Cometary X-ray Emission: the View After the First Chandra Observations

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

1

Scientific paper

The unexpected discovery of x-ray emission from Comet Hyakutake in March 1996 (Lisse et al. 1996) has produced a number of questions about the physical mechanism producing the radiation. The original detection and subsequent observations (Dennerl et al. 1997, Mumma et al. 1997, Krasnopolsky et al. 1998, Owens et al. 1998, Lisse et al. 1999) have shown that the very soft (best fit thermal bremsstrahlung model kT ~ 0.2 keV) emission is due to an interaction between the solar wind and the comet's atmosphere. Using the results from the 15 comets detected to date in x-rays, we report on the latest results on cometary x-ray emission, including new results from Chandra and XMM. As-observed morphologies, spectra, and light curves will be discussed. Our emphasis will be on understanding the physical mechanism producing the emission, and using this to determine the nature of the cometary coma, the structure of the solar wind in the heliosphere, and the source of the local soft x-ray background. This work has been graciously supported by grants from the NASA Planetary Astronomy and Astrophysical Data Programs.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Cometary X-ray Emission: the View After the First Chandra Observations does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Cometary X-ray Emission: the View After the First Chandra Observations, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cometary X-ray Emission: the View After the First Chandra Observations will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1087769

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.