P41C-3942:
Color Variegation on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Thursday, 18 December 2014
Stubbe Faurschou Hviid1, Knollenberg Joerg1, Frank Preusker2, Stefano Mottola1, Ekkehard Kuhrt3, Stefan Schroeder2, Laurent Jorda4, Sonia Fornasier5, Jean-Baptiste Vincent6, Cedric Leyrat7, Nicolas Thomas8, Antoine Pommerol8, Maurizio Pajola9, Sebastien Besse10, Horst Uwe Keller11, Nilda Oklay12 and Pedro Hasselmann5, (1)German Aerospace Center DLR Berlin, Berlin, Germany, (2)German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin, Germany, (3)DLR, Berlin, Germany, (4)Observatoire Astrophysique Marseille, Marseille, France, (5)LESIA Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France, (6)Max-Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Goettingen, Germany, (7)Paris Observatory Meudon, Meudon, France, (8)University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, (9)CISAS - Center for Studies and Activities for Space, University of Padova, Padova, Italy, (10)European Space Agency, Villanueva De La Can, Spain, (11)Technical University of Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany, (12)Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
Abstract:
The ESA Rosetta Mission entered active operations around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in early August 2014. The full nucleus will be mapped at multiple resolutions before the Philae landing in November. The mapping will include imaging using the full spectral range of the Narrow Angle Camera of the OSIRIS imaging system (245nm to 1000nm in 11 optical filters). The color mapping will be done under good illumination condition at ~1m/pixel as part of the pyramid arc approach phase. This will later be followed by higher resolution imaging (down to 20 cm/pixels) of parts of the nucleus. These higher resolution images are acquired under somewhat worse illumination conditions because of the high angle between the orbital plane and the Sun direction.

This contribution will discuss the color variegation observed on the comet surface and its relationship to surface morphology and cometary activity.