An ultraviolet sounding rocket telescope/spectrograph experiment observed Comet Halley on Feb. 26, 1986, 17 days after perihelion. From the long-slit spectra, the production rates of O, C, and CO are calculated. The derived water production rate is a lower limit of 5.0 x 10 to the 29th/s and the volume mixing ratio of CO to H2O is 21 percent. The predicted brightness distribution from a radial outflow model with H2O and CO as parent molecules are in accordance with the measured spatial profiles of O I and CO emissions. The ratio of the production rates of CO to C is 2.7 which is consistent with the carbon source being the photodissociation of CO. However, the radial outflow model which best fits the CO data predicts significantly weaker C I emissions than was observed. A better fit to the carbon data is found when an inner coma source of C at a rate of 3 percent of the water production rate is included in the model.


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    Title :

    Rocket observation of the ultraviolet spectrum of Comet Halley


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Publication date :

    1985-01-01



    Type of media :

    Miscellaneous


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English


    Keywords :


    Rocket observation of the ultraviolet spectrum of comet Halley

    Woods, T.N. / Feldman, P.D. / Dymond, K.F. et al. | Elsevier | 1985


    Rocket ultraviolet observations of Comet Halley

    Carruthers, George R. / Mccoy, Robert P. / Woods, Thomas N. et al. | NTRS | 1987


    The infrared synthetic spectrum of comet Halley

    Crovisier, J. / Combes, M. / Encrenaz, Th. et al. | Elsevier | 1983


    Plans for Comet Halley

    Rahe, J. | NTRS | 1981


    Comet Halley and history

    Marsden, B. G. | NTRS | 1979