Physics Commons^™

Nuclear Spectra Of Comet 28p Neujmin 1, Humberto Campins Phd, Julie Ziffer Phd, Javier Licandro, Noemí Pinilla-Alonso Phd, Yanga R. Fernández Phd, Julia De León Phd, Thais Mothé-Diniz Phd, Richard P. Binzel Phd

USM Physics Program

We present visible and near-IR spectra of the nucleus of comet 162P/Siding Spring (also known as 2004 TU12) obtained in 2004 December, while it had no detectable coma. This is the third object observed to have intermittent cometary activity even when relatively close to the Sun. The spectra show no strong features in this wavelength range. This paucity of deep absorptions is common among low-albedo asteroids and the few comet nuclei observed in this spectral region. Marginal spectral structure is observed in the visible spectrum, and beyond 2 μm the flux from the nucleus is dominated by thermal emission. We …