Modeled Neutral Gas Densities in the Coma of Comet 1P/Halley

Details Modeled Neutral Gas Densities in the Coma of Comet 1P/Halley Modeled Neutral Gas Densities in the Coma of Comet 1P/Halley

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.3701r&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #37.01

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Scientific paper

The neutral gas environment of a comet is largely influenced by dissociation of parent molecules created at the surface of the comet and collisions of all the involved species. To better our understanding of this environment, we compare the results from a kinetic model of the neutral cometary environment with data from the Neutral Mass Spectrometer collected during Giotto's fly-by at comet 1P/Halley in 1986. The model solves the Boltzmann equation with a Direct Simulation Monte Carlo technique [Tenishev et al. (2008, Astrophys. J., 685, 659-677)] by tracking trajectories of gas molecules and ice as well as dust grains under the influence of the comet's weak gravity field with momentum exchange among particles modeled in a probabilistic manner. The cometary nucleus and sublimating icy grains are considered to be the source of parent species (H2O, CO, H2CO, CO2, CH3OH, C2H6, C2H4, C2H2, HCN, NH3, and CH4) in the coma. The densities of parent species and the corresponding dissociation products (H, H2, O, OH, C, CH, CH2, CH3, N, NH, NH2, C2, C2H, C2H5, CN, and HCO) are compared to the measurements acquired by the NMS along the Giotto trajectory from 40'000 km to roughly 1000 km at closest approach. Furthermore we also show that our model is in good agreement to measurements obtained by the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE), sounding rocket experiments, and relevant ground based observations. This work has been supported by JPL subcontract 1266313 under NASA grant NMO710889, grant AST-0707283 from the NSF Planetary Astronomy program, NASA Planetary Atmospheres program grant NNX09AB59G, and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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