HR: 0830h
AN: SH21B-0161    [PDF]
TI: SOHO Observations of the Perihelion Passage Comet C/2002 V1 NEAT
AU: Hammer, D
EM: derek.hammer@nrl.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory, Solar Physics Division 4555 Overlook Ave SW, Washington, DC 20375 United States
AU: * Morrill, J
EM: jeff.morrill@nrl.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory, Solar Physics Division 4555 Overlook Ave SW, Washington, DC 20375 United States
AU: Lawrence, G
EM: grl@kreutz.nascom.nasa.gov
AF: Catholic University of America, Code 682.3 Goddard Spaceflight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: Jones, G
EM: geraint.h.jones@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Lisse, C
EM: lisse@astro.umd.edu
AF: University of Maryland, Department of Physics and Astronomy, College Park, MD 20742 United States
AB: During mid-February the Comet C/2002 V1 (NEAT) passed through the field-of-view of the LASCO C3 coronagraph on SOHO. The comet passed within 0.1 AU (about 20 solar radii) and displayed complex dust and ion tails. The comet exhibited the brightest and largest SOHO dust tail to date, with a peak gas production rate similar to the huge rates calculated for C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp and 96P/Machholz 1 at perihelion. Additionally, a coronal mass ejection may have crossed the comet's tail at about the time the comet was predicted to cross the heliospheric current sheet, and this may have been responsible for splitting the ion tail. We discuss these observations and consider likely physical mechanisms such as: solar wind charging of the dust by the CME ion burden, dust disruption or dust emission enhancement. We also compare solar wind speeds derived from the ion tail measurements with theoretical values.
DE: 2134 Interplanetary magnetic fields
DE: 6025 Interactions with solar wind plasma and fields
DE: 6061 Remote sensing
DE: 7509 Corona
DE: 7513 Coronal mass ejections
SC: SPA - Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting