Meltdown!
Above: This R-filtered image of comet LINEAR was captured on July 28, 2000, by M. Kidger at the Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope, Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma, Canary Islands. The innermost coma is elongated and rapidly fading.
The break up of a bright comet is unusual but not unprecedented. For example, comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL-9) broke up before it struck Jupiter in 1994. SL-9 was discovered after it fragmented, so there is no record of what happened as it came to pieces. With comet LINEAR, astronomers have a ringside seat for the entire show.
"We have observed a few comets in the process of breaking up -- comet West in 1976, comet Ikeya-Seki in 1965 and others -- but never with so much detail as we're seeing in comet LINEAR," says Mark Kidger, an astronomer at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. Comet LINEAR's demise seems to be a bit unusual. "Cometary splittings rarely ever lead to the rapid disappearance of a comet like this - in fact, I don't know of another case"
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"At perihelion there are very rapid aspect changes as regions of the nucleus previously in shadow are suddenly subjected to intense heating," continued Kidger. "This causes strong thermal stresses" that may have been a primary cause of LINEAR's breakup.
Something was already amiss the day before Comet LINEAR reached perihelion at a distance of 114 million km (0.74 AU) from the Sun.
"The very first images on July 25th were enough to show me that something odd was going on," recounts Kidger. "The comet's inner coma was no longer teardrop-shaped (the solar wind flowing around the comet's head causes this shape). It had a shape like a short, fat cigar. My first thought was 'Shoemaker-Levy.' It looked just like those first images of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 after it was discovered."
Kidger's images on subsequent nights confirmed that something dramatic was happening and he announced his findings in an International Astronomical Union (IAU) Circular (IAUC #7467) on July 27, 2000. As news of the breakup spread, astronomers around the world trained their telescopes on the comet. In another IAU Circular (IAUC # 7468) published July 28th, three teams of observers reported that they too saw evidence of a major event in the comet's nucleus.
Unlike comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which broke into many well-defined bright fragments, comet LINEAR seems to be dissolving into an amorphous haze of gas and dust.
"There is some similarity of appearance to the two comets," says Brian Marsden of Harvard's Minor Planet Center. "An observation by Ian Griffin in New Zealand on July 29th shows the nucleus of C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) extended into a long, bright string. However, it does not seem to show discrete nuclei in that string, as D/1993 F2 (SL-9) did."
The differences between comets SL-9 and LINEAR result from their different sizes and distances from the Sun.
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was larger than comet LINEAR, and it broke apart as the result of tidal stresses it experienced when it passed less than 100 thousand kilometers from Jupiter (within 1.4 Jupiter radii from the planet's center). SL-9 was far from the Sun (812 million km) when it fragmented and solar heating was not the primary cause of the break up. In fact, SL-9 wasn't even orbiting the Sun. The comet had been captured by the gravitational pull of Jupiter and was orbiting the giant planet instead.
Above: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, pictured here in a Hubble Space telescope image, was broken into many pieces during a close encounter with the planet Jupiter in 1992. Two years later it came so close to the planet that the fragments actually plunged into Jupiter's atmosphere. [more information]
Comet LINEAR is a much smaller object that has been losing mass rapidly during its approach to the Sun. The Hubble Space Telescope recorded a house-sized fragment blowing away from the core on July 5th and powerful jets of gas vaporized by solar radiation have been pushing the comet to and fro. Solar heating is a more important factor in its breakup than gravitational effects. [more information]
"The small size of comet LINEAR and its exposure to solar radiation is causing a more complete and rapid dissolution than we saw in Shoemaker-Levy 9," continued Marsden. "The initial break-up of SL-9 was surely caused by tidal forces from Jupiter. If they had not later collided with Jupiter, several of those fragments would presumably still exist. C/1999 S4 (LINEAR), on the other hand, will probably have completely dispersed in a week or so."
"The surface brightness of the innermost coma is fading fast," says Kidger. "This should translate to a somewhat slower fade of the outer coma [that binocular and small telescope observers see] as the gas and dust in it disperses and is not replenished. Typically a comet may take several weeks for the coma to expand and fade down to the brightness of the sky background."
Above: On July 23rd, the Comet LINEAR's gaseous halo was bright and centrally condensed. Since then it has steadily faded as the core disrupts into an elongated train of debris. Credit: Mark Kidger, Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope.
Many well-known annual meteor showers, including the Perseids, Leonids and Geminids, are caused by dusty debris from comets burning up in the atmosphere of Earth. Such displays are harmless and beautiful. Unfortunately for meteor lovers, the orbit of comet LINEAR comes no closer to our planet than 28 million kilometers (0.18 AU). There will be no "Linearid" meteor shower. When comet LINEAR finally disappears from view in a few days or weeks, this memorable visitor from beyond the orbit of Neptune will be gone forever.
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 Right: This image of Comet Halley's nucleus was taken by the European Space Agency Giotto spacecraft during a flyby on March 13, 1986. Scientists estimate that about 10% of the surface was boiling off into space. The stuff that boiled off Halley in 1986 may one day be seen again during an eta Aquarid meteor shower.  Above: This photograph of Comet Hyakutake highlights different components of the tail. The gold and red tail features are dust, made predominately of little bits of rock and carbon. The dust tail shines by reflecting sunlight. Extending past the dust tail is the comet's ion tail, shown here glowing in blue. The ion tail is composed mostly of ions of water, carbon monoxide, and cyanogen. The ion tail glows by emitting light when elections re-combine with electrically charged ions to make uncharged molecules.
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Orbital Elements of C/1999 LINEAR S4 - from the Harvard Center for Astrophysics
Daily Ephemeris for C/1999 LINEAR S4 - from the Harvard Center for Astrophysics
CometLinear.com -pictures, updates, and a discussion board for observers of comet Linear.
Mark Kidger's Comet Home Page
Comet LINEAR's Summer Show - from Sky & Telescope, includes detailed finder charts and ephemerides.
C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) -- images and historical highlights from Gary Kronk's popular Comets & Meteors web site.
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| For lesson plans and educational activities related to breaking science news, please visit Thursday's Classroom | Author: Dr. Tony Phillips Production Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips Curator: Bryan Walls Media Relations: Steve Roy Responsible NASA official: Ron Koczor |
