Abstract
Results of dynamic modeling of the dust tail formation for the comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) are presented. To simulate the dust tail, the trajectories of 100 million dust particles were traced. Their sizes, ejection moments, outflow directions, and initial velocities were defined by the Monte Carlo algorithm. The obtained three-dimensional model tail was projected onto the celestial sphere to compare with the observed image. The brightness distribution and synchronic features in the comet tail were reconstructed. According to our model experiments, the observed tail could be formed by particles with sizes from 0.22 to 82 μm, with ejection velocities from 460 to 12 m/s, and with a power index of the size distribution of −3.1. Our model experiments showed that the rotation period of the comet is 17.2 hours.
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Original Russian Text © S.V. Kharchuk, P.P. Korsun, 2015, published in Kinematika i Fizika Nebesnykh Tel, 2015, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 52–57.
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Kharchuk, S.V., Korsun, P.P. Model of the dust tail of comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS). Kinemat. Phys. Celest. Bodies 31, 34–36 (2015). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0884591315010043
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3103/S0884591315010043