Spacecraft observations of the interaction of active comets with the solar wind

Details Spacecraft observations of the interaction of active comets with the solar wind Spacecraft observations of the interaction of active comets with the solar wind

May 1990

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1990rvgeo..28..231n&link_type=abstract

Reviews of Geophysics (ISSN 8755-1209), vol. 28, May 1990, p. 231-252.

Physics

Geophysics

43

Comets, Interplanetary Magnetic Fields, Magnetic Field Configurations, Solar Activity Effects, Solar Wind, Bow Waves, Comet Nuclei, Comet Tails, Cometary Atmospheres, Plasma Waves

Scientific paper

Six spacecraft encountered two comets during 1985 and 1986, obtaining a wealth of data relative to the plasma processes at work in the interaction of an active comet with the solar wind. A review of what space plasma scientists have learned from these data and of their interpretations is presented. The interaction process begins millions of kilometers from the nucleus where the solar wind first picks up cometary ions that slow down the wind and causes the interplanetary magnetic field to pile up and drape around the comet's ionosphere. Thus the geometry of a comet's plasma tail is defined by this draped field. At Halley the Giotto spacecraft noted a well-defined boundary separating the mixture of solar wind and cometary plasmas and the interplanetary magnetic field from the free-field, almost pure cometary plasma in the inner coma. Additional unexpected features in the inner coma were a flux of fast 'granddaughter' ions and high densities of negative ions. Further details covering pickup ions and plasma waves, mass loading, bow shock, energetic particles, the cometosheath, the ionopause, the plasma tail, and the field-free region are provided.

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