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Optical spectrophotometry of comet P/Giacobini‐Zinner and emission profiles of H 2 O +
Author(s) -
Strauss Michael A.,
McCarthy Patrick J.,
Spinrad Hyron
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl013i004p00389
Subject(s) - comet , spectrograph , physics , comet tail , emission spectrum , line (geometry) , astrophysics , plasma , spectral line , optics , astronomy , solar wind , quantum mechanics , geometry , mathematics
We have obtained two‐dimensional CCD spectrograms of Comet P/Giacobini‐Zinner (1984e) on five occasions between July and October 1985. We extracted spatial emission profiles of H 2 O + at 6198 Å, the strongest ionic line in the visible spectrum. This emission line traces the extent of the ion, or plasma, tail. We placed the spectrograph slit approximately along the trajectory of the International Cometary Explorer (ICE) on 11 Sept 1985; the resulting H 2 O + profile has a full‐width‐half‐maximum of ≈ 5700 km, about three times that of the plasma density profile measured by ICE, and has a full‐width‐zero‐intensity of ≈ 30,000 km, very similar to the ICE values. H 2 O production rates for the comet are derived and compared with those of Comet P/Halley (1982i).