Microwave continuum radiation from comet West 1975n

Details Microwave continuum radiation from comet West 1975n Microwave continuum radiation from comet West 1975n

Dec 1977

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1977apj...218..573h&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal, Part 1, vol. 218, Dec. 1, 1977, p. 573-578.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

10

Comets, Halos, Microwave Emission, Phase Shift, Radio Sources (Astronomy), Thermal Radiation, Comet Nuclei, Ephemerides, Kohoutek Comet, Microwave Interferometers, Splitting

Scientific paper

Continuum emission at wavelength 3.71 cm was observed from the nuclear region of comet West 1975n on March 5, 1976. The flux density was 0.040 Jy, which is uncertain by 25% due to calibration. Assuming that the source was a uniformly illuminated disk, the diameter was no more than about 1100 km and the brightness temperature was at least 330 + or - 85 K. On March 4, 1976, similar observations yielded only an upper limit (two standard deviations) to the flux density of 0.010 Jy. Thus it appears that the source turned on with a time scale of 1 day or less, at about the time that the short-lived cometary daughter nucleus 'C' split from the main nucleus 'A'. Similar emission was observed from comet Kohoutek 1973f. In each case, it appears that the microwave emission can be interpreted as thermal radiation from a temporarily enhanced icy-grain halo (IGH). If this interpretation is correct, then the actual temperature (which is assumed to be approximately equal to the nuclear surface temperature) must be in the range 200-250 K, roughly compatible with the observations, in order to satisfy the IGH models of Delsemme (1973).

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