Heliocentric Dependence of the Sodium Emission of Comet 153P/Ikeya-Zhang

Details Heliocentric Dependence of the Sodium Emission of Comet 153P/Ikeya-Zhang Heliocentric Dependence of the Sodium Emission of Comet 153P/Ikeya-Zhang

Mar 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003apj...585l.159w&link_type=abstract

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 585, Issue 2, pp. L159-L162.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

6

Comets: Individual: 153P/Ikeya-Zhang, Interplanetary Medium, Meteors, Meteoroids, Moon

Scientific paper

A low-dispersion spectroscopic monitor of comet 153P/Ikeya-Zhang was carried out from 2002 February through May. The sodium emission was derived mainly during March, when the heliocentric distance of the comet was between 0.511 and 0.764 AU. The number of the produced sodium atoms relative to the total cross section of dust grains follows a power law of r-5.1+/-1.0, where r is the heliocentric distance. This fact strongly suggests that the sodium is released by a thermal desorption mechanism, not by the photosputtering mechanism from cometary grains. The derived potential barrier for the release of the sodium is 0.49+/-0.10 eV, which is about half of that in the case of the Moon.

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