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Small scale irregularities in comet Halley's plasma mantle: An attempt at self‐consistent analysis of plasma and magnetic field data
Author(s) -
Vaisberg O. L.,
Russell C. T.,
Luhmann J. G.,
Schwingenschuh K.
Publication year - 1989
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/gl016i001p00005
Subject(s) - plasma , halley's comet , physics , magnetic field , comet , geophysics , computational physics , astrophysics , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics
VEGA‐1 measurements of the plasma density and magnetic field in the coma of Comet Halley show characteristic signatures over a significant portion of the outbound pass. It is found that the assumption that there is a balance between the thermal and magnetic pressures in these features can be used to obtain estimates of the plasma temperature as a function of distance from the nucleus. These estimates indicate that the ions cool from ∼1.5 × 10 6 °K at 10 5 km to 2 × 10 5 °K at 5 × 10 4 km. The technique used here represents a novel approach whereby temperature measurements can be made in situations where only plasma density and magnetic field data are available.