust trail and tail 7x10^{-10}. We conclude that 107P/(4015)Wilson-Harrington became completely dormant or inactive in 2009/2010 return.

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