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At least 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1980

Physicochemical and dynamical processes in cometary ionospheres. I - The basic flow profile

The paper deals with the basic aspects of solar wind interaction with the ionosphere of a large comet and with detailed hydrodynamic models developed to describe the flow exterior to the tangential discontinuity surface that separates the outflowing purely cometary ions from the inflowing contaminated solar wind. The equation of the basic flow model and the results of a preliminary analysis of these equations are given, and the shape and structure of the shock layer are analyzed. The shock layer structure associated with fan-shaped comet emanating from the cometary nucleus in the general direction to the sun is identified.

Houpis, H. L. F.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Space shuttle opportunities for cometary research

The different modes of cometary investigation offered by the shuttle are reviewed. First, there is a mode in which instrumentation for observations of a natural comet is carried to orbit on Spacelab. Second is a mode in which gaseous or solid material is released from the shuttle to simulate some aspect of cometary physics. Another mode uses the near weightlessness within Spacelab to allow laboratory experiments with materials as they may exist on the surface of a comet nucleus.

Lundquist, C. A.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Spectroscopy of small cometary particles

Knowledge of chemical composition derived from the spectroscopy of small cometary meteoroids when they enter the Earth's atmosphere at high velocity and become visible as meteors is briefly summarized. For statistically reliable results it is necessary to have a large number of observations and this requires the photography of relatively faint meteors, which are considerably more numerous than the bright fireballs. The improvement in observational techniques and cameras has made it possible to extend the range of spectrographic data from cometary particles of mass between a kilogram and a gram down to those of only 0.01 or 0.001 grams in mass. The corresponding increase in the number-value of the statistics was from less than 100 data points to several 1000.

Millman, P. M.↗
NASA NTRS1980

The effect of solar-cycle ultraviolet flux variations on cometary gas

The effects on comet gas of variations in the solar ultraviolet flux during solar cycle 21 are discussed. The photoionization, photodissociation, and resonance fluorescence and scattering rates of individual atoms and molecules increase by factors ranging up to 4, leading to potential order of magnitude variations in emission-line fluxes between minimum and maximum solar activity. These effects are illustrated for H2O and CO. Recent observations of comet Bradfield (1979) are discussed, and it is suggested that comets appearing near solar maximum be extensively observed to provide information on the response of cometary gas to solar flux variations, which can be used to discriminate between cometary models.

Oppenheimer, M.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Laboratory studies of some of the major ion-molecule reactions occurring in cometary comae

Laboratory results have been obtained for some of the key ion-molecule reactions which should occur in the inner coma of comets. A complete listing is given of laboratory data presently available for ion-molecule reactions occurring in a mixture of H2O, CO2, CO, CH4, N2, and NH3 cometary volatiles. From these data, the most important reactions occurring in the coma of a water-dominated comet are extracted for use in models of the physics and chemistry of cometary comae.

Huntress, W. T., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Interplanetary gas. XXVI - On the reconnection of magnetic fields in cometary ionospheres at interplanetary sector boundary crossings

The reconnection process in the cometary ionosphere believed responsible for the disconnecting plasma tails phenomenon is studied through the basic equations of reconnection theory and current sheet instability criteria. It is proposed that reconnection occurs when the interplanetary magnetic fields incident on a comet that has gone just past a sector boundary are pressed into the fields captured from the previous sector. The fields are of opposite polarity, and the previously captured fields constitute the 'roots' of the plasma tail. An estimated duration of reconnection during a disconnection event (DE) of 0.75 days is used along with estimates of other cometary parameters to construct fusion region dimensions and resistivity with the adopted time scale.

Niedner, M. B., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1981

1548C27 - An interesting new cometary nebula

The object 1548C27, a faint cometary nebula of classical form, discovered by an examination of early Near Infrared Photographic Sky Survey (NIPSS) data (1979) is presented. Direct imaging and polarimetric, photometric, and spectroscopic observations are reported. Early survey test photographs show that the object lies at R.A. 19h40m48s, Decl. +23 deg 17 arcmin 09 arc sec (1950) in the Vulpecula constellation in the immediate vicinity of the complex H II region and galactic cluster NGC 6820/6823. From the photographs, the nebula was estimated to be 15 m visual and of color class one. The object was observed spectroscopically in the region 5700-6800 A using an Image Dissector Scanner with a 1.8 m reflector, and the spectral scan, obtained on November 4, 1978, is presented. New information on cometary nebulae may further illuminate the evolutionary importance of the objects.

Craine, E. R.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Rotation and precession of cometary nuclei

The given review is concerned with a recent breakthrough in the investigation of polar-axis orientations and spin rates, and with the implications for the surface structure of cometary nuclei. The rotation data for twelve comets are summarized in a table. The progress achieved in the past few years has demonstrated that seemingly complex relations among observed physical and dynamical properties of comets can consistently be interpreted in terms of Whipple's (1950, 1951) model of a rotating icy-conglomerate nucleus. The nucleus, probably a few kilometers in diameter for an average comet, is believed to lose mass more or less continuously. Attention is given to the outgassing asymmetry, a formulation of the geometry of the directed ejection, and the role of rotation in cometary outbursts and splitting.

