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Onset of sublimation in comet P/Halley (1982i)

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Abstract

We report here the first direct evidence for the onset of sublimation of a comet nucleus. Emission due to CN observed in spectra of comet P/Halley (1982i) provides evidence for the development of the gas coma. Broad-band photometric observations of the comet indicate that the dust coma developed near a pre-perihelion heliocentric distance, r∼6AU. We have derived rates of gas production and brightening for comet P/Halley at r ∼ 4–6 AU and use the mean pre-perihelion nuclear magnitude derived for the comet (r >8 AU) to calculate an effective radius of the nucleus (R), which for plausible values of the geometric albedo, pv∼; 0.03–0.6, lies in the range R = 1–4 km.

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Author notes

  1. Michel C. Festou: Institut d'Astrophysique, 98 bis bd Arago, 75014 Paris, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA

    Susan Wyckoff, R. Mark Wagner, Peter A. Wehinger, David G. Schleicher & Michel C. Festou

Authors
  1. Susan Wyckoff
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  2. R. Mark Wagner
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  3. Peter A. Wehinger
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  4. David G. Schleicher
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  5. Michel C. Festou
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Wyckoff, S., Wagner, R., Wehinger, P. et al. Onset of sublimation in comet P/Halley (1982i). Nature 316, 241–242 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/316241a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/316241a0

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