The nucleus of Comet P/Arend-Rigaux |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Theoretical Electrical Engineering, Paderborn University, Warburger Str. 100, 33102 Paderborn, Germany;2. Institute of Astronomy of Kharkiv National University, Sumska Str. 35, 61022 Kharkiv, Ukraine;1. Space and Earth Observation Centre, Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), P.O. Box 503, 00101 Helsinki, Finland;2. Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, 00014, Finland;3. Faculty of Information Technology, University of Jyvaskyla, P.O. Box 35, 40014, Finland;4. National Land Survey of Finland, Finnish Geospatial Research Institute (FGI), Geodeetinrinne 2, 02430 Masala, Finland;1. Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, CNRS/Université de Lorraine, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France;2. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA;3. Crimean Astrophysical Observatory of Russian Academy of Science, Crimea;4. Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO, USA |
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| Abstract: | Infrared observations, including photometry, spectroscopy, and J, H, and K lightcurves, of Comet P/Arend-Rigaux, suspected of being a near-extinct comet nucleus, are consistent with the detection of a rotating nucleus of radius 5.1 ± 1.1 km and a faint coma. The visual geometric albedo of the nucleus is 0.02 ± 0.01, placing the nucleus among the darkest objects in the Solar System. The near-infrared spectrum exhibits a red slope with no clear evidence of ice. A nonvolatile dust mantle compositionally similar to D-type asteroids may explain the observations. |
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