Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T06:50:50.181Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Formation Mechanisms of the Split Tail of Comet Bradfield 1987XXIX

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Ken Sugawara
Affiliation:
Atsugi City Children’s Science Center 1-1-3, Nakachou, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa 243, Japan
Jun-ichi Watanabe
Affiliation:
National Astronomical Observatory Mitaka, Tokyo, 181, Japan

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Comet Bradfield 1987XXIX showed a well-developed split tail, which is a dust tail feature divided into two branches by a dark gap. Similar structures have been observed in several comets. The split tail of comet Seki-Lines is one of them; some authors tried to explain it by rapid dust vaporization or self-regulation model. However, these models can not explain in the case of comet Bradfield 1987s. It was suggested in our previous works that the trend of variation of position angle of the dark gap coincides well with that of the plasma tail or projected radial vector. We discuss the formation mechanisms of the split tail from the view point of dust-plasma interactions.

Type
Cometary Dust: Observations and Evolution
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1991

References

Burns, J.A., Lamy, P.L., and Soter, S.(1979)’ Radiation Forces on Small Particles in the Solar System.ICARUS, 40, 148.Google Scholar
Hill, J.R. and Mendis, D.A.(1980)’ On the Origin of Striae in Cometary Dust Tails.’ Astrophys. J., 242, 395401.Google Scholar
Ip., W.-H.,(1984)’Comet-Solar Wind Interactions:A Dusty Point of View.’ Adv.Space Res. Vol.4, No.9, 239247.Google Scholar
Ip., W.-H., Kimura, H., and Liu, C.-P.(1985)’ Interaction of the Cometary Dust with the Solar Wind and Cometary plasma.’ in Properties and Interactions of Interplanetary Dust, edt. Giese, R.H. and Lamy, P.(D.Reidel), 325328.Google Scholar
Jambor, B.J.(1973)’ The Split Tail of Comet Seki-Lines.’ Astrophys. J., 185, 727734.Google Scholar
Rhee, J.W.(1976)’ Electrostatic Disruption of Lunar Dust Particles.’ in Interplanetary Dust and Zodiacal Light, p.238 Google Scholar
Sekanina, Z.(1976) ’ Progress in Our Understanding of Cometary Dust Tails.’ in The Study of Comets, pt.2, 893939.Google Scholar
Watanabe, J., Aoki, T., Taniguchi, Y., and Tarusawa, K. (1989) ’Photographic Observations of Comet Bradfield 1987XXIX at the Kiso Observatory.’ Publ. Natl. Astron. Obs. Japan, 7, 7184.Google Scholar