Monte-Carlo and multifluid modelling of the circumnuclear dust coma II. Aspherical-homogeneous, and spherical-inhomogeneous nuclei     

V.V. Zakharov  A.V. Rodionov  J.F. Crifo 《Icarus》2009,201(1):358-380

We use our newly developed Dust Monte-Carlo (DMC) simulation technique [Crifo, J.F., Lukianov, G.A., Rodionov, A.V., Zakharov, V.V., 2005. Icarus 176, 192-219] to study the dynamics of dust grains in the vicinity of some of the benchmark aspherical, homogeneous cometary nuclei and of the benchmark spherical, inhomogeneous nuclei studied by us precedingly. We use the interim unrealistic simplifying assumptions of grain sphericity, negligible nucleus rotation rate, and negligible tidal force, but take accurately into account the nucleus gravitational force, gas coma aerodynamic force, and solar radiation pressure force, and consider the full mass range of ejectable spherical grains. The resulting complicated grain motions are described in detail, as well as the resulting complicated and often counter-intuitive dust coma structure. The results are used to answer several important questions: (1) When computing coma dust distributions, (a) is it acceptable to take into consideration only one or two of the above mentioned forces (as currently done)? (b) to which accuracy must these forces be known, in particular is it acceptable to represent the gravity of an aspherical nucleus by a spherically symmetric gravity? (c) how do the more efficient but less general Dust Multi-Fluid (DMF) computations compare with the DMC results? (2) Are there simple structural relationships between the dust coma of a nucleus at small heliocentric distance rh, and that of the same nucleus at large rh? (3) Are there similarities between the gas coma structures and the associated dust coma structures? (4) Are there dust coma signatures revealing non-ambiguously a spherical nucleus inhomogeneity or an homogeneous nucleus asphericity? (5) What are the implications of the apparently quite general process of grain fall-backs for the evolution of the nucleus surface, and for the survival of a landed probe?  相似文献   

Gas flow and dust acceleration in a cometary Knudsen layer     

《Planetary and Space Science》1999,47(8-9):935-949

An analytical model of the innermost gas–dust coma region is proposed. The kinetic Knudsen layer adjacent to the surface of the cometary nucleus, where the initially non-equilibrium velocity distribution function of gas molecules relaxes to Maxwell equilibrium distribution function and, as a result, the macro-characteristics of gas and dust flows vary several-fold, is considered. The gas phase model is based on the equations for mass, momentum and energy flux conservation, and is a natural development of the Anisimov, 1968 and Cercignani, 1981 approaches. The analytical relations between the characteristics of the gas flow on the boundaries of the non-equilibrium layer and the characteristics of the returning gas flow adsorbed by the surface are determined. These values form a consistent basis both for hydrodynamic models of the inner coma and for jet force models. Three particular models are presented: (1) sublimation of a polyatomic one-component gas; (2) sublimation of a two-component polyatomic gas mixture, in both cases from a plane surface; and (3) sublimation of water ice through a porous dust mantle. We conclude that the characteristics of the gas flow emerging from the Knudsen layer over a porous dust mantle is not very sensitive to the structure of the mantle.We also treat the expansion of dust into the coma, concentrating on the interaction between a non-equilibrium gas flow and a test particle. The dynamics of a grain of idealized shape is explored by using several simplifying assumptions for the variation of the drag force. The velocity of a particle at the exterior boundary of the Knudsen layer is thus estimated. Examining various model behaviours of the drag force inside the Knudsen layer, we show that the dust velocity is not sensitive to these variations.  相似文献   

Challenging a Paradigm: Do We Need Active and Inactive Areas to Account for Near-Nuclear Jet Activity?     

