The magnetic field of the plasma tail of Comet 1P/Halley
The photometric scans of the plasma tail of Comet Halley from four observation series are compared with the profiles of brightness distribution along the tail streams which were calculated on the basis of the diffusion model of the plasma tail. The magnetic field induction and the lifetime of ions i...
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Головна астрономічна обсерваторія НАН України
2005
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| Cite this: | The magnetic field of the plasma tail of Comet 1P/Halley / Yu.V. Sizonenko // Кинематика и физика небесных тел. — 2005. — Т. 21, № 5-додаток. — С. 491-493. — Бібліогр.: 5 назв. — англ. |
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Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine| _version_ | 1860017170180734976 |
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| author | Sizonenko, Yu.V. |
| author_facet | Sizonenko, Yu.V. |
| citation_txt | The magnetic field of the plasma tail of Comet 1P/Halley / Yu.V. Sizonenko // Кинематика и физика небесных тел. — 2005. — Т. 21, № 5-додаток. — С. 491-493. — Бібліогр.: 5 назв. — англ. |
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| container_title | Кинематика и физика небесных тел |
| description | The photometric scans of the plasma tail of Comet Halley from four observation series are compared with the profiles of brightness distribution along the tail streams which were calculated on the basis of the diffusion model of the plasma tail. The magnetic field induction and the lifetime of ions in the tail of Comet Halley as well as the coefficients of diffusion are estimated. A probable connection between cometary magnetic field changes and cometary tail structure ones are discussed.
|
| first_indexed | 2025-12-07T16:45:47Z |
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THE MAGNETIC FIELD OF THE PLASMA TAIL OF COMET 1P/HALLEY
Yu. V. Sizonenko
Main Astronomical Observatory, NAS of Ukraine
27 Akademika Zabolotnoho Str., 03680 Kyiv, Ukraine
e-mail: sizon@mao.kiev.ua
The photometric scans of the plasma tail of Comet Halley from four observation series are compared
with the profiles of brightness distribution along the tail streams which were calculated on the basis
of the diffusion model of the plasma tail. The magnetic field induction and the lifetime of ions in
the tail of Comet Halley as well as the coefficients of diffusion are estimated. A probable connection
between cometary magnetic field changes and cometary tail structure ones are discussed.
OBSERVATIONS AND PHOTOMETRIC TREATMENT
We deal with the images of Comet Halley, which were obtained in the framework of the international program of
observations of Large Scale Phenomena in December 1985. We chose two plates obtained on December 9.6618
and 9.7361, 1985 in the prime focus of the 2.6-m telescope by L. G. Akhverdian in Byurakan (Armenia). We took
three plates obtained on December 12.647, 16.634, and 17.624, 1985 by K. I. Churyumov with the 1-m Zeiss
RCC-telescope in Assy (Kazakhstan). We also used the plate derived on December 9.613, 1985 by S. I. Gerasi-
menko on the 40-cm telescope DShA in Gissar (Tadzhikistan). The plates from Byurakan were scanned with
the PDS digitizer by L. G. Akhverdian and Yu. V. Sizonenko. The photometry of the plates from Assy were per-
formed at the MAO NASU with the ATsMF-XY digitizer by K. I. Churyumov and V. G. Parusimov. Recently,
the plate from Gissar was scanned by V. L. Kostiuchenko with the same digitizer. Table 1 gives the log of
observations as well as the scale of the plates and the length of the scanned tails in kilometres.
Table 1. The log of observations
Plate UT, Dec. 1985 ∆T , min α1985.0 δ1985.0 Scale, ′′/mm l, 106 km
DShA-135 9.61304 60 23h32m +7◦08
′
103.1 1.065
ZTA-10 9.66180 40 23h31m +7◦05
′
29.0 1.318
ZTA-12 9.73611 40 23h31m +7◦02
′
29.0 1.318
RCC-03 12.67405 25 23h19m +5◦09
′
15.5 0.343
RCC-06 16.63422 25 23h06m +2◦58
′
15.5 0.529
RCC-11 17.62409 25 23h04m +2◦29
′
15.5 0.541
These diverse photometric data were unified with our procedure for the photometric reduction. This proce-
dure let us eliminate the regular photometric errors of the telescopes as well as the difference into the atmospheric
extinction. We calibrated the plates with standard stars from a photometric catalogue. The photometric treat-
ment of the comet images was completed with the drawing of the brightness distribution maps. One can see
the sample of that map in Fig. 1.
