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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Index Terms

  • Planetology: Comets and Small Bodies: Interactions with solar wind plasma and fields
  • Planetology: Comets and Small Bodies: General or miscellaneous

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 13, NO. 3, PP. 239-242, 1986
doi:10.1029/GL013i003p00239

Comet‐solar wind interaction: Dynamical length scales and models

D. A. Mendis

Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and Center for Astrophysics and Space Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093

E. J. Smith

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109

B. T. Tsurutani

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109

J. A. Slavin

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109

D. E. Jones

Dept. of Physics, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 94601

G. L. Siscoe

Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024

While the ICE magnetometer measurements at Comet Giacobini‐Zinner led to a number of unexpected discoveries such as the intense hydromagnetic turbulence, the large‐scale structure of the induced cometary magnetosphere that it delineated was close to theoretical predictions. While the strong draping of the magnetic field lines to form a magnetotail was anticipated, the structure of this magnetotail also indicated the existence of other predicted features. These included a weak shock or compression wave, an ionopause which at least partially impeded the penetration of the solar wind into the cometary ionosphere, and a magnetic barrier region where the magnetic field was piled up ahead of the ionopause. The inferred positions of these features enabled the estimation of the production rate of the neutrals from the nucleus (≈ 4×1028 mols/sec), as well as the strength of the coupling between the inflowing solar wind ions and the outflowing cometary neutrals.

Received 21 January 1986; accepted 30 January 1986; .

Citation: Mendis, D. A., E. J. Smith, B. T. Tsurutani, J. A. Slavin, D. E. Jones, and G. L. Siscoe (1986), Comet‐solar wind interaction: Dynamical length scales and models, Geophys. Res. Lett., 13(3), 239–242, doi:10.1029/GL013i003p00239.

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