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3.7 Predicted Favorable Visibility Conditions for Anomalous Tails of Comets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Zdenek Sekanina
Zdenek Sekanina*
Affiliation:
Center for Astrophysics, Harvard College Observatory, and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, U.S.A.

Extract

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It was shown elsewhere (Sekanina, 1974) that the observability from the earth of an anomalous tail (antitail) of a comet can be rather straightforwardly predicted from the dynamical and geometric conditions. The physical presence or absence of the antitail at a precalculated time is then a measure of the comet’s production rate, at the relevant emission times, of relatively heavy dust particles (mostly of submillimeter size) that constitute such an antitail. Because the large grains are e-mitted from the nucleus at very low velocities (typically meters or tens of meters per second), an antitail is essentially a two-dimensional formation in the orbit plane of the comet and can be recognized best when projected edge-on, i.e., when the earth crosses the nodal line of the comet’s orbit. In general, however, this condition is not essential for the recognition of antitails (cf., e.g., Comet Kohoutek 1973 XII).

Type
3 Cometary Dust
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 31: Interplanetary Dust and Zodiacal Light , 1976 , pp. 339 - 342
Copyright
Copyright © Springer-Verlag 1976

References

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