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The Large Smooth Patch on Comet 9P/Tempel 1: Remnant of a Recent Past Event

  • Authors: J. L. Rizos, T. L. Farnham, J. M. Sunshine, J. L. Kloos, J. L. Ortiz

J. L. Rizos et al 2026 The Planetary Science Journal 7 .

  • Provider: AAS Journals

Caption: Figure A5.

Left: gravitational flow simulation focused on the southern hemisphere. The seed is placed in the equatorial region near the antimeridian (160°–180° W) and treated as the source of the flow. At each step, the flow propagates to adjacent facets with lower gravitational potential, and the process continues iteratively until no lower-potential neighbors remain. Right: final extent of the simulated flow, shown from a rotated perspective to display its full spatial distribution across the nucleus. Colors represent gravitational potential, with cooler tones indicating lower values. The gray facets indicate those reached during the simulation. An animation of this figure is available.

(An animation of this figure is available in the online article.)

(An animation of this figure is available.)

The video/animation of this figure is available in the online journal.

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