Abstract Plasma tail phenomena in P/Halley existed from a sporadic turn-on in mid-November 1985 to at least mid-June 1986 and were extensively documented by the Large-Scale Phenomena Network of the International Halley Watch (IHW). Although plasma tail activity clearly turned-off at approximately mid-June 1986, observations currently available do not show the turn-off sequence. Disconnection Events (DEs) were plentiful during this apparition; approximately 30 DEs were observed of which perhaps 20 were considered prominent. The evolution of the plasma tail is described in detail with emphasis on: (1) the turn-on/turn-off of plasma tail activity and (2) the extensive observations of disconnection events. Comparisons to theory are made where appropriate and include predictions of the turn-on/turn-off distances and associations of the disconnection events with the proposed solar-wind causes, i.e., sector-boundary crossing and high-speed solar-wind streams. The status of understanding the evolution of the plasma tail in comet Halley during 1985–1986 is summarized.


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    Title :

    Plasma tail evolution in comet P/Halley 1985–1986


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    1989-01-01


    Size :

    4 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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