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Published January 10, 2015 | Submitted + Published
Journal Article Open

NEOWISE Observations of Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) as It Approaches Mars

Abstract

The Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission observed comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) three times at 3.4 μm and 4.6 μm as the comet approached Mars in 2014. The comet is an extremely interesting target since its close approach to Mars in late 2014 will be observed by various spacecraft in situ. The observations were taken in 2014 January, July, and September when the comet was at heliocentric distances of 3.82 AU, 1.88 AU, and 1.48 AU. The level of activity increased significantly between the January and July visits but then decreased by the time of the observations in September, approximately four weeks prior to its close approach to Mars. In this work, we calculate Afρ values and CO/CO_2 production rates.

Additional Information

© 2015. The American Astronomical Society. Received 14 October 2014; accepted for publication 4 December 2014; Published 29 December 2014. This publication makes use of data products from NEOWISE, which is a project of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. R.S. gratefully acknowledges support from the NASA Postdoctoral Program.

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Published - 2041-8205_798_2_L31.pdf

Submitted - 1412.2117v1.pdf

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Created:
August 20, 2023
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