CALCULATION OF BRIGHTNESS PROFILES
We derived the photometric scans along the streams in cometary tail from the brightness distribution maps.
The dashed lines in Fig. 1 show the directions of these scans for December 9.6618, 1985. The obtained scans
were compared with the brightness distribution profiles calculated with the diffusion model of plasma tail [4].
The model is well-known and was used to study the plasma tails of several comets. Therefore, we do
not describe the model in details. It is desirable to note some improvements which we propose in the paper.
c© Yu. V. Sizonenko, 2004
491
3
2
1
0.45
0.36
0.27
0.18
0.09
1.321.060.800.530.27
N,106 km
M,106km
Figure 1. Isophotes of the tail of Comet Halley on December 9.6618, 1985. The dashed lines show the directions of
photometric scans along the streams
The estimate for the induction magnetic field is:
B = 2 · 1011
Ti
D‖(µ)
L‖
L⊥ cosβ
, (1)
where Ti is the temperature of comet ions and the effective acceleration of ions. The values of Ti and µ in (1)
are not defined and, therefore, the estimate of B can not be low or high, it is quite uncertain. We propose
to find the value of the measure of the motions of clouds in the cometary tail. With the method from [1], we
estimated ion’s acceleration for December 14–15 as µ = 97 ± 11. The estimate of the temperature of comet ions
in [2] is not correct. We took the estimate from [5]: Ti = (2 ÷ 8) · 104 K.
Figure 2 shows the results of comparison of the photometric scans along the main streams in plasma tail
with the brightness distribution profiles calculated in the framework of diffusion model.
9,5 10,0 10,5 11,0
0
1
2
3
4
5
3
2
1
-dm
lg x(cm)
Figure 2. The comparison of the photometric scans along the main streams of tail and the calculated profiles for the plate
ZTA-10 on December 9.6618, 1985. The numbers near the curves correspond to the numbers of the streams in Fig. 1
Figure 3 illustrates the comparison results for the tangential scans of the main stream of plasma tail on
the plate ZTA-10.
RESULTS
We derived the sets of model parameters for all developed plates from comparison of the photometric scans
and calculated profiles. The parameters were chosen by the criterion of the minimum deviation of calculated
profiles from the photometric scans. Table 2 gives sets of model parameters calculated as the mean values of
the parameters for some streams of the tail. We used these parameters for calculation of physical characteristics
of the plasma tail of Comet Halley with the formulas from [2]. The acceleration a and lifetime τ of comet ions,
coefficients of longitudinal diffusion D‖ and transversal diffusion D⊥, and induction of magnetic field B for
the plasma tail of Comet Halley are given in Table 3.
492
7,5 8,0 8,5 9,0 9,5 10,0
1,0
1,2
1,4
1,6
1,8
2,0
2,2
4
3
2
1dm
lg y(km)
Figure 3. The comparison of the tangential photometric scans of the stream 2 of tail and the calculated profiles for
the plate ZTA-10 on December 9.6618, 1985: (1) tangential scan of the stream at a distance of 3.77 · 1010 cm from
the nucleus, (2) at a distance of 4.45 · 1010 cm, (3) at a distance of 5.82 · 1010 cm, (4) at a distance of 6.49 · 1010 cm
Table 2. The parameters of diffusion model for the tail of Comet Halley
Plate Γ L‖, 1010 cm L⊥, 109 cm
DShA-135 4.19±0.22 0.77±0.41 6.99±049
ZTA-10 1.32±0.34 0.68±0.02 5.38±0.42
ZTA-12 0.58±0.11 1.08±0.14 4.53±0.32
RCC-03 0.64±0.12 0.31±0.01 1.55±0.08
RCC-06 1.03±0.14 0.61±0.46 3.79±0.07
RCC-11 44.8±5.9 1.24±0.08 8.12±0.14
Table 3. Physical characteristics of the plasma tail of Comet Halley
Plate a, cm s−2 τ , 104 s D‖, 1016 cm2 s−1 D⊥, 1015 cm2 s−1 Bmin, nT Bmax, nT
DShA-135 31.7 6.06 0.41 0.20 8.4 33.6
ZTA-10 31.7 3.23 0.75 0.22 5.0 19.8
ZTA-12 31.7 2.70 0.48 0.19 1.4 5.8
RCC-03 33.9 1.41 0.60 0.42 9.1 36.3
RCC-06 37.3 2.33 1.02 0.15 4.1 16.2
RCC-11 38.3 21.38 0.41 0.07 1.7 6.8
Through the periods from ZTA-10 to ZTA-12 and from RCC-8506 to RCC-8511, the induction of magnetic
field and coefficient of longitudinal diffusion decreased considerably. The observers [3] noted that the structure
of cometary tail had changed. Many new rays and streams in plasma tail appeared. This may connect these
phenomena of the magnetic field and tail of Comet Halley with DE-event, which began on December 13, 1985.
