Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Apr 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000natur.404..574j&link_type=abstract
Nature, Volume 404, Issue 6778, pp. 574-576 (2000).
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
14
Scientific paper
Observations of the varying orientations of comet tails led to the suggestion of the existence of the solar wind-a continuous outflow of ionized material from the Sun. It is now well established that gas from comets is ionized by several processes and joins the solar wind, forming an ion (plasma) tail that points away from the Sun. The plasma environments of three comets have been measured in situ, but only in the upstream direction or less than 8,000 km downstream of the nucleus. Here we report a fortuitous crossing by a spacecraft of the plasma tail of comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2), at a distance of more than 3.8 astronomical units (550 million kilometres) from its nucleus. This surpasses the tail length of 2 AU determined for the Great March Comet of 1843 (C/1843 D1). Our measurements reveal that, at this distance, the tail of comet Hyakutake was a structured entity at least 7 million kilometres in diameter.
Balogh André
Horbury Timothy S.
Jones Geraint H.
No associations
LandOfFree
Identification of comet Hyakutake's extremely long ion tail from magnetic field signatures 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 Identification of comet Hyakutake's extremely long ion tail from magnetic field signatures, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Identification of comet Hyakutake's extremely long ion tail from magnetic field signatures will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1625391