Photometry of cometary nuclei

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Photometry of cometary nuclei

• Colin Snodgrass

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Who am I?
http//www.ufwc.co.uk/
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Cometary nuclei

• My Ph.D research was on the physical properties
  of Jupiter Family comet nuclei.
• These were probed using time-series photometry on
  comets at large distance.
• Light-curves allow measurements of sizes, shapes
  and minimum bulk densities.
• Multi-filter imaging gives surface colours.

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Cometary nuclei
Snodgrass, Fitzsimmons Lowry 2005, AA 444,
287 Snodgrass, Lowry Fitzsimmons 2006, MNRAS,
in press
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Cometary nuclei
Snodgrass, Fitzsimmons Lowry 2005, AA 444,
287 Snodgrass, Lowry Fitzsimmons 2006, MNRAS,
in press
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Other projects

• Other comet populations
• Long Period (Oort cloud comets)
• Near Earth (dormant / depleted comets)
• Evolution of minor bodies.
• KBO-comet link.
• Comet end states.
• Extra-solar planet hunting by microlensing.
• Astrobiology.