Optical spectrophotometry of comet P/Giacobini‐Zinner and emission profiles of H2O+

Michael A. Strauss; Patrick J. McCarthy; Hyron Spinrad

doi:10.1029/GL013i004p00389

Optical spectrophotometry of comet P/Giacobini‐Zinner and emission profiles of H₂O⁺

Michael A. Strauss, Patrick J. McCarthy, Hyron Spinrad

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12 Scopus citations

Abstract

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 H₂O⁺ 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 H₂O⁺ 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. H₂O production rates for the comet are derived and compared with those of Comet P/Halley (1982i).

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	389-392
Number of pages	4
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	13
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/GL013i004p00389
State	Published - Apr 1986
Externally published	Yes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Geophysics
General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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@article{022f6244f05d4d1a9e4714381ac8f980,

title = "Optical spectrophotometry of comet P/Giacobini‐Zinner and emission profiles of H2O+",

abstract = "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 H2O+ at 6198 {\AA}, 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 H2O+ 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. H2O production rates for the comet are derived and compared with those of Comet P/Halley (1982i).",

author = "Strauss, {Michael A.} and McCarthy, {Patrick J.} and Hyron Spinrad",

year = "1986",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1029/GL013i004p00389",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "13",

pages = "389--392",

journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",

issn = "0094-8276",

publisher = "John Wiley and Sons Inc.",

number = "4",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Optical spectrophotometry of comet P/Giacobini‐Zinner and emission profiles of H2O+

AU - Strauss, Michael A.

AU - McCarthy, Patrick J.

AU - Spinrad, Hyron

PY - 1986/4

Y1 - 1986/4

N2 - 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 H2O+ 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 H2O+ 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. H2O production rates for the comet are derived and compared with those of Comet P/Halley (1982i).

AB - 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 H2O+ 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 H2O+ 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. H2O production rates for the comet are derived and compared with those of Comet P/Halley (1982i).

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JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

IS - 4

ER -

Optical spectrophotometry of comet P/Giacobini‐Zinner and emission profiles of H₂O⁺

Abstract

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