Sekanina, Z.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Interplanetary gas. XXVII - A catalog of disconnection events in cometary plasma tails

A catalog of 72 disconnection event (DES) in cometary plasma tails is presented as a basic data source for cometary and solar wind analysis. The events span the period 1892-1976, and are characterized on the basis of photographic observations. From the observed kinematics of rejected tails, methods are derived to calculate an estimated time of tail disconnection for each DE, either from the average law of motion for DEs lacking velocity measurements, or from the observed velocities. The geometric circumstances of each DE at the times of separation and observation are also tabulated, and a brief description of each event is presented.

Niedner, M. B., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Structure and origin of cometary nuclei

There is strong evidence that a comet nucleus consists of a single object whose basic structure is Whipple's icy conglomerate. A number of cometary phenomena indicate that the nucleus is a low density, fragile object with a large degree of radial uniformity in structure and composition. Details of the ice-dust pattern are more uncertain. A working model is proposed which is based on theories of accumulation of larger objects from grains. This nucleus is a distorted spherical aggregate of a hierarchy of ice-dust cometesimals. These cometesimals retain some separate identity which lead to comet fragmentation when larger components break off. The outer layers of new comets were modified by cosmic ray irradiation in the Oort Cloud. The evidence for meteorite-comet association is steill controversial. Current dynamical studies do not seem to require a cometary source of meteorites.

Donn, B.↗
NASA NTRS1981

New problems of cometary observations from space

The possibility of treating the comets as natural probes of the solar system presents one of the attractive sides of cometary astronomy. In connection with the plans to study comets from space, new aspects for comets as interplanetary probes are of interst. Possible meteor formation in cometary heads and the implication for space research are considered.

Dobrovolsky, O. V.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Millimeter wave radiometry as a means of determining cometary surface and subsurface temperature

Thermal emission spectra for a variety of cometary nucleus models were evaluated by a radiative transfer technique adapted from modeling of terrestrial ice and snow fields. It appears that millimeter wave sensing from an interplanetary spacecraft is the most effective available means for distinguishing between alternate models of the nucleus and for evaluating the thermal state of the layer which is below the instantaneous surface where modern theories of the nucleus indicate that sublimation of the cometary volatiles actually occurs.

Hobbs, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Laboratory measurements of the cometary photochemical phenomena

Laboratory experiments are described that provide fundamental information about photochemical processes in comets. The yield of cometary radicals such as CN, OH, etc. can be determined as a function of photolyzing wavelength. Quantum state distributions of the internal energy of the cometary radicals can also be measured as a function of wavelength permitting one to define the recoil velocity of the fragments. This type of information supplies the data needed for more elaborate models to interpret the data being obtained on comets.

Jackson, W. M.↗
NASA NTRS1981

On the electrostatic charging of the cometary nucleus

The paper demonstrates that a water-dominated cometary nucleus is not shielded from solar UV radiation or solar wind by protective atmospheres beyond a heliocentric distance of 5 AU. It is also shown that submicron dust particles can be electrostatically levitated and blown off the cometary surface. An upper limit on the total mass that can be lost from the sunlit hemisphere is derived using two solar wind models, and the dust mantle erosion is estimated at 5-12 cm. It is noted that the erosion is comparable to the mass of dust blown off a typical medium bright comet by the viscous drag of the sublimating gases during perihelium passage between 3.0 and 0.5 AU, and it is therefore proposed, that the surface dust blow-off be included in the current balance equation.

Mendis, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Interplanetary gas. XXVIII - A study of the three-dimensional properties of interplanetary sector boundaries using disconnection events in cometary plasma tails

Studies of the solar wind on the basis of cometary plasma tail observations are considered. Niedner and Brandt (1978, 1979) have concluded that the plasma tail frequently disconnects from the cometary head, and that these disconnection events (DEs) are produced by magnetic reconnection at sector boundary passages. They proposed that the disconnections are a natural combination of Alfven's model and the solar-wind sector structure first discovered by Wilcox and Ness (1965). The DEs can be utilized as probes of interplanetary sector structure. Correlations between DEs and sector boundaries observed at earth are considered, and sector boundary properties deduced from DEs are discussed. Attention is given to a review of the warped sheet model, the latitude extent of sector structure, the sector boundary tilt, and specific sources of error in the tilt angles derived from DEs.

Niedner, M. B., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Non-radial flow near the cometary surface

It is shown that, as a consequence of the non-uniform temperature distribution of the cometary nucleus, large lateral pressure gradients are set up, which in turn drive strong lateral flows. However, at small heliocentric distances the onset of turbulence within a thin boundary layer destroys these steady lateral flows and the eventual outflow of gas from within the outer boundary of this layer is expected to be more or less radial. On the other hand, at large heliocentric distances, turbulence is unlikely to set in, and the lateral flows that are set up, may persist. Consequently, it is expected that the gas flow out of the cometary nucleus at these large distances to be highly non-radial.

Marconi, M. L.↗
NASA NTRS1983

The effect of MHD instabilities on the flaring of cometary plasma tails

The hypersonic pressure balance model of flaring in cometary plasma tails of Ershkovich et al. (1982) has been modified to include the effects of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities occurring along the ionopause in the outer-tail regions. The effect of instability is to mix the solar-wind and comet-tail plasmas, increasing the tail magnetic field strength above that calculated from magnetic flux conservation. The earlier model assumed the ionopause to be a tangential discontinuity surface (flux conserving) at all distances, with the result that the magnetic field approached zero in the outer regions of strongly flaring tails. The present model is more realistic and is in better agreement with measurements of cometary plasma tail widths and flaring angles. This agreement leads to an important conclusion that the magnetic flux is not conserved in distant comet tails.

Niedner, M. B., Jr.↗