- Email: [email protected]
Halley’s Plasma Tail
Oral papers and posters
D I S C O N N E C T I O N E V E N T S IN C O M E T P / H A L L E Y ' S P L A S M A TAIL M.R. Voelzke and H.J. Fahr Institut fiir Astrophysik und Extraterrestrische Forschung. Universit~t Bonn. D-53121 Germany. mvoelzke~astro, uni-bonn, de
Cometary and solar wind data are compared with the purpose of determining the solar wind conditions with comet plasma tail disconnection events (DEs). The cometary data are from The International Halley Watch Atlas of LargeScale Phenomena. A systematic visual analysis of the atlas images revealed, among other morphological structures, 47 DEs along the plasma tail of comet P/Halley. These 47 DEs documented in 47 different images allowed the derivation on 19 onsets of DEs, i.e., the time when the disconnections begin was calculated. The solar wind data are in situ measurements from IMP-8, which are used to construct the variation of solar wind speed, density and dynamic pressure during the analysed interval. This work compares the current competitive theories, based on triggering mechanisms, in order to explain the cyclic phenomena of DEs, i.e., the ion production effects, the pressure effects and the magnetic reconnection effects are analysed.
-511-
D I S C O N N E C T I O N E V E N T S IN C O M E T P / H A L L E Y ' S P L A S M A TAIL M.R. Voelzke and H.J. Fahr Institut fiir Astrophysik und Extraterrestrische Forschung. Universit~t Bonn. D-53121 Germany. mvoelzke~astro, uni-bonn, de
Cometary and solar wind data are compared with the purpose of determining the solar wind conditions with comet plasma tail disconnection events (DEs). The cometary data are from The International Halley Watch Atlas of LargeScale Phenomena. A systematic visual analysis of the atlas images revealed, among other morphological structures, 47 DEs along the plasma tail of comet P/Halley. These 47 DEs documented in 47 different images allowed the derivation on 19 onsets of DEs, i.e., the time when the disconnections begin was calculated. The solar wind data are in situ measurements from IMP-8, which are used to construct the variation of solar wind speed, density and dynamic pressure during the analysed interval. This work compares the current competitive theories, based on triggering mechanisms, in order to explain the cyclic phenomena of DEs, i.e., the ion production effects, the pressure effects and the magnetic reconnection effects are analysed.
-511-