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Hypervelocity dust particle impacts observed by the Giotto Magnetometer and Plasma Experiments
Author(s) -
Neubauer F. M.,
Glassmeier K.H.,
Coates A. J.,
Goldstein R.,
Acuña M. H.,
Musmann G.
Publication year - 1990
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/gl017i011p01809
Subject(s) - physics , solar wind , spacecraft , comet , hypervelocity , magnetic field , magnetometer , plasma , halley's comet , interplanetary dust cloud , astrophysics , cosmic dust , astronomy , computational physics , astrobiology , solar system , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics
We report thirteen very short events in the magnetic field of the inner magnetic pile‐up region of comet Halley observed by the Giotto magnetometer experiment together with simultaneous plasma data obtained by the Johnstone plasma analyzer and the ion mass spectrometer experiments. The events are due to dust impacts in the milligram range on the spacecraft at the relative velocity between the cemetery dust and the spacecraft of 68 km/sec. They are generally consistent with dust impact events derived from spacecraft attitude perturbations by the Giotto camera [Curdt and Keller, private communication]. Their characteristic shape generally involves a sudden decrease in magnetic field magnitude, a subsequent overshoot beyond initial field values and an asymptotic approach to the initial field somewhat reminiscent of the magnetic field signature after the AMPTE releases in the solar wind. These observations give a new way of analyzing ultra‐fast dust particles incident on a spacecraft.