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Modeling Dust Fragmentation in Comets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

I. Konno
Affiliation:
Southwest Research InstituteP.O. Drawer 28510 San Antonio, TX 78228-0510USA
W.F. Huebner
Affiliation:
Southwest Research InstituteP.O. Drawer 28510 San Antonio, TX 78228-0510USA

Abstract

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We developed a 1-D hydrodynamic model of dusty gas flow with dust fragmentation in a cometary atmosphere and performed calculations for a dust-size distribution with radii a = 10−4 — 10 cm and densities variable with dust size. A comparison was made with Giotto observations of dust jet intensities within 100 km of the nucleus of Comet Halley. We found that dust fragmentation cannot be solely responsible for the flattening of the dust intensity near the nucleus with respect to the 1/R law. We conclude that a combination of geometric effects and grain fragmentation may explain the observed intensity profiles.

Type
Cometary Dust: Observations and Evolution
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1991

References

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