Crifo  J.-F.  Rodionov  A. V.  Szegö  K.  Fulle  M. 《Earth, Moon, and Planets》2002,90(1-4):227-238

We briefly describe an advanced 3D gas dynamical model developed for the simulation of theenvironment of active cometary nuclei. The model canhandle realistic nucleus shapes and alternative physical models for the gas and dust production mechanism.The inner gas coma structure is computed by solving self-consistently(a) near to the surface the Boltzman Equation(b) outside of it, Euler or Navier-Stokes equations.The dust distribution is computed from multifluid ``zero-temperature' Euler equations,extrapolated with the help of a Keplerian fountain model.The evolution of the coma during the nucleus orbital and spin motion,is computed as a succession of quasi-steady solutions. Earlier versions of the model using simple,``paedagogic' nuclei have demonstrated that the surface orographyand the surface inhomogeneity contribute similarly to structuring the near-nucleusgas and dust coma,casting a shadow on the automatic attribution of such structures to ``active areas'.The model was recently applied to comet P/Halley, for whichthe nucleus shape is available. In the companion paper of this volume,we show that most near-nucleus dust structuresobserved during the 1986 Halley flybys are reproduced, assuming that the nucleus is strictly homogeneous. Here, we investigate the effect of shape perturbations and homogeneityperturbations. We show that the near nucleus gas coma structure is robust vis-a-vissuch effects. In particular, a random distribution of active and inactive areaswould not affect considerably this structure, suggesting that such areas,even if present, could not be easily identified on images of the coma.  相似文献   

Direct Monte Carlo and multifluid modeling of the circumnuclear dust coma: Spherical grain dynamics revisited     

J.-F. Crifo  G.A. Loukianov  V.V. Zakharov 《Icarus》2005,176(1):192-219

This paper describes the first computations of dust distributions in the vicinity of an active cometary nucleus, using a multidimensional Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Method (DSMC). The physical model is simplistic: spherical grains of a broad range of sizes are liberated by H₂O sublimation from a selection of nonrotating sunlit spherical nuclei, and submitted to the nucleus gravity, the gas drag, and the solar radiation pressure. The results are compared to those obtained by the previously described Dust Multi-Fluid Method (DMF) and demonstrate an excellent agreement in the regions where the DMF is usable. Most importantly, the DSMC allows the discovery of hitherto unsuspected dust coma properties in those cases which cannot be treated by the DMF. This leads to a thorough reconsideration of the properties of the near-nucleus dust dynamics. In particular, the results show that (1) none of the three forces considered here can be neglected a priori, in particular not the radiation pressure; (2) hitherto unsuspected new families of grain trajectories exist, for instance trajectories leading from the nightside surface to the dayside coma; (3) a wealth of balistic-like trajectories leading from one point of the surface to another point exist; on the dayside, such trajectories lead to the formation of “mini-volcanoes.” The present model and results are discussed carefully. It is shown that (1) the neglected forces (inertia associated with a nucleus rotation, solar tidal force) are, in general, not negligible everywhere, and (2) when allowing for these additional forces, a time-dependent model will, in general, have to be used. The future steps of development of the model are outlined.  相似文献   

Navier-Stokes and direct Monte Carlo simulations of the circumnuclear coma II. Homogeneous, aspherical sources     

J.F. Crifo  G.A. Loukianov  V.V. Zakharov 《Icarus》2003,163(2):479-503

The dayside near-nucleus comae formed by solar-driven sublimation from two different aspherical nuclei made of an homogeneous mixture of ice and dust are computed by (1) solving Navier-Stokes equations and (2) direct Monte Carlo simulations, for different nucleus sizes, heliocentric distances, and dust-to-ice mixing ratios. Excellent agreement between the two methods is found down to surprisingly low production rates; it is found that the limit of validity of the first method is not simply related to the coma rarefaction: a new dimensionless number is tentatively offered to characterize this limit. The present solutions show that the weak shocks always present in the fluid coma persist practically down to truly free-molecular conditions, excluding the observational discovery of a structureless coma. They also show that rarefied flow in the near-nucleus coma can have a quite complicated structure, in particular inside topographic depressions. As an example, coma recondensation on the sunlit flanks of a cavity was found to be possible. We compute, for the first time, a true collisionless coma and show that structures are still present in it but are confined to the immediate vicinity of the surface. Finally, we describe in detail the kinetic conditions in a rarefied water coma, i.e., the velocity distribution asymmetry and the rotational-translational nonequilibrium. The significance of the results for future missions to comets is outlined.  相似文献   

