TY - JOUR
T1 - Search for the comet activity of 107P/(4015) wilson-harrington during the 2009/2010 apparition
AU - Ishiguro, Masateru
AU - Ham, Ji Beom
AU - Tholen, David J.
AU - Elliott, Garrett T.
AU - Micheli, Marco
AU - Niwa, Takahiro
AU - Sakamoto, Makoto
AU - Matsuda, Kentaro
AU - Urakawa, Seitaro
AU - Yoshimoto, Katsumi
AU - Sarugaku, Yuki
AU - Usui, Fumihiko
AU - Hasegawa, Sunao
AU - Iwata, Ikuru
AU - Ozaki, Shinobu
AU - Kuroda, Daisuke
AU - Ootsubo, Takafumi
PY - 2011/1/10
Y1 - 2011/1/10
N2 - We present the optical observations of the Near Earth Object 107P/(4015) Wilson-Harrington during the 2009/2010 apparition taken in search of low-level comet activity. Our photometric and spectroscopic data were collected 28-86 days after the perihelion passage on 2009 October 22 in a wide range of solar phase angles of 39°-68°. A disk-integrated phase function was constructed, giving a geometric albedo of 0.055 ± 0.012, phase integral of q = 0.34, and Bond albedo of AB = 0.019. The photometric property shows a profile similar to low albedo asteroids and comet nuclei. No emission lines were found in our spectrum, giving a flat reflectance similar to low albedo asteroids. Although we could not find any evidence for cometary activity in our photometric and spectroscopic data, we found an upper limit of 0.001% on the fractional active area. We derived the upper limit of the optical depth of the dust trail and tail, 7 × 10-10. We conclude that 107P/(4015) Wilson-Harrington was completely dormant or inactive in the 2009/2010 return.
AB - We present the optical observations of the Near Earth Object 107P/(4015) Wilson-Harrington during the 2009/2010 apparition taken in search of low-level comet activity. Our photometric and spectroscopic data were collected 28-86 days after the perihelion passage on 2009 October 22 in a wide range of solar phase angles of 39°-68°. A disk-integrated phase function was constructed, giving a geometric albedo of 0.055 ± 0.012, phase integral of q = 0.34, and Bond albedo of AB = 0.019. The photometric property shows a profile similar to low albedo asteroids and comet nuclei. No emission lines were found in our spectrum, giving a flat reflectance similar to low albedo asteroids. Although we could not find any evidence for cometary activity in our photometric and spectroscopic data, we found an upper limit of 0.001% on the fractional active area. We derived the upper limit of the optical depth of the dust trail and tail, 7 × 10-10. We conclude that 107P/(4015) Wilson-Harrington was completely dormant or inactive in the 2009/2010 return.
KW - Comets: general
KW - Comets: individual (107P/Wilson-Harrington)
KW - Interplanetary medium
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U2 - 10.1088/0004-637X/726/2/101
DO - 10.1088/0004-637X/726/2/101
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84891197845
VL - 726
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
SN - 0004-637X
IS - 2
ER -