Metallic ions in cometary comae and plasma tails

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Comet Tails, Cometary Atmospheres, Cosmochemistry, Giacobini-Zinner Comet, International Sun Earth Explorer 3, Metal Ions, Abundance, Coma, Ion Density (Concentration), Ion Production Rates, Ion Recombination, Ionospheres, Comets, Metals, Ions, Atmosphere, Comae, Plasma, Comet Tails, Water, Giacobini-Zinner, Ice Mission, Ionosphere, Abundance, Sodium, Carbon, Magnesium, Time Scale, Ionization, Spacecraft Observations, Emissions

Scientific paper

A surprising result of the International Cometary Explorer (ICE) observations of the comet Giacobini-Zinner was the detection of ions of mass 23-24 AMU with a relatively high abundance. According to the experiments, these ions may be either Na(+) or C2(+), if not both. It is suggested here that the detected ions may indeed be in part Na(+) and/or Mg(+), and that these and other metallic ions, especially Si(+) and Fe(+), may be an important component of the cometary ionosphere and central plasma tail. The reasons are similar in principle to those which account for the prevalence of such ions in sporadic E layers in the terrestrial ionosphere, notably the comparatively short timescales for ionization of their neutral parent atoms and the large difference between the rates of dissociative and radiative recombination.

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