Models of P/Wirtanen nucleus: active regions versus non-active regions     

《Planetary and Space Science》1999,47(6-7):855-872

From the current understanding we know that comet nuclei have heterogeneous compositions and complex structures. It is believed that cometary activity is the result of a combination of physical processes in the nucleus, like sublimation and recondensation of volatile ices, dust grains release, phase transition of water ice, depletion of the most volatile components in the outer layers and interior differentiation.The evolution of the comet depends on the sublimation of ices and the release of different gases and dust grains: the formation of a dust crust, the surface erosion and the development of the coma are related to the gas fluxes escaping from the nucleus. New observations, laboratory experiments and numerical simulations suggest that the gas and dust emissions are locally generated, in the so-called active regions. This localized activity is probably superimposed to the global nucleus activity. The differences between active and inactive regions can be attributed to differences in texture and refractory material content of the different areas.In this paper we present the results of numerical models of cometary nucleus evolution, developed in order to understand which are the processes leading to the formation of active and non-active regions on the cometary surface. The used numerical code solves the equations of heat transport and gas diffusion within a porous nucleus composed of different ices—such as water (the dominant constituent), CO₂, CO- and of dust grains embedded in the ice matrix.By varying the set of physical parameters describing the initial properties of comet P/Wirtanen, the different behaviour of the icy and dusty areas can be followed.Comet P/Wirtanen is the target of the international ROSETTA mission, the cornerstone ESA mission to a cometary nucleus. The successful design of ROSETTA requires some knowledge of comet status and activity: surface temperatures, amount of active and inactive surface areas, gas production rate and dust flux.  相似文献   

The dust distribution within the inner coma of comet P/Halley 1982i: encounter by Giotto's impact detectors     

McDonnell JA  Alexander WM  Burton WM  Bussoletti E  Evans GC  Evans ST  Firth JG  Grard RJ  Green SF  Grun E  Hanner MS  Hughes DW  Igenbergs E  Kissel J  Kuczera H  Lindblad BA  Langevin Y  Mandeville JC  Nappo S  Pankiewicz GS  Perry CH  Schwehm GH  Sekanina Z  Stevenson TJ  Zarnecki JC et AL 《Astronomy and Astrophysics》1987,187(1-2):719-741

Analysis of the data from Giotto's Dust Impact Detection System experiment (DIDSY) is presented. These data represent measurement of the size of dust grains incident on the Giotto dust shield along its trajectory through the coma of comet P/Halley on 1986 March 13/14. First detection occurred at some 287000 km distance from the nucleus on the inbound leg; the majority of the DIDSY subsystems remained operational after closest approach (604 km) yielding the last detection at about 202000 km from the nucleus. In order to improve the data coverage (and especially for the smallest grains, to approximately 10(-19) kg particle mass), data from the PIA instrument has been combined with DIDSY data. Flux profiles are presented for the various mass channels showing, to a first approximation, a 1/R2 flux dependence, where R is the distance of the detection point from the cometary nucleus, although significant differences are noted. Deviations from this dependence are observed, particularly close to the nucleus. From the flux profiles, mass and geometrical area distributions for the dust grains are derived for the trajectory through the coma. Groundbased CCD imaging of the dust continuum in the inner coma at the time of encounter is also used to derive the area of grains intercepted by Giotto. The results are consistent with the area functions derived by Giotto data and the low albedo of the grains deduced from infrared emission. For the close encounter period (-5 min to +5 min), the cumulative mass distribution function has been investigated, initially in 20 second periods; there is strong evidence from the data for a steepening of the index of the mass distribution for masses greater than 10(-13) kg during passage through dust jets which is not within the error limits of statistical uncertainty. The fluences for dust grains along the entire trajectory is calculated; it is found that extrapolation of the spectrum determined at intermediate masses (cumulative mass index alpha = 0.85) is not able to account for the spacecraft deceleration as observed by the Giotto Radio Science Experiment and by ESOC tracking operations. Data at large masses (>10(-8) kg) recently analysed from the DIDSY data set show clear evidence of a decrease in the mass distribution index at these masses within the coma, and it is shown that such a value of the mass index can provide sufficient mass for consistency with the observed deceleration. The total particulate mass output from the nucleus of comet P/Halley at the time of encounter would be dependent on the maximum mass emitted if this change in slope observed in the coma were also applicable to the emission from the nucleus; this matter is discussed in the text. The flux time profiles have been converted through a simple approach to modeling of the particle trajectories to yield an indication of nucleus surface activity. There is indication of an enhancement in flux at t approximately -29 s corresponding to crossing of the dawn terminator, but the flux detected prior to crossing of the dawn terminator is shown to be higher than predicted by simple modelling. Further enhancements corresponding to jet activity are detected around +190 s and +270 s.  相似文献   

