Dust environment and dynamical history of a sample of short period comets

TL;DR

This study analyzes the dust environment and dynamical evolution of 9 short period comets, categorizing their activity levels and estimating their ages within the Jupiter Family region using observational data and numerical modeling.

Contribution

It provides a detailed characterization of dust parameters and dynamical histories for a sample of short period comets, highlighting correlations between activity and age in the Jupiter Family region.

Findings

Comets are categorized into weakly, moderately, and highly active based on dust emission.

The comets are relatively young in the Jupiter Family region, with ages from 100 to 600 years.

A possible correlation exists between comet activity level and time spent in the Jupiter Family region.

Abstract

Aims. In this work, we present an extended study of the dust environment of a sample of short period comets and their dynamical history. With this aim, we characterized the dust tails when the comets are active, and we made a statistical study to determine their dynamical evolution. The targets selected were 22P/Kopff, 30P/Reinmuth 1, 78P/Gehrels 2, 115P/Maury, 118P/Shoemaker-Levy 4, 123P/West-Hartley, 157P/Tritton, 185/Petriew, and P/2011 W2 (Rinner). Methods. We use two different observational data: a set of images taken at the Observatorio de Sierra Nevada and the Afrho curves provided by the amateur astronomical association Cometas-Obs. To model these observations, we use our Monte Carlo dust tail code. From this analysis, we derive the dust parameters, which best describe the dust environment: dust loss rates, ejection velocities, and size distribution of particles. On the other hand, we use a numerical integrator to study the dynamical history of the comets, which allows us to determine with a 90% of confidence level the time spent by these objects in the region of Jupiter Family Comets. Results. From the Monte Carlo dust tail code, we derived three categories attending to the amount of dust emitted: Weakly active (115P, 157P, and Rinner), moderately active (30P, 123P, and 185P), and highly active (22P, 78P, and 118P). The dynamical studies showed that the comets of this sample are young in the Jupiter Family region, where the youngest ones are 22P (100 yr), 78P (500 yr), and 118P (600 yr). The study points to a certain correlation between comet activity and time spent in the Jupiter Family region, although this trend is not always fulfilled. The largest particle sizes are not tightly constrained, so that the total dust mass derived should be regarded as lower limits.}