Au-delà de Neptune, les petits corps du système solaire se trouvent dans un environnement préservant le matériel primordial dont ils sont formés. Aussi, la caractérisation de la structure, l'aspect et la composition d'objets tels que les comètes révèle des informations vitales sur les processus de formation et évolutions qu'ils ont subis. Les petits corps du système solaire externe n'ont connus qu'un léger retraitement thermique et collisionnel, préservant ainsi des indices vitaux de l'histoire du système solaire primitif et permettant de contraindre ses propriétés. En conséquence, l'objectif de la mission ROSETTA de l'ESA était d'effectuer la première étude approfondie d'une comète (67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko), en la suivant, l'observant et mesurant l'évolution de son activité sur les trois quarts de son orbite. La mission constituait la pierre d'angle de l'étude des petits corps du système solaire de l'ESA.L'objectif de cette thèse fut de déterminer les propriétés photométriques et spectrales, dans le visible, de la surface de la comète en utilisant les images de l'instrument OSIRIS. À cet effet, j'ai développé uneapproche pour préparer et analyser les données OSIRIS: j'ai utilisé etdéveloppé des méthodes existantes pour projeter les images calibrées surdes modèles 3D de la comète, j'ai crée et utilisé des codes pour calculerles géométries d'observations et simulé les images à partir d'éphémérides de la comète et de Rosetta, j'ai implémenté des modèles photométrique afin de déterminer les paramètres donnant le meilleur ajustement aux données. À l'aide de ces outils, j'ai analysé des jeux d'images d'OSIRIS lors de trois manoeuvres de survols effectuées en Août 2014, Février 2015 et en Avril 2016. Durant ces trois manoeuvres, la surface fut cartographiée avec une résolution métrique et centrimétrique, ainsi que sous de nombreuses angles de vue. J'ai aussi analysé des images prises au cours de la mission afin d'étudier certaines particularités de la surface et d'observer leur évolution temporelle. L'ajustement des jeux de données avec le modèle photométrique de Hapke indique que le noyau a une surface très sombre (un albédo de 4.2% à 650 nm), qu'elle diffuse la lumière plus vers la source plus que l'observateur, qu'elle est extrêmement poreuse (à plus de 80%), et que sa réflectivité augmente légèrementde manière non-linéaire, de manière explicable par la disparition des ombres. Outre la nature bi-lobale du noyau cométaire, les analyses de ces images ont montrée la présence d'hétérogénéités de morphologie, de couleurs et d'albédo sur des échelles hectométrique et décimétrique, confirmant ainsiles tendances globales mesurées par ROSETTA/OSIRIS et PHILAE/CIVA. Entre250 nm et 1000 nm, le spectre du noyau ne présente pas de signatures spectrale. La pente du spectre en fonction de la longueur d'onde est strictement positive comme pour certains Centaures et des astéroïdes de type D. Trois types de surface ont été identifiés à l'aide de la pente spectrale. Les terrains et particularités avec les pentes les plus grandes semblent poussiéreuses et desséchées, alors que ceux avec les pentes les plus faibles sont associées avec la présence de matériel riche en glace d'eau. Les images OSIRIS ont également permis de mesurer pour la première fois le rougissement de phase d'un noyau cométaire: la variation de la pente spectral avec la géométrie d'observation. Les deux années de données ont également permis de déterminer que le rougissement de phase varie avec la distance héliocentrique, atteignant sa valeur la plus faible quand la comète est proche du périhélie. Tout comme l'observation de variations diurnes et de falaises fraîchement fracturées, ce résultat indique que sous la surface du noyau, se trouve du matériel riche en glace d'eau. / Small bodies of the outer solar