Navier-Stokes and direct Monte-Carlo simulations of the circumnuclear gas coma: III. Spherical, inhomogeneous sources     

V.V. Zakharov  G.A. Lukyanov  J.F. Crifo 《Icarus》2008,194(1):327-346

We pursue our program of comparative simulations of the cometary gas coma by the two most advanced techniques available: (1) numerical solution of Navier-Stokes equations coupled to the Boltzman equation in the surface boundary layer, and (2) direct Monte-Carlo simulation. Here, we consider two different spherical but compositionally inhomogeneous nuclei, at three very different levels of gas production. The results show the same excellent agreement between the two methods in a domain adjacent to the surface as found precedingly, practically down to free-molecular conditions. A wealth of coma density patterns with non-intuitive structure is obtained. Some of these structures appear even under free-molecular effusion from the surface. The physical origin of all structures is discussed, and their evolution with changing gas production is studied. The computed comae are compared to those computed by various authors precedingly. Intercomparison of the present results demonstrates that differing inhomogeneity patterns may lead to similar structures in the gas coma. Comparison between these structures and those created by homogeneous, aspherical surfaces shows that it is not possible to guess from empirical rules which one of the two processes is responsible for the creation of a given structure. The implications for the interpretation of future high resolution images, or of future in situ mass spectrometric samplings of the near-nucleus gas coma are discussed.  相似文献   

The contribution of grains to the activity of comets: II. The brightness of the coma     

E. Beer  M. Podolak 《Icarus》2008,195(1):340-347

We use the model of grain behavior in the coma developed by Beer et al. [Beer, E.H., Podolak, M., Prialnik, P., 2006. Icarus 180, 473-486] to compute the contribution of ice grains to the brightness of the coma. The motion of an ice grain along the comet-Sun axis is computed, taking into account gas drag, the gravity of the nucleus, and radiation pressure of sunlight. The sublimation of the grains is also included. We assume that the maximum distance that a grain travels along this axis is indicative of the size of the coma, and we compute the resultant brightness as a function of heliocentric distance. The results are then compared to observations.  相似文献   

Gemini-N mid-IR observations of the dust properties of the ejecta excavated from Comet 9P/Tempel 1 during Deep Impact     

David E. Harker  Charles E. Woodward  R. Scott Fisher 《Icarus》2007,190(2):432-453

