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@article{Guilbert-Lepoutre:2023:PSJ/ad083a,
author = {Guilbert-Lepoutre, A and Benseguane, S and Martinien, L and Lasue, J and Besse, S and Grieger, B and Beth, A},
doi = {PSJ/ad083a},
journal = {The Planetary Science Journal},
title = {Pits on Jupiter-family comets and the age of cometary surfaces},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ad083a},
volume = {4},
year = {2023}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - Large and deep depressions, also known as pits, are observed at the surface of all Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) imaged by spacecraft missions. They offer the opportunity to glimpse the subsurface characteristics of comet nuclei and study the complex interplay between surface structures and cometary activity. This work investigates the evolution of pits at the surface of 81P/Wild 2, 9P/Tempel 1, and 103P/Hartley 2, in continuation of the work by Benseguane et al. on 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Pits are selected across the surface of each nucleus, and high-resolution shape models are used to compute the energy they receive. A thermal evolution model is applied to constrain how cometary activity sustained under current illumination conditions could modify them. Similar to what was found for 67P, we show that erosion resulting from water-driven activity is primarily controlled by seasonal patterns that are unique to each comet as a consequence of their shape and rotational properties. However, progressive erosion sustained after multiple perihelion passages is not able to carve any of the observed pits. Instead, cometary activity tends to erase sharp morphological features; they become wider and shallower over time. Our results reinforce the evolutionary sequence evidenced from independent measurables to transform "young" cometary surfaces, with sharp surface topography prone to outbursts, into "old" cometary surfaces. Finally, we suggest that the mechanism at the origin of the pits on JFCs should be able to carve these structures in a region of the solar system where water ice does not sublimate; the Centaur phase thus appears critical to understand JFC surface properties.
AU - Guilbert-Lepoutre,A
AU - Benseguane,S
AU - Martinien,L
AU - Lasue,J
AU - Besse,S
AU - Grieger,B
AU - Beth,A
DO - PSJ/ad083a
PY - 2023///
SN - 2632-3338
TI - Pits on Jupiter-family comets and the age of cometary surfaces
T2 - The Planetary Science Journal
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ad083a
UR - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/ad083a
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/114157
VL - 4
ER -