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.

We present an intensive monitoring of high-resolution spectra of the Ca II K line in the A7IV shell star phi Leo at very short (minutes, hours), short (night to night), and medium (weeks, months) timescales. The spectra show remarkable variable absorptions on timescales of hours, days, and months. The characteristics of these sporadic events are very similar to most that are observed toward the debris disk host star beta Pic, which are commonly interpreted as signs of the evaporation of solid, comet-like bodies grazing or falling onto the star. Therefore, our results suggest the presence of solid bodies around phi Leo. To our knowledge, with the exception of beta Pic, our monitoring has the best time resolution at the mentioned timescales for a star with events attributed to exocomets. Assuming the cometary scenario and considering the timescales of our monitoring, our results indicate that phi Leo presents the richest environment with comet-like events known to date, second only to beta Pic.

We present a photometric detection of the first brightness dips of the unique variable star KIC 8462852 since the end of the Kepler space mission in 2013 May. Our regular photometric surveillance started in 2015 October, and a sequence of dipping began in 2017 May continuing on through the end of 2017, when the star was no longer visible from Earth. We distinguish four main 1%-2.5% dips, named "Elsie," "Celeste," "Skara Brae," and " Angkor," which persist on timescales from several days to weeks. Our main results so far are as follows: (i) there are no apparent changes of the stellar spectrum or polarization during the dips and (ii) the multiband photometry of the dips shows differential reddening favoring non-gray extinction. Therefore, our data are inconsistent with dip models that invoke optically thick material, but rather they are in-line with predictions for an occulter consisting primarily of ordinary dust, where much of the material must be optically thin with a size scale << 1 mu m, and may also be consistent with models invoking variations intrinsic to the stellar photosphere. Notably, our data do not place constraints on the color of the longer-term "secular" dimming, which may be caused by independent processes, or probe different regimes of a single process.

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.

We present an analysis of new and published data on P/2013 R3, the first asteroid detected while disintegrating. Thirteen discrete components are measured in the interval between UT 2013 October 01 and 2014 February 13. We determine a mean, pair-wise velocity dispersion among these components of Delta nu = 0.33. +/- 0.03 ms(-1) and find that their separation times are staggered over an interval of similar to 5 months. Dust enveloping the system has, in the first observations, a cross-section of. similar to 30 km(2) but fades monotonically at a rate consistent with the action of radiation pressure sweeping. The individual components exhibit comet-like morphologies and also fade except where secondary fragmentation is accompanied by the release of additional dust. We find only upper limits to the radii of any embedded solid nuclei, typically similar to 100-200 m (geometric albedo 0.05 assumed). Combined, the components of P/2013 R3 would form a single spherical body with a. radius of less than or similar to 400 m, which is our best estimate of the size of the precursor object. The observations are consistent with rotational disruption of a weak (cohesive strength of similar to 50 to 100 N m(-2)) parent body, similar to 400 m in radius. Estimated radiation (YORP) spin-up times of this parent are. less than or similar to 1 Myr, shorter than the collisional lifetime. If present, water ice sublimating at as little as 10-3 kg s(-1) could generate a torque on the parent body rivaling the YORP torque. Under conservative assumptions about the frequency of similar disruptions, the inferred asteroid debris production rate is greater than or similar to 10(3) kg s-1, which is at least 4% of the rate needed to maintain the Zodiacal Cloud.

Hubble Space Telescope observations of active asteroid 324P/La Sagra near perihelion show continued mass loss consistent with the sublimation of near-surface ice. Isophotes of the coma measured from a vantage point below the orbital plane are best matched by steady emission of particles having a nominal size. of. a similar to 100 mu m. The inferred rate of mass loss, dM(d)/dt similar to 0.2 kg s(-1), can be supplied by sublimation of water ice in thermal equilibrium with sunlight from an area as small as 930 m(2), corresponding to about 0.2% of the nucleus surface. Observations taken from a vantage point only 0.degrees 6. from the orbital plane of 324P set a limit to the velocity of ejection of dust in the direction perpendicular to the plane, V-perpendicular to < 1 m s(-1). Short-term photometric variations of the near-nucleus region, if related to rotation of the underlying nucleus, rule-out periods <= 3.8 hr and suggest that rotation probably does not play a central role in driving the observed mass loss. We estimate that, in the previous orbit, 324P lost about 4 x 10(7) kg in dust particles, corresponding to 6 x 10(-5) of the mass of a 550 m spherical nucleus of assumed density rho = 1000 kg m(-3). If continued, mass loss at this rate would limit the lifetime of 324P to similar to 1.6 x 10(4) orbits (about 10(5) years). To survive for the 100-400 Myr timescales corresponding to dynamical and collisional stability requires a duty cycle of 2 x 10(-4) <= f(d) <= 8 x 10(-4). Unless its time in orbit is overestimated by many orders of magnitude, 324P is revealed as a briefly active member of a vast population of otherwise dormant ice-containing asteroids.

