# Rapid variations of dust colour in comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kres\'{a}k

## TL;DR

This study observes rapid colour changes in the dust of comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák, revealing insights into dust properties and suggesting such variations are common among different comet types.

## Contribution

It provides the first detailed observation of fast colour variations in comet dust and models the dust composition as a mixture of silicates and organics.

## Key findings

- Fast colour variations observed in the inner coma.
- Significant change from blue to red colour within a day.
- Dust likely composed of Mg-rich silicates and organics.

## Abstract

We monitor the inner coma of comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kres\'{a}k searching for variations of its colour. Fast changes in colour of the comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kres\'{a}k provide important clues for better understanding of the microphysical properties of its dust. Using the 61-cm and 70-cm telescopes we measured the apparent magnitude of the comet with the V and R Johnson-Cousins filters from January 29 until April 25 of 2017. The inner coma ({\sim} 2000 km) reveals fast and significant variations of colour. The most significant change was found between March 3 and 4 of 2017, when it changed from blue with a colour slope S {\approx}(-10.15 {\pm} 3.43){\%} per 0.1 {\mu}m to red with S {\approx} (16.48 {\pm} 4.27){\%} per 0.1 {\mu}m. This finding appears in good accordance with what was previously reported by Ivanova et al. (2017) for long-period comet C/2013 UQ4 (Catalina), suggesting that fast and significant variations of colour of dust could be a common feature of short- and long-period comets. We model observations of comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kres\'{a}k using the agglomerated debris particles and conclude that its inner coma consists of a mixture of at least two types of particles made of Mg-rich silicates and organics or Mg-Fe silicates.

---
Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1905.10078