We present mid-infrared spectra and images from the Gemini-N (+MICHELLE) observational campaign of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 before, during, and after its encounter with Deep Impact. We use our thermal grain model to probe the 10 μm properties of the dust grains in the coma of the comet. Before impact (3 July 2005 UT), and more than 24 h after impact (5, 16, and 28 July 2005 UT), the comet dust grains were composed mostly of amorphous olivine, and were relatively large (peak of the grain size distribution ). For the night of impact, we extract spectra by centering on the nucleus, and offset 1″ from the nucleus in the direction of the impact ejecta plume. We find small dust grains (∼0.2 μm) of a diverse mineralogy (amorphous olivine, amorphous pyroxene, amorphous carbon, and crystalline olivine) populating the ejecta. The submicron sized dust grains move faster than the other, larger grains (?0.7 μm), with amorphous olivine and amorphous carbon traveling together, and amorphous pyroxene and crystalline olivine dispersing at a similar rate. Deriving a velocity law from a time-of-flight analysis, we find that the material traveled with a velocity law scaled by and with a power of p=0.5. This velocity power-law requires a sustained release of grains for the duration of 45-60 min after impact. Since the mineral species are traveling at different speeds, and there was a sustained release of grains due to a possible “gas-plume,” we conclude that the different minerals did not originate from grain aggregates destroyed by the impact, but instead arise from an inhomogeneous nucleus.  相似文献   

Dust coma morphology in the Deep Impact images of Comet 9P/Tempel 1     

T.L. Farnham  D.D. Wellnitz  J.-Y. Li  O. Groussin  C.J. Crockett  M.J.S. Belton  C.M. Lisse 《Icarus》2007,187(1):26-40

We present an overview of the dust coma observations of Comet Tempel 1 that were obtained during the approach and encounter phases of the Deep Impact mission. We use these observations to set constraints on the pre-impact activity of the comet and discuss some preliminary results. The temporal and spatial changes that were observed during approach reveal three distinct jets rotating with a 1.7-day periodicity. The brightest jet produces an arcuate feature that expands outward with a projected velocity of about 12 m s⁻¹, suggesting that the ambient dust coma is dominated by millimeter-sized dust grains. As the spatial resolution improves, more jets and fans are revealed. We use stereo pairs of high-resolution images to put some crude constraints on the source locations of some of the brightest features. We also present a number of interesting coma features that were observed, including surface jets detected at the limb of the nucleus when the exposed ice patches are passing over the horizon, and features that appear to be jets emanating from unilluminated sources near the negative pole. We also provide a list of 10 outbursts of various sizes that were observed in the near-continuous monitoring during the approach phase.  相似文献   

A practical tool for simulating the presence of gas comae in thermophysical modeling of cometary nuclei     

Björn J.R. Davidsson  Yuri V. Skorov 《Icarus》2004,168(1):163-185

A longstanding problem in thermophysical modeling of cometary nuclei has been to accurately formulate the boundary conditions at the nucleus/coma interface. A correct treatment of the problem, where the Knudsen layer gas just above the cometary surface (which is not in thermodynamic equilibrium) is modeled in parallel with the nucleus, is extremely time-consuming and has so far been avoided. Instead, simplifying assumptions regarding the coma properties are used, e.g., the surface gas density is assumed equal to zero or set to the local saturation value, and the coma backflux is neglected or given some realistic but approximate value. The resulting inaccuracy regarding the exchange of mass, energy, and momentum between the nucleus and the coma, may introduce significant errors in the calculated nucleus temperature profiles, gas production rates, and momentum transfer efficiencies. In this paper, we present a practical, accurate, and time-efficient tool which makes it possible to consider the nucleus and the innermost coma of a comet (the former assumed to consist of a porous mixture of crystalline water ice and dust) as a coupled, physically consistent system. The tool consists of interpolation tables for the surface gas density and pressure, the recondensing coma backflux, and the cooling energy flux due to diffusely scattered coma molecules. The tables cover a wide range of surface temperatures and sub-surface temperature profiles, and can be used to improve the boundary conditions used in thermophysical models. The interpolation tables have been obtained by calculating the transmission distribution functions of gas emerging from sublimating porous ice/dust mixtures with various temperature profiles, which then are used as source functions in a Direct Simulation Monte Carlo model of inelastic intermolecular collisions in the Knudsen layer.  相似文献   

