论文标题
彗星褪色开始于土星
Comet Fading Begins Beyond Saturn
论文作者
论文摘要
长周期彗星（LPC）的发现概率在第一次通道中在太阳附近经过的概率最高，然后在随后的返回通道期间下降或褪色。彗星褪色主要归因于在2-3 au的太阳（1 au是地球距离）内通过热加工的散发性和破碎化。在这里，我们的数值模拟表明，观察活动的彗星错过了大量的LPC，使返回的通道通过土星区域（附近10 au），因为这些彗星在先前，更遥远的土星外部逐渐消失，从而消失了。因此，彗星性质在太阳距离上显着发展，这比以前所考虑的要大得多，这为近距离和远离地球的LPC的物理和动力学特性提供了新的见解。
The discovery probability of long-period comets (LPCs) passing near the Sun is highest during their first passage and then declines, or fades, during subsequent return passages. Comet fading is largely attributed to devolatilization and fragmentation via thermal processing within 2-3 au of the Sun (1 au being the Earth-Sun distance). Here our numerical simulations show that comet observing campaigns miss vast numbers of LPCs making returning passages through the Saturn region (near 10 au) because these comets fade during prior, even more distant passages exterior to Saturn and thus elude detection. Consequently, comet properties significantly evolve at solar distances much larger than previously considered, and this offers new insights into the physical and dynamical properties of LPCs, both near and far from Earth.
