Boulder migration in the Khonsu region of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Tang, Xiang, Shi, Xian, El-Maarry, Mohamed Ramy
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Tang, Xiang
Shi, Xian
El-Maarry, Mohamed Ramy
author_facet Tang, Xiang
Shi, Xian
El-Maarry, Mohamed Ramy
contents European Space Agency's Rosetta mission is the only space mission that performed long-term monitoring of comet at close distances. Its over two years' rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko revealed diverse evolutionary processes of the cometary nucleus. One of the most striking events is the migration of a 30-m boulder in the southern hemisphere region of Khonsu. Previous works found the boulder's 140-m displacement occurred during the three months from August to October 2015, and several triggering mechanisms were proposed, including outburst at the boulder site, seismic vibrations from nearby activities, or surface erosion of the slope beneath the boulder. In this work, we further analyze this impressive event by analysing imaging data from Rosetta's OSIRIS camera. We constrained the boulder's migration time to within 14 hours and derived a detailed timeline of the boulder migration event and local dust activities. High-resolution thermophysical modelling shows significant dichotomy in the thermal history of the boulder's southern and northern sides, which could have triggered or facilitated its migration via its own volatile activity.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_17108
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Boulder migration in the Khonsu region of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Tang, Xiang
Shi, Xian
El-Maarry, Mohamed Ramy
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
European Space Agency's Rosetta mission is the only space mission that performed long-term monitoring of comet at close distances. Its over two years' rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko revealed diverse evolutionary processes of the cometary nucleus. One of the most striking events is the migration of a 30-m boulder in the southern hemisphere region of Khonsu. Previous works found the boulder's 140-m displacement occurred during the three months from August to October 2015, and several triggering mechanisms were proposed, including outburst at the boulder site, seismic vibrations from nearby activities, or surface erosion of the slope beneath the boulder. In this work, we further analyze this impressive event by analysing imaging data from Rosetta's OSIRIS camera. We constrained the boulder's migration time to within 14 hours and derived a detailed timeline of the boulder migration event and local dust activities. High-resolution thermophysical modelling shows significant dichotomy in the thermal history of the boulder's southern and northern sides, which could have triggered or facilitated its migration via its own volatile activity.
title Boulder migration in the Khonsu region of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.17108