Hamiltonian Formulation and Perturbations for Dust Motion Around Cometary Nuclei     

Yu Jiang  Juergen Schmidt  Hexi Baoyin  Hengnian Li  Junfeng Li 《Earth, Moon, and Planets》2017,120(3):147-168

In this paper we analyze the dynamical behavior of large dust grains in the vicinity of a cometary nucleus. To this end we consider the gravitational field of the irregularly shaped body, as well as its electric and magnetic fields. Without considering the effect of gas friction and solar radiation, we find that there exist grains which are static relative to the cometary nucleus; the positions of these grains are the stable equilibria. There also exist grains in the stable periodic orbits close to the cometary nucleus. The grains in the stable equilibria or the stable periodic orbits won’t escape or impact on the surface of the cometary nucleus. The results are applicable for large charge dusts with small area-mass ratio which are near the cometary nucleus and far from the Solar. It is found that the resonant periodic orbit can be stable, and there exist stable non-resonant periodic orbits, stable resonant periodic orbits and unstable resonant periodic orbits in the potential field of cometary nuclei. The comet gravity force, solar gravity force, electric force, magnetic force, solar radiation pressure, as well as the gas drag force are all considered to analyze the order of magnitude of these forces acting on the grains with different parameters. Let the distance of the dust grain relative to the mass centre of the cometary nucleus, the charge and the mass of the dust grain vary, respectively, fix other parameters, we calculated the strengths of different forces. The motion of the dust grain depends on the area-mass ratio, the charge, and the distance relative to the comet’s mass center. For a large dust grain (> 1 mm) close to the cometary nucleus which has a small value of area-mass ratio, the comet gravity is the largest force acting on the dust grain. For a small dust grain (< 1 mm) close to the cometary nucleus with large value of area-mass ratio, both the solar radiation pressure and the comet gravity are two major forces. If the a small dust grain which is close to the cometary nucleus have the large value of charge, the magnetic force, the solar radiation pressure, and the electric force are all major forces. When the large dust grain is far away from the cometary nucleus, the solar gravity and solar radiation pressure are both major forces.  相似文献   

Chemical evolution of the gas in C-type shocks in dark clouds     

A. V. Nesterenok 《Astrophysics and Space Science》2018,363(7):151

A magnetohydrodynamic model of a steady, transverse C-type shock in a dense molecular cloud is presented. A complete gas–grain chemical network is taken into account: the gas-phase chemistry, the adsorption of gas species on dust grains, various desorption mechanisms, the grain surface chemistry, the ion neutralization on dust grains, the sputtering of grain mantles. The population densities of energy levels of ions CI, CII and OI and molecules H₂, CO, H₂O are computed in parallel with the dynamical and chemical rate equations. The large velocity gradient approximation is used in the line radiative transfer calculations. The simulations consist of two steps: (i) modelling of the chemical and thermal evolution of a static molecular cloud and (ii) shock simulations. A comparison is made with the results of publicly available models of similar physical systems.The focus of the paper is on the chemical processing of gas material and ice mantles of dust grains by the shock. Sputtering of ice mantles takes place in the shock region close to the temperature peak of the neutral gas. At high shock speeds, molecules ejected from ice mantles are effectively destroyed in hot gas, and their survival time is low—of the order of dozens of years. After a passage of high-speed C-type shock, a zone of high abundance of atomic hydrogen appears in the cooling postshock gas that triggers formation of complex organic species such as methanol. It is shown that abundances of some complex organic molecules (COMs) in the postshock region can be much higher than in the preshock gas. These results are important for interpretation of observations of COMs in protostellar outflows.  相似文献   