system, beyond Neptune, are in an environment that can preserve the base material from which they are formed. Hence the determination of the structure, aspect, and composition of objects such as comets yield vital informations about the formation and evolution processes they went through. Small bodies from the outer solar system have undergone weak thermal and collisionnal reprocessing, thus preserving vital clues on the history of the early solar system, which can constrain its properties. Hence the objective of the European Space Agency/ROSETTA mission was to perform the first in-depth study of a comet (67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko), following it inbound to and outbound from perihelion, observing it and monitoring the evolution of its activity during most of its orbit. This mission constituted the cornerstone of the study of small bodies of the solar system by ESA.The aim of this thesis has been to determine the photometric characteristics and the spectral properties, from the near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared, of the comet' surface using the images taken by the OSIRIS instrument. For this purpose, I developped an approach to prepare and analyse OSIRIS' datasets: I used and build on existing methods to register calibrated images to a 3D model of the comet, I created and used codes to compute the observational geometries and simulate OSIRIS images using the comet's and Rosetta's ephemerids, I implemented photometric models to determine the parameters required to fit the datasets.Using those tools, I analysed sets of images acquired by OSIRIS during three flyby maneuvers executed in August 2014, in February 2015 and in April 2016. On those three events, the surface was mapped at a meter and sub-meter resolution and also under multiple observing conditions. I also further analysed images taken throughout the mission to investigate particular surface features and signs of temporal evolution. In the description of the Hapke photometric model, the fitting of those dataset point to a nucleus with a very dark surface (4.2% albedo at 650 nm), scattering more light towards the source than the observer, with a high upper-surface porosity (over than 80%), and displaying a limited non-linear increase in reflectivity when source and observer are aligned over the comet' surface, most probably associated with the shadow-hiding phenomemon. Beyond the obvious bilobate nature of the cometary nucleus, the analyses of those images have shown that it present heterogeneities in morphology, colours and albedo of the comet' surface from the hundred of meters to the decimeter scale, confirming the trend noticed from other ROSETTA/OSIRIS and PHILAE/CIVA observations. In the wavelength domain between 250 nm and 1000 nm, the spectrum of the nucleus does not present any band features. The slope of the spectrum increases monotonously with the wavelength in a similar way to certain Centaurs and D-type asteroids. Three categories of surface were identified based on this spectral slope. Terrains and features with the largest slopes appear dusty and dessicated while those with small or flat slopes have associated with the presence of water-ice-rich material. The OSIRIS images have also allowed to measure for the first time the phase reddening effect on a cometary nucleus, that is the variation of the spectral slope with the viewing geometry. The two years of monitoring have also allowed to further determine that the phase reddening of the nucleus varies with the heliocentric distance, reaching its lowest value while the comet was close to perihelion. This result along with observations of diurnal colour variations and of freshly fractured cliffs point to the presence of a higher proportion of water-ice material at a mere distance under the nucleus surface.

