Temperature and Gas Production Distributions on the Surface of a Spherical Model Comet Nucleus in the Orbit of 46P/Wirtanen

Abstract

A multidimensional comet nucleus model is used to estimate the temperature and gas production distributions on the surface of a comet nucleus in the orbit of 46P/Wirtanen. The spherical model nucleus is assumed to be made up of a porous dust-ice (H2O, CO) matrix. Heat and gas diffusion inside the rotating nucleus are taken into account in radial and meridional directions. A quasi-3D solution is obtained through the dependency of the boundary conditions on the local solar illumination as the nucleus rotates. As a study case, we consider a homogeneous chemical composition of the surface layer which is assumed to contain water ice. The model results include the distributions of temperature and gas production on the surface. For the chosen test case of a nucleus spin axis perpendicular to the orbital plane we found that the CO gas production on the surface is quasi-uniformly distributed in contrast to the nonuniform water outgassing. The mixing ratio at a specific point on the comet nucleus surface is not representative of the overall mixing ratio which is observed in the coma.