Analysis of Polarimetric, Photometric, and Spectroscopic Observations of Comet C/1996 Q1 (Tabur)

Abstract

We present the imaging polarimetry and photometry of Comet C/1996 Q1 (Tabur) obtained on October 10, 1996, with a two-channel focal reducer attached to the 2-m Pik Terskol Observatory telescope through blue (λ4430/44 A) and red (λ6420/26 A) continuum filters and through a λ6620/59 A filter that isolated the NH2(0.7.0) band. We analyze the λ3600–9300 A long-slit spectrograms of the comet taken on October 5–6, 1996, with the 2.6-m Crimean Astrophysical Observatory telescope. The NH2(0.8.0) λ6408 A emission and an unidentified λ6428 A emission were found to fall within the pass band of the red filter. The blue filter transmits weak unidentified emissions at λ4424–4444 A and partially C2(λ4360 A). Correction for the depolarizing effect of molecular emissions resulted in an increase of the dust polarization by 2–4% in the near-nucleus region and by almost a factor of 2 in the outer coma regions. However, the polarization and color differences between different coma regions remained even after correction for the contribution of emissions. We found no dust polarization difference between the gas comet Tabur and the dust comet C/1988 A1 (Liller), which are believed to be fragments of a common parent comet. The NH2coma was found to be elongated perpendicular to the comet radius vector. The causes of the spatial asymmetry in the NH2molecular distribution are yet to be established. We study the evolution of activity and the spatial distribution of dust brightness, polarization, and color in the comet. We consider a taxonomic classification of gas and dust comets according to dust polarization properties. The polarization differences between dust and gas comets at large phase angles are most likely related both to the actual differences in dust and to the effect of molecular emissions, nuclear gas- and dust-production rates and to the evolution of grain properties with distance from the nucleus.