Analysis of Hybrid Gas-Dust Outbursts Observed at 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

TL;DR

This study analyzes two hybrid gas-dust outbursts on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko using multi-instrument observations from the Rosetta mission, revealing different spectral signatures linked to their initiation mechanisms.

Contribution

It demonstrates how multi-instrument spectral analysis can distinguish outburst origins, advancing remote classification of cometary activity.

Findings

Outburst 1 linked to cliff collapse signature.

Outburst 2 associated with exposure of fresh volatiles.

Spectral signatures vary with outburst initiation mechanisms.

Abstract

Cometary outbursts offer a valuable window into the composition of comet nuclei with their forceful ejection of dust and volatiles in explosive events, revealing the interior components of the comet. Understanding how different types of outbursts influence the dust properties and volatile abundances to better interpret what signatures can be attributed to primordial composition and what features are the result of processing is an important task best undertaken with a multi-instrument approach. The European Space Agency \textit{Rosetta} mission to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko carried a suite of instruments capable of carrying out this task in the near-nucleus coma with unprecedented spatial and spectral resolution. In this work we discuss two outbursts that occurred November 7 2015 and were observed by three instruments on board: the Alice ultraviolet spectrograph, the Visual Infrared and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS), and the Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System (OSIRIS). Together the observations show that mixed gas and dust outbursts can have different spectral signatures representative of their initiating mechanisms, with the first outburst showing indicators of a cliff collapse origin and the second more representative of fresh volatiles being exposed via a deepening fracture. This analysis opens up the possibility of remote spectral classification of cometary outbursts with future work.