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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Index Terms

  • Planetology: Comets and Small Bodies: Atmospheric and ionospheric composition and chemistry
  • Planetology: Comets and Small Bodies: Interactions with solar wind plasma and fields
  • Planetology: Comets and Small Bodies: Plasma and MHD instabilities
  • Planetology: Comets and Small Bodies: General or miscellaneous

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 13, NO. 3, PP. 279-282, 1986
doi:10.1029/GL013i003p00279

Physical parameters for hot and cold electron populations in comet Giacobini‐Zinner with the ICE Radio Experiment

N. Meyer‐Vernet

Départment de Recherche Spatiale, Unité associée au CNRS N° 264, Observatoire de Paris

P. Couturier

Départment de Recherche Spatiale, Unité associée au CNRS N° 264, Observatoire de Paris

S. Hoang

Départment de Recherche Spatiale, Unité associée au CNRS N° 264, Observatoire de Paris

C. Perche

Départment de Recherche Spatiale, Unité associée au CNRS N° 264, Observatoire de Paris

J. L. Steinberg

Départment de Recherche Spatiale, Unité associée au CNRS N° 264, Observatoire de Paris

Thermal plasma noise spectroscopy using the ICE radio receiver yielded the parameters of the two maxwellian populations approximating the comet plasma electron distribution. Within 150,000 km around closest approach, we observe three regions : 1) the inner one coincides with the low magnetic field region or plasma sheet ; over 1200 km the density is nearly constant at 650 cm−3; the overall profile, 5000 km wide, is assymetrical and shows a narrow spike on each side of the maximum ; the temperature is 16,000 K; 2) from 9000 to 20,000 km from the nucleus, the density decreases as R−2. The distribution is slightly assymetrical, the density higher on the south side. 3) Further away, the density and temperature fluctuate widely around about solar wind values. The hot electron pressure is much smaller than that of the cold electrons except near the edges of the plasma sheet where heating processes probably occur.

Received 14 January 1986; accepted 28 January 1986; .

Citation: Meyer‐Vernet, N., P. Couturier, S. Hoang, C. Perche, and J. L. Steinberg (1986), Physical parameters for hot and cold electron populations in comet Giacobini‐Zinner with the ICE Radio Experiment, Geophys. Res. Lett., 13(3), 279–282, doi:10.1029/GL013i003p00279.

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