Activity of comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke during the 2021 apparition
Comet 7P/Pons–Winnecke was observed from the Calar Alto Observatory (Spain) for 4 mon during the 2021 inbound apparition. Broad-band visible images were taken between 1.71 and 1.25 au pre-perihelion, while long-slit spectrophotometric data were taken at ∼1.25 au pre-perihelion. This data set has bee...
| Autores: | , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/385905 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/385905 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Methods: numerical Comets: general Comets: individual: 7P |
| Sumario: | Comet 7P/Pons–Winnecke was observed from the Calar Alto Observatory (Spain) for 4 mon during the 2021 inbound apparition. Broad-band visible images were taken between 1.71 and 1.25 au pre-perihelion, while long-slit spectrophotometric data were taken at ∼1.25 au pre-perihelion. This data set has been complemented with three r-Sloan images observed from Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) to model the physical properties and loss rate of the dust with a forward Monte Carlo dust tail code. The model fits the observed isophotes well for most observations. The peak dust production rate was measured at 83 kg s−1, 15 days after perihelion. The particle terminal speed ranges from 3 m s−1 for 0.1 m particles to 23 m s−1 for 5 μm particles. Regarding the gas production from spectra, CN, and C2 show asymmetric emission between the Sunward and anti-Sunward directions beyond the data uncertainties and error propagation, while a clear asymmetry for C3 cannot be definitively claimed. Average production rates for CN, C2, and C3 near 2021 perihelion are 1.15 ×1024, 2.32×1024, and 1.69×1023 s−1, respectively. The dust-to-gas mass ratio value is estimated to be around 2, suggesting a dust-rich composition. Based on the gas composition and the Af ρ value, we classify 7P/Pons–Winnecke as having a typical composition for Jupiter Family comets, with some C3 depletion. Given the limited previous knowledge, our work contributes to expanding the understanding of the activity and characteristics of 7P/Pons–Winnecke © 2025 The Author(s). |
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