Compositional homogeneity in the fragmented comet 73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann 3

N. Dello Russo (), R. J. Vervack, H. A. Weaver, N. Biver, D. Bockelée-Morvan, J. Crovisier and C. M. Lisse
Additional contact information
N. Dello Russo: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, Maryland 20723-6099, USA
R. J. Vervack: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, Maryland 20723-6099, USA
H. A. Weaver: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, Maryland 20723-6099, USA
N. Biver: Observatoire de Meudon–Paris, LESIA, 5 Place Jules Janssen, Meudon 92190, France
D. Bockelée-Morvan: Observatoire de Meudon–Paris, LESIA, 5 Place Jules Janssen, Meudon 92190, France
J. Crovisier: Observatoire de Meudon–Paris, LESIA, 5 Place Jules Janssen, Meudon 92190, France
C. M. Lisse: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, Maryland 20723-6099, USA

Nature, 2007, vol. 448, issue 7150, 172-175

Abstract: Comet 73P in pieces The 2006 visit of comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (comet 73P) took it quite close to Earth. It had split a decade earlier into at least five fragments and by 2006, more than 60 fragments were orbiting the Sun. The comet's disruption had exposed fresh material that had been formerly buried deep within the comet's original nucleus. This provided ideal conditions for a natural equivalent to NASA's Deep Impact mission, digging even deeper into the comet than the probe that struck comet Tempel 1. Observation of fragments B and C of comet 73P showed them to be remarkably similar in composition. This contrasts to the marked variation in composition between different comets, and contradicts previous assumptions that short-period comets would have strong compositional variation with depth.

Date: 2007
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DOI: 10.1038/nature05908

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