Dynamics of the CO+ coma of comet 29P/Schwasmann-Wachmann 1
| Autor: | Oleksandra Ivanova, Dusan Odstrcil, Vera Rosenbush, Pavlo Korsun, Oleksiy Agapitov, Viktor Afanasiev |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Physics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP) 010308 nuclear & particles physics FOS: Physical sciences Astronomy and Astrophysics Astrophysics 01 natural sciences law.invention Ion Telescope Solar wind Impact ionization 13. Climate action Space and Planetary Science law Observatory Ionization 0103 physical sciences Magnetohydrodynamics 010303 astronomy & astrophysics Production rate Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics |
| Popis: | Comet-centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 was observed in CO+ emission and contin-uum during 2007-2009 using the 6-m Big Telescope Alt-azimuth at the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. We analysed the morphology of the CO+ and dust coma. The distributions of dust and CO+ ions in the coma are not similar and vary depending on the level of comet activity. CO+ ions are more concentrated towards the nucleus than the dust continuum. The column density of the CO+ was derived and found to vary from 3.7*10^9 to 4.3*10^10 ions cm^-2. The production rate of CO+ was estimated to be from (7.01)*10^24 to (1.15)*10^26 ions s^-1. We discuss possible mechanisms for the ionization of cometary material and show that impact ionization by solar wind particles is probably the main ionization mechanism at large heliocentric distances. 7 pages, 5 figures |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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