Ensemble properties of comets in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

• Published in: Icarus (New York, N.Y. 1962) N.Y. 1962), 2012-03, Vol.218 (1), p.571-584
• Main Authors: Solontoi, Michael, Ivezić, Željko, Jurić, Mario, Becker, Andrew C., Jones, Lynne, West, Andrew A., Kent, Steve, Lupton, Robert H., Claire, Mark, Knapp, Gillian R., Quinn, Tom, Gunn, James E., Schneider, Donald P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astronomy; Astrophysics; BRIGHTNESS; CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; COLOR; COMETS; Comets, Coma; DISTRIBUTION; DUSTS; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Extreme values; Formalism; LUMINOSITY; PHOTOMETRY; PRODUCTION; Samples; SKY; Sky surveys (astronomy); Solar system; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods
• ISSN: 0019-1035; 1090-2643
• DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2011.10.008

► 31 comets (27 resolved and 4 unresolved) have been observed by the SDSS. ► Colors, sizes, surface brightness profiles, and dust production rates are measured. ► Cumulative luminosity function well fit by a power law, with evidence of a break. ► Comets have an extremely narrow distribution of colors (e.g. 0.57±0.05 in g−r). ► No correlation between color and physical, dynamical, or observational parameters. We present the ensemble properties of 31 comets (27 resolved and 4 unresolved) observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). This sample of comets represents about 1 comet per 10million SDSS photometric objects. Five-band (u,g,r,i,z) photometry is used to determine the comets’ colors, sizes, surface brightness profiles, and rates of dust production in terms of the Afρ formalism. We find that the cumulative luminosity function for the Jupiter Family Comets in our sample is well fit by a power law of the form N(