5 papers
Multi-year Ground-Based Survey Photometry of Active Comet 103P/Hartley 2 and Centaur (2060) Chiron: A Tale of Two Comets in the Pre-LSST Era
Joseph Murtagh, Megan E. Schwamb, Michael S. P. Kelley +22
Comets and Centaurs trace the evolution of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) into the inner solar system. Their activity reflects the interplay between volatile sublimation, dust dyna…
On the Border: Searching for Cometary Activity Near the Centaur-JFC Transition Line
A. Fraser Gillan, Alan Fitzsimmons, Colin Orion Chandler +2
Current wide-field surveys discover ~15 Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) each year, typically identified via visual detection of a dust coma or tail. The same surveys also discover man…
ATLAS Photometry of Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS
John Tonry, Larry Denneau, Miguel Alarcon +7
We present calibrated ATLAS photometry of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1) from 28 March through 29 Aug 2025, obtained with the five-site, robotic ATLAS network in the c…
Dust production rates in Jupiter-family comets II: Trends and population insights from ATLAS photometry of 116 JFCs
A. Fraser Gillan, Alan Fitzsimmons, Larry Denneau +4
Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) have orbital periods of less than 20 years and therefore undergo more frequent sublimation compared to other comet populations. The JFCs therefore repr…
Analysing the Onset of Cometary Activity by the Jupiter-Family Comet 2023 RN3
Matthew M. Dobson, Megan E. Schwamb, Alan Fitzsimmons +17
We utilize serendipitous observations from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) and the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) in addition to targeted follow-up obser…