Open AccessLarge cometary grains – their destruction and changes in the luminosity of comets
Author(s) -
Gronkowski P.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.14994.x
Subject(s) - physics , comet , astrophysics , fragmentation (computing) , brightness , astronomy , mantle (geology) , astrobiology , geophysics , computer science , operating system
The catastrophic thermodynamic destruction of large cometary heterogeneous grains lying on the surface of a comet nucleus is examined. The core–mantle grain‐structure model is assumed. Grain fragmentation as an explanation of sudden changes in cometary brightness is proposed. The approach presented to the problem of cometary outbursts is a development of a previous author's paper. The proposed mechanism is based on the idea of thermodynamical destruction of heterogeneous cometary grains. Numerical simulations have been carried out for a wide range of values of physical characteristics of cometary material. The results obtained are consistent with observational data. The main conclusion of this paper is that thermodynamical fragmentation of large grains can explain variations in brightness and also outbursts of comets.