AETHER: A Novel Scientific Software for Modeling Dust Emissions in Cometary Comae

Abstract

Comets are small celestial bodies generally regarded as remnants of planetary formation. Research into their properties yields important insights into the thermal evolution and compositional history of the Solar System. Three key elements can be identified in a comet: the nucleus, the coma, and the tail. The nucleus of the comet continuously emits rapidly moving molecules and dust, creating a tenuous coma that can be considered its atmosphere. Its interaction with solar radiation and the solar wind then gives rise to cometary tails. This paper proposes to the scientific community active in the field of coma modeling a novel scientific software, called Advanced Engine for Three-dimensional High-resolution Emission Rendering (AETHER). Unlike the others released to date, it offers a complete, fully accessible 3D environment for researchers’ studies. It is also completely open source and distributed under the GNU GPL 3.0 license, so it can be used as is or modified to suit the desired purposes by adding new features. It can also be made more stable through collaborative work, fixing any existing bugs. Its functionality has been evaluated by modeling the coma of known comets, obtaining plausible and convincing results.