High levels of dust have been detected in the immediate vicinity of many stars, both young and old. A promising scenario to explain the presence of this short-lived dust is that these analogues to the zodiacal cloud (or exozodis) are refilled in situ through cometary activity and sublimation. As the reservoir of comets is not expected to be replenished, the presence of these exozodis in old systems has yet to be adequately explained. It was recently suggested that mean-motion resonances with exterior planets on moderately eccentric (e(p) greater than or similar to 0.1) orbits could scatter planetesimals on to cometary orbits with delays of the order of several 100 Myr. Theoretically, this mechanism is also expected to sustain continuous production of active comets once it has started, potentially over Gyr time-scales. We aim here to investigate the ability of this mechanism to generate scattering on to cometary orbits compatible with the production of an exozodi on long time-scales. We combine analytical predictions and complementary numerical N-body simulations to study its characteristics. We show, using order of magnitude estimates, that via this mechanism, low-mass discs comparable to the Kuiper belt could sustain comet scattering at rates compatible with the presence of the exozodis which are detected around Solar-type stars, and on Gyr time-scales. We also find that the levels of dust detected around Vega could be sustained via our proposed mechanism if an eccentric Jupiter-like planet were present exterior to the system's cold debris disc.

Recent Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations present mounting evidence for the presence of exocometary gas released within Kuiper Belt analogs around nearby main-sequence stars. This represents a unique opportunity to study their ice reservoir at the younger ages when volatile delivery to planets is most likely to occur. We here present the detection of CO J=2-1 emission colocated with dust emission from the cometary belt in the 440 Myr old Fomalhaut system. Through spectrospatial filtering, we achieve a 5.4s detection and determine that the ring's sky-projected rotation axis matches that of the star. The CO mass derived (0.65-42) x10(-7) M-circle plus is the lowest of any circumstellar disk detected to date and must be of exocometary origin. Using a steady-state model, we estimate the CO+ CO2 mass fraction of exocomets around Fomalhaut to be between 4.6% and 76%, consistent with solar system comets and the two other belts known to host exocometary gas. This is the first indication of a similarity in cometary compositions across planetary systems that may be linked to their formation scenario and is consistent with direct interstellar medium inheritance. In addition, we find tentative evidence that(49 +/- 27)% of the detected flux originates from a region near the eccentric belt's pericenter. If confirmed, the latter may be explained through a recent impact event or CO pericenter glow due to exocometary release within a steady-state collisional cascade. In the latter scenario, we show how the azimuthal dependence of the CO release rate leads to asymmetries in gas observations of eccentric exocometary belts.

Observations provided from RPC-ICA in combination with the data from RPC-MAG and ROSINA-COPS show that many aspects of the time variability of the detected ions is correlated with the magnetic field or -- to a smaller extent -- with neutral atmosphere density. We also show that not all changes in the cometary ion data reflect the nature of the plasma dynamics, but are a consequence of the instrumental limitations. The main outcome of the article in Appendix 1 is that the cometary ions can be divided into two populations with distinct characteristics. One population we termed the convecting population, is accelerated to higher energies through the interaction with the solar wind. The other population we termed the expanding population is moving radially away from the nucleus in the terminator plane. Both populations exhibit a significant anti-sunward component.In addition we present in this thesis a case with observations day-side of the terminator plane. There we show how the expanding population has a sunward component, consistent with initial radial expansion of the ions from the nucleus which gradually turn into an anti-sunward flow which is then observed in the terminator plane.

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.