100 citations · 143 across the 24 of their papers we have counts for
15 papers · 1 filter
Empirical Brightening Model for Distant Long-Period Comets
Carrie E. Holt, Colin Snodgrass, Tim Lister +10
Recent studies have shown the traditional comet brightening model, , with a constant activity index (i.e., single slope in ), fails to accurately desc…
A JWST Study of Stardust. II. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Comet 81P/Wild 2 and Implications for Primitive Solar System Carbon
Nathan X. Roth, Stefanie N. Milam, Diane H. Wooden +11
We report observations of comet 81P/Wild 2, target of the Stardust sample return mission, on UT 2023 March 20 and 24 at a heliocentric distance () of 1.85 au using the NIRSpec…
Tails and Trails: Comets and NEOs Survive Co-addition in Rubin Early Data Preview 2
Colin Orion Chandler, Joseph Murtagh, Ian Chow +11
We identify effectively single-visit imaging hidden within the deep co-added images of the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Early Data Preview 2 (EDP2). These shallow regions cont…
JWST Reveals Refractory-Rich Water Ice in Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS: Evidence for a Continuum of Grain Properties across Protoplanetary Disks
Silvia Protopapa, Michael S. P. Kelley, Martin A. Cordiner +12
We present JWST/NIRSpec PRISM observations of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS obtained on 2025 August 6 (Epoch 1), 2025 December 22 (Epoch 2), and 2026 April 1 (Epoch 3), spanning…
The Highly Unusual Behavior and Chemical Composition of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov
Allison N. Bair, David G. Schleicher, Theodore Kareta +2
We report on imaging, spectroscopy, and narrowband photometry of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov obtained at Lowell Observatory from 2019 September 13 to December 16. We measured che…
JWST Spatial-Spectral Mapping of Green Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)
Stefanie N. Milam, Nathan X. Roth, Geronimo L. Villanueva +9
We report a survey of molecular emission from cometary volatiles using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) toward Oort cloud comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) carried out on UT 2023 February…
A JWST Study of Stardust. I. Infrared Spectroscopy of Comet 81P/Wild 2 and Overall Composition
Nathan X. Roth, Stefanie N. Milam, Diane H. Wooden +11
We report observations of comet 81P/Wild 2, target of the Stardust sample return mission, on UT 2023 March 20 and 24 at a heliocentric distance () of 1.85 au using the NIRSpec…
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…
A Look at Eight Outbursts of Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke
Ky Huynh, Michael S. P. Kelley, Jessica M. Sunshine +6
Cometary outbursts may be used as a means to infer the physical processes occurring on cometary nuclei. To that end, we studied eight outbursts of comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke identified…
Characterization of the Volatile Properties of 133P/Elst-Pizarro and Other Main-Belt Comets with JWST and Ground-Based Observations
Henry H. Hsieh, John W. Noonan, Michael S. P. Kelley +10
We report results from an analysis of the volatile composition and evolution of main-belt comet (MBC) 133P/Elst-Pizarro using JWST NIRSpec and NIRCam observations and ground-based…
Emerging Diversity Among the Main-Belt Comets: Insights from JWST and Ground-Based Observations of 457P/Lemmon-PANSTARRS
John W. Noonan, Henry H. Hsieh, Michael S. P. Kelley +10
We present JWST NIRSpec and NIRCam observations of 457P/Lemmon-PANSTARRS, a main-belt comet that displayed activity around its 2020 perihelion and that was observed to regain activ…
Isotopic Evidence for a Cold and Distant Origin of the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS
Martin Cordiner, Nathan X. Roth, Marco Micheli +16
Interstellar objects provide the only directly observable samples of icy planetesimals formed around other stars, and can therefore provide insight into the diversity of physical a…
Time-Domain Photometry and Activity Evolution of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS with BHTOM
A. Fraser Gillan, Łukasz Wyrzykowski, Przemysław J. Mikołajczyk +69
Time-domain photometric monitoring is essential for characterizing cometary evolution, particularly for rare interstellar objects with limited observing opportunities. We aimed to…
Coma Physics of an Interstellar Object: JWST Spatial-Spectral Mapping of 3I/ATLAS
Nathan X. Roth, Martin A. Cordiner, Stefanie N. Milam +17
We report a survey of molecular emission from cometary volatiles using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) toward interstellar object 3I/ATLAS carried out on UT 2025 December 22…
An Enriched Methane D/H Ratio in the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS
Nathan X. Roth, Martin Cordiner, Stefanie Milam +15
Interstellar objects are interlopers from other planetary systems, and their volatile compositions provide a glimpse into planet formation around their host star. We present near-i…