This work is a part of a more global effort aimed at understanding and interpreting in situ and remote sensing data acquired by instruments on board Rosetta. This study aims at deriving the dust mass source rate and the location of the dust jet source observed by Rosetta VIRTIS-M on 2015 April 12. The analysis is performed by means of the coupled kinetic modelling of gas and dust in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which were used for calculating the coma brightness as it would be seen from the Rosetta spacecraft. The dust mass production rate and a possible location of the jet origin needed to explain the Rosetta VIRTIS-M dust brightness image were inferred by comparing the calculated brightness with VIRTIS-M data. Our analysis suggests that the dust mass production rate needed to maintain the observed jet is about 1.9 kg s(-1). According to our analysis, the location of the observed jet surface footprint is outside of the nucleus area characterized by the highest gas production rate, which suggests that gas and dust source rates are not necessarily proportional to each other across the entire nucleus surface. The inferred location of the possible jet origin is consistent with that of the observed active pits. In this paper, we show that the jet intensity is variable in time, and has a lifetime of at least 10 h.

No description available.

Infrared observations of the coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko were carried out from 2015 July to September, i.e. around perihelion (2015 August 13), with the high-resolution channel of the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer instrument onboard Rosetta. We present the analysis of fluorescence emission lines of H2O, CO2, (CO2)-C-13, OCS, and CH4 detected in limb sounding with the field of view at 2.7-5 km from the comet centre. Measurements are sampling outgassing from the illuminated Southern hemisphere, as revealed by H2O and CO2 raster maps, which show anisotropic distributions, aligned along the projected rotation axis. An abrupt increase of water production is observed 6 d after perihelion. In the meantime, CO2, CH4, and OCS abundances relative to water increased by a factor of 2 to reach mean values of 32, 0.47, and 0.18 per cent, respectively, averaging post-perihelion data. We interpret these changes as resulting from the erosion of volatile-poor surface layers. Sustained dust ablation due to the sublimation of water ice maintained volatile-rich layers near the surface until at least the end of the considered period, as expected for low thermal inertia surface layers. The large abundance measured for CO2 should be representative of the 67P nucleus original composition, and indicates that 67P is a CO2-rich comet. Comparison with abundance ratios measured in the Northern hemisphere shows that seasons play an important role in comet outgassing. The low CO2/H2O values measured above the illuminated Northern hemisphere are not original, but the result of the devolatilization of the uppermost layers.

Context. Since its rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P), the Rosetta spacecraft has provided invaluable information contributing to our understanding of the cometary environment. On board, the VIRTIS and ROSINA instruments can both measure gas parameters in the rarefied cometary atmosphere, the so-called coma, and provide complementary results with remote sensing and in situ measurement techniques, respectively. The data from both ROSINA and VIRTIS instruments suggest that the source regions of H2O and CO2 are not uniformly distributed over the surface of the nucleus even after accounting for the changing solar illumination of the irregularly shaped rotating nucleus. The source regions of H2O and CO2 are also relatively different from one another. Aims. The use of a combination of a formal numerical data inversion method with a fully kinetic coma model is a way to correlate and interpret the information provided by these two instruments to fully understand the volatile environment and activity of comet 67P. Methods. In this work, the nonuniformity of the outgassing activity at the surface of the nucleus is described by spherical harmonics and constrained by ROSINA-DFMS data. This activity distribution is coupled with the local illumination to describe the inner boundary conditions of a 3D direct simulation Monte-Carlo (DSMC) approach using the Adaptive Mesh Particle Simulator (AMPS) code applied to the H2O and CO2 coma of comet 67P. Results. We obtain activity distribution of H2O and CO2 showing a dominant source of H2O in the Hapi region, while more CO2 is produced in the southern hemisphere. The resulting model outputs are analyzed and compared with VIRTIS-M/-H and ROSINADFMS measurements, showing much better agreement between model and data than a simpler model assuming a uniform surface activity. The evolution of the H2O and CO2 production rates with heliocentric distance are derived accurately from the coma model showing agreement between the observations from the different instruments and ground-based observations. Conclusions. We derive the activity distributions for H2O and CO2 at the surface of the nucleus described in spherical harmonics, which we couple to the local solar illumination to constitute the boundary conditions of our coma model. The model presented reproduces the coma observations made by the ROSINA and VIRTIS instruments on board the Rosetta spacecraft showing our understanding of the physics of 67P’s coma. This model can be used for further data analyses, such as dust modeling, in a future work.

No description available.

We analyse the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) - the Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer data between 2014 August and 2016 February to examine the effect of seasonal variations on the four major species within the coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (H2O, CO2, CO, and O-2), resulting from the tilt in the orientation of the comet's spin axis. Using a numerical data inversion, we derive the non-uniform activity distribution at the surface of the nucleus for these species, suggesting that the activity distribution at the surface of the nucleus has not significantly been changed and that the differences observed in the coma are solely due to the variations in illumination conditions. A three-dimensional Direct Simulation Monte Carlo model is applied where the boundary conditions are computed with a coupling of the surface activity distributions and the local illumination. The model is able to reproduce the evolution of the densities observed by ROSINA including the changes happening at equinox. While O-2 stays correlated with H2O as it was before equinox, CO2 and CO, which had a poor correlation with respect to H2O pre-equinox, also became well correlated with H2O post-equinox. The integration of the densities from the model along the line of sight results in column densities directly comparable to the VIRTIS-H observations. Also, the evolution of the volatiles' production rates is derived from the coma model showing a steepening in the production rate curves after equinox. The model/data comparison suggests that the seasonal effects result in the Northern hemisphere of 67P's nucleus being more processed with a layered structure while the Southern hemisphere constantly exposes new material.

