Measurements of low energy electrons and spacecraft potentials near Comet Halley

Details Measurements of low energy electrons and spacecraft potentials near Comet Halley Measurements of low energy electrons and spacecraft potentials near Comet Halley

Dec 1986

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1986esasp.250c.425p&link_type=abstract

In its Proceedings of the 20th ESLAB Symposium on the Exploration of Halley's Comet. Volume 3: Posters p 425-431 (SEE N87-26714

Physics

Electric Fields, Electric Potential, Electron Density Profiles, Halley'S Comet, Hypervelocity Impact, Spacecraft Charging, Cometary Atmospheres, Cosmic Dust, Cosmic Gases, Electrostatic Probes, Kinetic Energy, Secondary Emission, Vega Project

Scientific paper

Data collected with the Langmuir probes and the electric field sensors on Vega-1 and Vega-2 show that the spacecraft potentials were a few Volts positive in the outer coma and less positive near the closest approach. This suggests that the energy of the secondary electrons generated by gas and dust impacts is lower than assumed in models. The electron density in the outer coma is of the order 50 cc for Vega-1 and 25 cc for Vega-2 with wavelike fluctuations over a time interval of 10 min, or a distance of 500,000 km. Steep increases of the electron density are observed 150,000 km from the nucleus, in the vicinity of the cometopause. Electron mean kinetic energy is 0.5 eV for both flights, a slight increase is observed by Vega-1 within 150,000 km. Assymmetries between the potentials of two electric field probes, measured relative to the spacecraft, are thought to result from small dust impacts.

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