Geomorphological mapping of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s Southern hemisphere

Lee, Jui-Chi;Massironi, Matteo;Ip, Wing-Huen;Giacomini, Lorenza;Ferrari, Sabrina;Penasa, Luca;El-Maarry, Mohamed Ramy;Pajola, Maurizio;Lai, Ian-Lin;Lin, Zhong-Yi;Ferri, Francesca;Sierks, Holger;Barbieri, Cesare;Lamy, Philippe;Rodrigo, Rafael;Koschny, Detlef;Rickman, Hans;Keller, Horst Uwe;Agarwal, Jessica;A’Hearn, Michael F.;Barucci, Maria Antonella;Bertaux, Jean-Loup;Bertini, Ivano;Cremonese, Gabriele;Da Deppo, Vania;Davidsson, Björn;Debei, Stefano;De Cecco, Mariolino;Deller, Jakob;Fornasier, Sonia;Fulle, Marco;Groussin, Olivier;Gutiérrez, Pedro J.;Güttler, Carsten;Hofmann, Marc;Hviid, Stubbe F.;Jorda, Laurent;Knollenberg, Jörg;Kovacs, Gabor;Kramm, J. -Rainer;Kührt, Ekkehard;Küppers, Michael;Lara, Luisa M.;Lazzarin, Monica;Marzari, Francesco;Lopez Moreno, Josè J.;Naletto, Giampiero;Oklay, Nilda;Shi, Xian;Thomas, Nicolas;Tubiana, Cecilia;Vincent, Jean-Baptiste. 2016. Geomorphological mapping of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s Southern hemisphere. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 462, S573-S592 DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stx450 (50th ESLAB Symposium)

In 2015 May, the Southern hemisphere of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko became visible by the OSIRIS cameras on-board the Rosetta spacecraft. The resolution was high enough to carry out a detailed analysis of the surface morphology, which is quite different from the Northern hemisphere. Previous works show that fine particle deposits are the most extensive geological unit in the Northern hemisphere. In contrast, the Southern hemisphere is dominated by outcropping consolidated terrain. In this work, we provide geomorphological maps of the Southern hemisphere with the distinction of both geological units and linear features. The geomorphological maps described in this study allow us to gain a better understanding of the processes shaping the comet nucleus and the distribution of primary structures such as fractures and strata.

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