Date: Monday 18-April-2022
Time: 11:15-12:15
Location: ATL 1250
Speaker: Carrie Holt (UMD)
Title: Activity of Oort Cloud Comets
Abstract: Comets are remnants of planet formation, spending most of their lifetime relatively unchanged in the outer Solar System. Dynamically new comets (DNCs) are comets with nearly parabolic orbits suggesting they are entering the inner Solar System for the first time. DNCs are valuable probes for connecting observed cometary properties to conditions in the pre-solar nebula and subsequent evolution, as they are considered to be mostly primordial with limited solar heating before discovery. However, the mechanisms behind cometary activity at large distances are not well understood. Surveys today (e.g., Pan-STARRS, ZTF) can discover comets at further distances from the Sun than ever before, allowing for more distant and longer baseline observations compared to DNC studies conducted in the past. I will present preliminary results from our ongoing monitoring of newly discovered, distant long-period comets (LPCs) using 1-m telescopes from our Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) Outbursting Objects Key project and the 4-m SOAR telescope. By consistent monitoring of the brightness evolution, colors, and coma morphology of LPCs at large distances, we will be able to better understand the processes driving distant cometary activity and make better predictions of the brightness behavior of future discoveries.
For further information contact PALS coordinator Quanzhi Ye at qye@umd.edu.
SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS:Special accommodations for individuals with disabilities can be made by calling (301) 405-3001. It would be appreciated if we are notified at least one week in advance.
