Physics
Scientific paper
Mar 1987
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1987natur.326...57j&link_type=abstract
Nature (ISSN 0028-0836), vol. 326, March 5, 1987, p. 57, 58.
Physics
33
Comet Nuclei, Halley'S Comet, Precession, Astronomical Models, Moments Of Inertia, Periodic Variations, Rotation, Comets, Halley, Comet Nuclei, Precession, Spacecraft Observations, Comae, Vega Missions, Giotto, Rotation, Emissions, Intensity, Comparisons, Diagrams, Models, Periodicity, Axes, Calculations, Period, Physics
Scientific paper
The comet Halley's nucleus is modelled dynamically as a rigid homogeneous ellipsoid with three unequal principal axes in torque-free rotation about its center of mass. Two qualitatively distinct, free-precessional modes are found, each exhibiting both 2.2-day and 7.4-day periodicities. As viewed from the nucleus, the two modes are distinguished by the closed path (polhode) that the end of the angular velocity vector traces with a period of 7.4 days. The long axis mode has a polhode that encloses only the long principal axis of the nucleus. However, because the polhode encloses the long axis in a long-axis mode, the resulting motion with a 7.4 day period around that axis conflicts with the Vega and Giotto images of the nucleus. The short-axis mode occurs when the minor axes are unequal and the polhode encloses only the short principal axis of the nucleus. The resulting motion is around the short axis and does not conflict with the spacecraft images.
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