Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 1981
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1981icar...47..302w&link_type=abstract
(International Astronomical Union and American Astronomical Society, Colloquium on Comets: Gases, Ices, Grains, and Plasma, 61st
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
83
Comet Nuclei, Computerized Simulation, Halley'S Comet, Ice, Interplanetary Dust, Diurnal Variations, Temperature Distribution, Thermal Emission, Volatility, Comets, Comet Nuclei, Models, Thermal Properties, Sublimation, Surface, Volatile Elements, Diurnal Variations, Heating, Cooling, Rotation, Ice, Periods, Comae, Opacity, Scattering, Emissions, Production Rate, Data, Halley Comet, Dust, Formation, Energy, Distance, Temperatures, Water, Distribution, Geometry, Diagrams
Scientific paper
A model of the sublimation of volatile ices from a cometary nucleus is presented which includes the effects of (1) diurnal heating and cooling, (2) rotation period and pole orientation, (3) the thermal properties of the ice and subsurface layers, and (4) the contributions from coma opacity, scattering and thermal emission where the properties of the coma are derived from the integrated rate of volatile production by the nucleus. In applying the model to the case of the 1986 apparition of Halley's comet, it is found that the generation of a cometary dust coma increases the total energy reaching the Halley nucleus due to the greater geometrical cross-section of the coma as compared with the bare nucleus. The calculated coma opacity of Halley is about 0.2 at 1 AU from the sun and 1.2 at perihelion. Possible consequences of the results obtained for the generation of nongravitational forces, volatile production rates for comets and cometary lifetimes against sublimation are discussed.
Kieffer Hugh H.
Weissman Paul R.
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