SuperWASP Observations of the 2007 Outburst of Comet 17P/Holmes
Henry H. Hsieh, Alan Fitzsimmons, Yogesh Joshi, Damian Christian, Don, L. Pollacco

TL;DR
This study analyzes the 2007 outburst of Comet 17P/Holmes using wide-field imaging data, revealing rapid fragmentation, explosive ejection, and a single pulse of gas production with detailed velocity and timing estimates.
Contribution
It provides the first detailed analysis of the 2007 outburst using SuperWASP data, highlighting fragmentation timescales and the explosive nature of the event.
Findings
Fragmentation timescales decreased from ~2000 s to ~1000 s.
Expansion velocity of the dust coma is 0.55 km/s.
Outburst likely occurred around October 23, 2007.
Abstract
We present wide-field imaging of the 2007 outburst of Comet 17P/Holmes obtained serendipitously by SuperWASP-North on 17 nights over a 42-night period beginning on the night (2007 October 22-23) immediately prior to the outburst. Photometry of 17P's unresolved coma in SuperWASP data taken on the first night of the outburst is consistent with exponential brightening, suggesting that the rapid increase in the scattering cross-section of the coma could be largely due to the progressive fragmentation of ejected material produced on a very short timescale at the time of the initial outburst, with fragmentation timescales decreasing from t(frag)~2x10^3 s to t(frag)~1x10^3 s over our observing period. Analysis of the expansion of 17P's coma reveals a velocity gradient suggesting that the outer coma was dominated by material ejected in an instantaneous, explosive manner. We find an expansion…
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