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The Evolutionary State of Near-Earth Comet 7P/Pons–Winnecke

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Abstract

7P/Pons–Winnecke is a near-Earth short-period comet of a moderate activity level. In this paper, we present the analysis of observations performed during a favorable apparition of the comet in 2021, indicating its status as a transitional ageing comet. The sublimation starts when the comet is close to the Sun, at a distance of RON = 1.76 ± 0.1 AU, and continues for ~13 months, which is apparently caused by residual reserves of water ice. The dust production rate of the comet is not high even at perihelion (<150 kg/s), and the 1.4-percent active portion of the nucleus area is sufficient to provide this mass loss. The photometric age of the comet is PAGE = 54.4 comet years; being combined with a light curve amplitude of ASEC(1;1) = 5.5m, this age corresponds to the state of a transitional middle-aged comet.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to the Terskol Observatory, Shared Service Center of the Astronomical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (INASAN), for providing the possibility of using the data obtained with the Zeiss-1000 telescope at the Simeiz Observatory. The authors also thank amateur astronomers Michael Jäger and Tony Angel for the opportunity to use their images of the comet to determine the dust coma parameters; and the Faulkes Telescope Project, on one of the telescopes of which the second image was acquired, and the Comet Chasers team, the member of which is T. Angel, are appreciated.

Funding

This work was supported by the budget of scientific organizations. No additional grants were received to conduct or supervise this particular study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Petrozavodsk State University, 185035, Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, Russia

    A. O. Novichonok

  2. Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 125047, Moscow, Russia

    A. A. Shmal’ts, M. A. Tereshina & V. A. Voropaev

  3. Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences, 298409, Nauchnyi, Russia

    S. V. Nazarov

  4. Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997, Moscow, Russia

    A. S. Pozanenko

  5. Karelian Research Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, 185000, Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, Russia

    E. V. Novichonok

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  1. A. O. Novichonok
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Translated by E. Petrova

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Novichonok, A.O., Shmal’ts, A.A., Nazarov, S.V. et al. The Evolutionary State of Near-Earth Comet 7P/Pons–Winnecke. Sol Syst Res 58, 456–468 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1134/S003809462470028X

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