Behavioral Characteristics and CO+CO2 Production Rates of Halley-Type Comets Observed by NEOWISE

TL;DR

This study analyzes the dust and gas production rates of 21 Halley-Type Comets observed by NEOWISE, finding no significant correlation between production rates and heliocentric distance within the 1.21 to 2.66 AU range.

Contribution

It provides new measurements of nucleus sizes and production rates for multiple HTCs, expanding understanding of their activity and characteristics.

Findings

No significant correlation between dust production and heliocentric distance.

No significant correlation between gas production and heliocentric distance.

Determined nucleus sizes for four specific comets.

Abstract

From the entire dataset of comets observed by NEOWISE, we have analyzed 11 different Halley-Type Comets (HTCs) for dust production rates, CO+CO2 production rates, and nucleus sizes. Incorporating HTCs from previous studies and multiple comet visits we have a total of 21 stacked visits, 13 of which are active and 8 for which we calculated upper limits of production. We determined the nucleus sizes of 27P, P/2006 HR30, P/2012 NJ, and C/2016 S1. Furthermore, we analyzed the relationships between dust production and heliocentric distance, and gas production and heliocentric distance. We concluded that for this population of HTCs, ranging in heliocentric distance from 1.21 AU to 2.66 AU, there was no significant correlation between dust production and heliocentric distance, nor gas production and heliocentric distance.