Comet Thermal Modeling

Abstract

Past thermal models of cometary nuclei have tended to be restricted to hemispherical averages and have ignored many important effects such as surface heat flow, rotation period, or coma opacity. A computer based model called KRC/COM was developed which includes these and many other important effects to give a more accurate physical model of sublimation from icy cometary nuclei. Halley's Comet was used as a test case because of the high interest in the 1986 perihelion passage of that comet.