An investigation is presented of the dust scattering in the coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for the dates of 2015 February 28, March 15 and April 27. A comparison of the morphology of dust continuum maps at 1.1 mu m and gas emission shows that for the above dates the spatial distribution of the dust is strongly correlated with H2O but not with CO2 emission. For April 27, the radial profile on the illuminated side of the nucleus in the inner coma agrees well with the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) calculations as the dust is accelerating and flows outwards distribution of the dust is narrower than the broader emission of the gas. Af. values are 1.13 m for 2015 February 28, 2.02 m for April 27, while local values for March 15 are 2.3-5.3 m, depending on the nucleus illumination. In the inner coma, the spectral reflectivity from 0.35 to 3.5 mu m displays a red slope with a change at around 1 mu m. From 0.35 to 0.8 mu m, the values range from 9 to 12 +/- 1 per cent per 100 nm both on the sunlit side and on the dark side. From 1 to 2.5 mu m, the values are 1.7 +/- 0.2 per cent per 100 nm on the sunlit side and 3 +/- 1 per cent per 100 nm on the dark side. For the August 26 jet, no significant increase of the colour gradient with distance from the nucleus could be observed, nor any significant difference detected between the jet and the background coma.

Cette thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre de la mission spatiale Rosetta et porte sur les propriétés spectrophotométriques de la comète 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko à l’aide de l’instrument OSIRIS. Cet instrument est composé de deux caméras pour les observations du noyau et de la coma de la comète. Elles permettent d’acquérir des images avec des filtres qui opèrent dans la gamme du proche UV au proche IR. Dans un premier temps, j'ai analysé les courbes spectrophotométriques des taches claires qui sont apparues sur le noyau de la comète. Une étude comparative de celles-ci grâce aux données du spectro-imageur VIRTIS a ainsi permis de constater que les taches claires sont liées à la glace de H2O. Dans un second temps, j’ai entrepris une étude spectrophotométrique de la région Khonsu, qui a mis en évidence les variations saisonnières de la pente spectrale de différents terrains. Par la suite, j’ai élargi mon analyse des taches à tout le noyau de la comète. J’ai détecté plus de 50 taches claires dues à la présence de glace de H2O et j’ai produit une carte pour repérer leurs emplacements sur le noyau, afin d’étudier plus en détail leur répartition et leur évolution au cours de temps. Ceci m’a permis d’identifier quatre types de taches regroupés en fonction de leur morphologie et de constater qu'elles sont dues à différentes sources d'activité cométaire. / This thesis is based on the spectrophotometric properties of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, using the OSIRIS instrument of Rosetta space mission. Composed of two scientific cameras to observe the nucleus and the coma of the comet, OSIRIS images are acquired with multiple filters, that span the near-UV to near-IR wavelength range. They were used to study the spectrophotometric curves of the exposed bright features that appeared on the surface of the cometary nucleus, leading to a comparative study, that was carried out in collaboration with the VIRTIS spectro-imager aboard Rosetta, that demonstrated, that these exposures are related to H2O ice, using its absorption band located at 2 microns. The thesis further details a spectrophotometric study of the Khonsu region in the southern latitudes of the comet, where the seasonal variation of the spectral slope of different types of terrains is explored. Finally, the results of an extended survey of exposed bright features are presented. More than 50 individual features are presented under four morphologies along with an albedo calculation, suggesting that different activity sources are responsible for their appearance on the nucleus.