The morphological diversity of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Nicolas Thomas (1) , Holger Sierks (2) , Cesare Barbieri (3) , Philippe L. Lamy (4) , Rafael Rodrigo (5, 6) , Hans Rickman (7, 8) , Detlef Koschny (9) , Horst Uwe Keller (10, 11) , Jessica Agarwal (2) , Michael F. A'Hearn (12) , Francesco Angrilli (3) , Anne-Thérèse Auger (4) , M. Antonella Barucci (13) , Jean-Loup Bertaux (14) , Ivano Bertini (15) , Sebastien Besse (16) , Dennis Bodewits (12) , Gabriele Cremonese (17) , Vania da Deppo (15) , Björn Davidsson (8) , Mariolino de Cecco (18) , Stefano Debei (19) , Mohamed Ramy El-Maarry (1) , Francesca Ferri (15) , Sonia Fornasier (13) , Marco Fulle (20) , Lorenza Giacomini (21) , Olivier Groussin (4) , Pedro J. Gutiérrez (22) , Carsten Guttler (2) , Stubbe F. Hviid (2, 10) , Wing-Huen Ip (23) , Laurent Jorda (4) , Jörg Knollenberg (10) , J.- R. Kramm (2) , Ekkehard Kührt (10) , Michael Kuppers (24) , Florangela La Forgia (3) , Luisa M. Lara (22) , Monica Lazzarin (3) , José J. Lopez Moreno (22) , Sara Magrin (3) , Simone Marchi (25) , F. Marzari (3) , M. Massironi (15, 21) , H. Michalik (26) , R. Moissl (24) , S. Mottola (10) , G. Naletto (27) , N. Oklay (2) , M. Pajola (15) , Antoine Pommerol (1) , Frank Preusker (10) , L. Sabau (28) , F. Scholten (10) , Colin Snodgrass (29, 2) , Cécilia Tubiana (2) , Jean-Baptiste Vincent (2) , Klaus-Peter Wenzel (9)

1 Physikalisches Institut [Bern]
2 MPS - Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung = Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
3 Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia "Galileo Galilei"
4 LAM - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
5 ISSI - International Space Science Institute [Bern]
6 CAB - Centro de Astrobiologia [Madrid]
7 CBK - Space Research Centre of Polish Academy of Sciences
8 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Uppsala]
9 RSSD - Research and Scientific Support Department, ESTEC
10 DLR Institute of Planetary Research
11 IGEP - Institut für Geophysik und Extraterrestrische Physik [Braunschweig]
12 Department of Astronomy [College Park]
13 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
14 PLANETO - LATMOS
15 CISAS - Centro di Ateneo di Studi e Attività Spaziali “Giuseppe Colombo”
16 ESTEC - European Space Research and Technology Centre
17 OAPD - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova
18 UNITN - Università degli Studi di Trento = University of Trento
19 Department of Industrial Engineering [Padova]
20 OAT - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste
21 Dipartimento di Geoscienze [Padova]
22 IAA - Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
23 Institute of Space Science [Taiwan]
24 ESAC - European Space Astronomy Centre
25 SSERVI - Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute
26 Institut für Datentechnik und Kommunikationsnetze
27 DEI - Department of Information Engineering [Padova]
28 INTA - Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial
29 School of Physical Sciences [Milton Keynes]

Images of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko acquired by the OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic and Infrared Remote Imaging System) imaging system onboard the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft at scales of better than 0.8 meter per pixel show a wide variety of different structures and textures. The data show the importance of airfall, surface dust transport, mass wasting, and insolation weathering for cometary surface evolution, and they offer some support for subsurface fluidization models and mass loss through the ejection of large chunks of material.

Domaines: Planétologie et astrophysique de la terre [astro-ph.EP]

Nicolas Thomas, Holger Sierks, Cesare Barbieri, Philippe L. Lamy, Rafael Rodrigo, et al.. The morphological diversity of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Science, 2015, 347 (6220), aaa0440 (6 p.). ⟨10.1126/science.aaa0440⟩. ⟨hal-01109250⟩