[1] Celnik W. E., Schmidt-Keller Th. Structure and dynamics of plasma-tail condensations of Comet P/Halley 1986
and inferences on the structure and activity of cometary nucleus // Astron. and Astrophys.–1987.–187.–P. 233–248.
[2] Churyumov K. I., Shabas N. L. The physical conditions in the plasma tail of Comet Halley 1986 during its
disconnection // Astron. Vestnik.–1998.–32, N 3.–P. 43–50.
[3] Churyumov K. I. // Zemlia i Vselennaia.–1986.–N 2.–P. 3–13.
[4] Nazarchuk G. K., Shulman L. M. The diffusion model of comet tail // Problemy Kosmicheskoy Fiziki.–1968.–6.–
P. 11–24.
[5] Spinrad H., Brown M. E., Johns C. M. Kinematics of the ion tail of Comet P/Swift–Tuttle // Astron. J.–1994.–108,
N 4.–P. 1420–1462.
493
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| id | nasplib_isofts_kiev_ua-123456789-79706 |
| institution | Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine |
| issn | 0233-7665 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-12-07T16:45:47Z |
| publishDate | 2005 |
| publisher | Головна астрономічна обсерваторія НАН України |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | Sizonenko, Yu.V. 2015-04-03T19:54:24Z 2015-04-03T19:54:24Z 2005 The magnetic field of the plasma tail of Comet 1P/Halley / Yu.V. Sizonenko // Кинематика и физика небесных тел. — 2005. — Т. 21, № 5-додаток. — С. 491-493. — Бібліогр.: 5 назв. — англ. 0233-7665 https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/79706 The photometric scans of the plasma tail of Comet Halley from four observation series are compared with the profiles of brightness distribution along the tail streams which were calculated on the basis of the diffusion model of the plasma tail. The magnetic field induction and the lifetime of ions in the tail of Comet Halley as well as the coefficients of diffusion are estimated. A probable connection between cometary magnetic field changes and cometary tail structure ones are discussed. en Головна астрономічна обсерваторія НАН України Кинематика и физика небесных тел MS5: Dynamics and Physics of Solar System Bodies The magnetic field of the plasma tail of Comet 1P/Halley Article published earlier |
| spellingShingle | The magnetic field of the plasma tail of Comet 1P/Halley Sizonenko, Yu.V. MS5: Dynamics and Physics of Solar System Bodies |
| title | The magnetic field of the plasma tail of Comet 1P/Halley |
| title_full | The magnetic field of the plasma tail of Comet 1P/Halley |
| title_fullStr | The magnetic field of the plasma tail of Comet 1P/Halley |
| title_full_unstemmed | The magnetic field of the plasma tail of Comet 1P/Halley |
| title_short | The magnetic field of the plasma tail of Comet 1P/Halley |
| title_sort | magnetic field of the plasma tail of comet 1p/halley |
| topic | MS5: Dynamics and Physics of Solar System Bodies |
| topic_facet | MS5: Dynamics and Physics of Solar System Bodies |
| url | https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/79706 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sizonenkoyuv themagneticfieldoftheplasmatailofcomet1phalley AT sizonenkoyuv magneticfieldoftheplasmatailofcomet1phalley |