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Comet Halley remote plasma tail observations and in situ solar wind properties - Vega-1/2 IMF/plasma observations and ground-based optical observations from 1 December 1985 to 1 May 1986General features of the solar wind plasma and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) are studied for the time period of December 1, 1985 - May 1, 1986. Characteristics studied include corotating events, shocks, and sector boundaries in the IMF. For the same period, Comet Halley was near its perihelion and many ground-based observations of the plasma tail were made. They show interesting events such as tail substorms and disconnection events where the whole distant plasma tail seems to be disrupted from the part that is still attached to the cometary head. Several mechanisms have been produced to explain the cause of these events. The correlation between the IMF sector boundaries measured by Vega and the observed disconnection events are studied, noting that such a correlation would support the dayside reconnection explanation. It is found that only in 50 percent of the considered events does a correlation between these two phenomena exist. For the other cases, a sector boundary of the IMF sweeping over the comet cannot explain the occurrence of disruptions of the main plasma tail.
Document ID
19910047042
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Delva, Magda
(Institut fuer Weltraumforschung Graz, Austria)
Schwingenschuh, Konrad
(Oesterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Institut fuer Weltraumforschung, Graz, Austria)
Niedner, Malcolm B.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Gringauz, Konstantin I.
(AN SSSR Institut Kosmicheskikh Issledovanii, Moscow, Ussr)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 1991
Publication Information
Publication: Planetary and Space Science
Volume: 39
ISSN: 0032-0633
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
91A31665
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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