Gas Jet Morphology and the Very Rapidly Increasing Rotation Period of Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak

TL;DR

This study documents the rapid acceleration of Comet 41P's rotation period over 7 weeks, revealing unprecedented spin-up rates likely caused by jet activity, with implications for its structural stability and outburst history.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement of a comet's rotation period accelerating at an unprecedented rate, linking jet morphology to rotational dynamics and outburst events.

Findings

Rotation period increased from 24 hr to 48 hr in 7 weeks

Jet morphology showed consistent features over time

Possible link between outbursts and spin-up episodes

Abstract

We present results from our 47-night imaging campaign of Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak conducted from Lowell Observatory between 2017 February 16 and July 2. Coma morphology revealed gas jets, whose appearance and motion as a function of time yielded the rotation period and other properties. All narrowband CN images exhibited either one or two jets; one jet appeared as a partial face-on spiral with clockwise rotation while the second jet evolved from a side-on corkscrew, through face-on, and finally corkscrew again, with only a slow evolution throughout the apparition due to progressive viewing geometry changes. A total of 78 period determinations were made over a 7-week interval, yielding a smooth and accelerating rotation period starting at 24 hr (March 21&22) and passing 48 hr on April 28. While this is by far the fastest rate of change ever measured for a comet nucleus, the torque required is readily within what can exist given likely properties of the nucleus. If the torque remained constant, we estimate that the nucleus could have stopped rotating and/or began to tumble as soon as only two months following perihelion, and will certainly reach this stage by early in the next apparition. Working backwards in time, Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak would have been rotating near its rotational break-up velocity 3-4 orbits earlier, suggesting that its extreme 7-magnitude outburst observed in 2001 might have been caused by a partial fragmentation at that time, as might the pair of 1973 8-magnitude outbursts if there had been an earlier spin-down and spin-up cycle.