In this Letter the mechanism of destruction of ice grains as the cause of cometary outbursts and variations of brightness is reviewed. Such destruction can arise from the combination of two causes: inclusions of chemical compounds that are much more volatile than water-ice placed inside cometary water-ice grains; and the influence of the solar wind on such heterogeneous grains. Numerical calculations have been carried out for a large range of values of probable physical characteristics of cometary material. This approach gives a simulated increase in the cometary brightness that is consistent with the observed one. It is concluded that this mechanism is a probable and real explanation of the sudden activity of comets at a wide range of heliocentric distances.

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Volume379, Issue1

July 2007

Pages L30-L34

A model of cometary outbursts based on the idea of fragmentation of ice grains

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A model of cometary outbursts based on the idea of fragmentation of ice grains

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