Detection of Large Grains in the Coma of Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR) from Arecibo Radar Observations

Details Detection of Large Grains in the Coma of Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR) from Arecibo Radar Observations Detection of Large Grains in the Coma of Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR) from Arecibo Radar Observations

2005-10-07

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0510236v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

20 pages, 3 tables, 5 figures Submitted to Icarus

Scientific paper

10.1016/j.icarus.2005.11.010

Arecibo S-band (lambda=13cm) radar observations of Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR) on 2001 July 7-9 showed a strong echo from large coma grains. This echo was significantly depolarized. This is the first firm detection of depolarization in a grain-coma radar echo and indicates that the largest grains are at least lambda / 2 or 2 cm in radius. The grains are moving at tens of m/s with respect to the nucleus. The non-detection of the nucleus places an upper limit of 3 km on its diameter. The broad, asymmetric echo power spectrum suggests a fan of grains that have a steep (differential number ~ a^-4) size distribution at cm-scales, though the observed fragmentation of this comet complicates that picture.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Detection of Large Grains in the Coma of Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR) from Arecibo Radar 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 Detection of Large Grains in the Coma of Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR) from Arecibo Radar Observations, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Detection of Large Grains in the Coma of Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR) from Arecibo Radar Observations will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-192495