First Results from TESS Observations of Comet 46P/Wirtanen
Tony L. Farnham, Michael S. P. Kelley, Matthew M. Knight, Lori M., Feaga

TL;DR
This paper presents initial findings from TESS observations of comet 46P/Wirtanen, highlighting a detailed outburst profile, gas and dust velocities, and a newly discovered dust trail, providing valuable insights into comet activity.
Contribution
First high-cadence, long-duration TESS observations of comet 46P/Wirtanen revealing detailed outburst characteristics and a new dust trail.
Findings
Recorded a two-phase outburst with a 0.5 mag brightening.
Gas velocities peaked at 800 m/s during the outburst.
Discovered a previously unreported dust trail extending beyond 24°.
Abstract
We report on initial results from 20 days' worth of TESS spacecraft observations of comet 46P/Wirtanen. The long-duration, high-cadence measurements show a 2018 September 26 outburst that exhibited a two-phase, 0.5 mag brightening profile, and may be the best temporally characterized natural outburst ever recorded. Gas velocities from the outburst peaked at 800 m s, while dust expanded at only 10s of m s. Coadded images also revealed a previously unreported dust trail that extends beyond the 24 field of view.
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
