A New Indirect Method of Determining Density of Cometary Nuclei

A new indirect method for determining the bulk density of cometary nuclei is presented. This method has been applied to 136 comets taken from the literature. The method uses the calibration function in the form a1=10.88526+3.39275×a2 and the equation logDN=a2-0.13H, where DN is the nucleus' diameter [km], and H is the comets' absolute total magnitude (coma + nucleus). To obtain the nuclear bulk density [kg/m3] the formula d=(6/π)×10a where a=a1-3a2-9 is used. The mean nuclear bulk density of the 136 comets is 520±10 kg/m3. The relationship between the nuclear bulk density and the origin of the comets is found. For the 40 long-period comets the mean density is 470±10 kg/m3, whereas for the 94 short-period comets from Jupiter family it is 540±10 kg/m3. The accuracy of the calibration function is 1.5%.

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Opracowanie rekordu ze środków MEiN, umowa nr SONP/SP/546092/2022 w ramach programu "Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki" - moduł: Popularyzacja nauki i promocja sportu (2024)