Orbital linkages of Comet 6P/d'Arrest based on its asymmetric light curve

We present an investigation of different models of the nongravitational acceleration on Comet 6P/d'Arrest, as used in orbital linkages spanning 150 years from the discovery of the comet in 1851 until the recent observations made in 2001. Some of our models use the time-shifted g-like function to represent the variation of outgassing rate, but the main thrust is on models using instead a production curve that is fitted to recent light curve observations—mainly those in 1976. We pay special attention to the proper scaling of such a production curve, when applied to other apparitions with a different perihelion distance q, and we find a best fit with a q^−1.6 power-law. Generally, the best fit is found with models, in which the acceleration components are expressed in terms of the angular parameters of the rotating nucleus. We thus find the orientation of the spin axis, and using the orbital evolution we are able to predict a variable time shift of the outgassing curve. The very best results are found when applying this time shift to the light-curve based, angular models. The totality of the 1851-2001 observations can then be linked with a mean residual of less than 4″. This may be brought down to ∼^2″ by solving for individual ‘activity parameters’ of all apparitions, which are multiplicative factors applied to the acceleration amplitudes. These turn out to be within 10% of unity for the best fit. We have also performed a linkage to the observations of Comet 1678 (La Hire) using our models. We find an indication of a secular increase of the amount of asymmetry of the outgassing with respect to perihelion, part of which is due to the variable time shift caused by the orbital evolution.