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The hydrogen coma of comet Halley before perihelion: Preliminary observations with Dynamics Explorer 1

1986; American Geophysical Union; Volume: 13; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1029/gl013i008p00873

1944-8007

J. D. Craven, L. A. Frank, R. L. Rairden, M. R. Dvorsky,

Atmospheric Ozone and Climate

The hydrogen coma of Comet Halley has been observed in resonantly scattered solar Lyman‐α radiation during the period 1‐29 January 1986 as the comet approached perihelion. These observations were obtained with the imaging photometer for vacuum‐ultraviolet wavelengths on the spacecraft Dynamics Explorer 1. For the initial analysis of observations available in 17 orbits distributed throughout the period, least‐squares fits are computed for the observed exponential decrease in brightness with radial distance from the nucleus. Brightness at the nucleus increased from ∼ 3 to 17 kR during the observing period. Preliminary analysis yields water production rates of ∼ 3.6 × 10 29 and 1.9 × 10 30 molecules/sec on 1 and 29 January, respectively.