Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · 10 October 2026 · From issue 50
Towards a coupled activity-fallback model for comets I) 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s water activity from a microphysics model with dynamic dust-depth
In a comet simulation, a simple ice-and-crust model matched real spacecraft data on one comet region.
N Attree, Y Skorov et al.
A computer model simulated how a comet loses water and dust as it heats up near the sun. The comet is treated as ice underneath a dusty crust. The crust builds up over time, then breaks off in bursts, releasing gas and dust. This matched real spacecraft data well on one part of the comet, where the ice is made of tiny grains about 1 millimeter wide, mixed with more dust than ice, and held together very loosely.
The grain size that best matched real comet data in the model's most accurate region.
Model only, tested on one comet's spacecraft data so far.
Integrity screen: passed (3 checks) Checked 12 October 2026. Retraction record: none. DOI resolves at doi.org. Metadata record found (Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society). Read the source
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