Dynamics of the CO+ coma of comet 29P/Schwasmann-Wachmann 1
Abstract
Comet-centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 was observed in CO+ emission and continuum 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 × 109 to 4.3 × 1010 ions cm-2. The production rate of CO+ was estimated to be from (7.01 ± 2.7) × 1024 to (1.15 ± 0.5) × 1026 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.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- July 2019
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/stz1200
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2012.08497
- Bibcode:
- 2019MNRAS.486.5614I
- Keywords:
-
- MHD;
- methods: data analysis;
- methods: observational;
- techniques: photometric;
- comets: general;
- comets: individual: 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1;
- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 7 pages, 5 figures