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All,
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<div class="">We are very excited to announce that <a href="https://astro.cornell.edu/abhinav-jindal" class="">Abhinav Jindal</a> (Cornell) will be giving this week’s Planetary Lunch Talk (details below). Please join us TOMORROW, Tuesday April 18, @ 12:30 in
54-517 and on zoom. As always, lunch will be provided and we encourage attendees arrive a few minutes early to get food.</div>
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<div class=""><b class="">Evolution of Smooth Terrains on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko</b></div>
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<span class="">The Rosetta mission to 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P) provided the most detailed ever views of a comet’s surface. By tracking the comet on its journey through the inner solar system for just over two years, Rosetta observed an increasing amount
of activity and surface changes as the ice-rich surface warmed up. Due to its present-day obliquity and orbit, southern summer corresponds closely with perihelion resulting in greater solar insolation at southern latitudes than in the north. This creates a
hemispheric dichotomy in surface morphologies – layered bedrock units that represent the exposed nucleus are dominant in the south ("rough" terrains), while topographically smooth, sediment-covered regions dominate the north ("smooth" terrains). It was within
the smooth terrains that we observed the majority of changes on 67P, making them critical to understanding the overall evolution of its surface. <br class="">
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In this talk I will present our analysis of scarp-driven erosion and sediment redistribution in the largest and most southern smooth terrain deposit — the Imhotep region. Unlike all other smooth terrains on 67P, Imhotep’s equatorial location ensures that it
never experiences polar winter, and is therefore active throughout 67P's perihelion passage, resulting in greater activity relative to other areas on the comet. Despite this high activity, Imhotep still serves as a sink for sediment transported from across
the comet, suggesting that the influx of material still outpaces activity from the region over multi-orbit timescales. <br class="">
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This complex behaviour of erosional and depositional processes acting simultaneously, therefore, makes Imhotep an ideal location to study the evolution of smooth terrains. With smooth terrains observed on all other comets for which we have resolved surface
images, we can use the understanding we have developed on 67P to understand the broader evolution of cometary smooth terrains. Finally, as the smooth terrains are likely targets of upcoming sample return missions, our work greatly benefits such concepts by
constraining the evolution and context of any returned materials.</span></div>
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<div class="">Cheers, <br class="">
Jason and the PLS Organizing Committee<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">
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Zoom: <a href="https://mit.zoom.us/j/92448700577" class="">https://mit.zoom.us/j/92448700577</a><br class="">
Pw: 54100<br class="">
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