Large Dust Grains Around Cometary Nuclei     

A. Molina  F. Moreno  F. J. Jiménez-Fernández 《Earth, Moon, and Planets》2008,102(1-4):521-524

Large amounts of particles ejected from the nucleus surface are present in the vicinity of the cometary nuclei when comets are near the Sun (at heliocentric distances ≤2 AU). The largest dust grains ejected may constitute a hazard for spatial vehicles. We tried to obtain the bounded orbits of those particles and to investigate their stability along several orbital periods. The model includes the solar and the cometary gravitational forces and the solar radiation pressure force. The nucleus is assumed to be spherical. The dust grains are also assumed to be spherical, and radially ejected. We include the effects of centrifugal forces owing to the comet rotation. An expression for the most heavy particles that can be lifted is proposed. Using the usual values adopted for the case of Halley’s comet, the largest grains that can be lifted have a diameter about 5 cm, and the term due to the rotation is negligible. However, that term increases the obtained value for the maximum diameter of the lifted grain in a significant amount when the rotation period is of the order of a few hours.  相似文献   

The contribution of icy grains to the activity of comets: I. Grain lifetime and distribution     

E.H. Beer  D. Prialnik 《Icarus》2006,180(2):473-486

We have developed a computer code (GEM—grain evolution model) to simulate the behavior of ice grains in a comet coma. The grains are assumed to be composed of water-ice with an admixture of dark material (“dirt”). An initial size distribution of grains is assumed to be ejected from the nucleus. The ejected mass is taken to be proportional to the rate of gas production by the nucleus. The efficiency for absorption and re-radiation of sunlight is computed from Mie scattering theory. The grain temperature and sublimation rate at a given heliocentric distance is then derived from energy balance considerations. The evolution of the grain size distribution is followed as a function of distance from the nucleus.  相似文献   

Coma expansion and photometry of comet Bowell (1980b)     

David Jewitt 《Icarus》1984,60(2):373-385

Optical and infrared observations of comet Bowell are presented. The optical observations indicate that the solid grain coma is expanding at only 0.9 ± 0.2 m sec^?1. This is two orders of magnitude slower than the local gas sound speed and may suggest that gas drag is not responsible for stripping the grains from the nucleus. The hypothesis of “electrostatic snap-off” is tentatively advanced to account for the ejection of the grains. Alternatively, the grains may have an unusual size distribution. The extrapolated motion of the grains suggests that the bulk of the coma was formed when the comet was at a heliocentric distance $\text{R ? 10}\text{AU}$. Any water ice in the nucleus would be too cold to give rise to the observed grain coma by equilibrium sublimation at this R. Further evidence against the production of the grain coma by equilibrium sublimation of the nucleus is provided by broadband (J) photometric observations. Almost all of the observed photometric variations of comet Bowell can be ascribed to geometric effects. Simple models indicate that the total grain cross section has been nearly constant since the time of the earliest observations. The present observations, which suggest that water ice sublimation does not control either the optical morphology or the near infrared photometric behavior of comet Bowell, are contrasted with reported high OH production rates. It is concluded that the grain coma may be largely a relic of activity occurring on the nucleus at $\text{R ? 10}\text{AU}$ while the OH may indicate sublimation from the nucleus near perihelion and from coma grains near $\text{R ? 4.6}\text{AU}$.  相似文献   

Lofted charged dust distribution above the Moon surface     

Vladimir Pines  Marianna Zlatkowski  Arnon Chait 《Planetary and Space Science》2011,59(14):1795-1803

We developed kinetic theory for the charging processes of small dust grains near the lunar surface due to interaction with the anisotropic solar wind plasma. Once charged, these dust grains, which are exposed to the electric field in the sheath region near the lunar surface, could loft and distribute around such heights off the surface where they reach equilibrium with the local gravitational force. Analytical solutions were derived for the charging time, grain floating potential, and grain charge, characterizing the charging processes of small dust grains in a two-component and in a multi-component solar wind plasma, and further highlighting the unique features presented by the high streaming plasma velocity. We have also formulated a novel kinetic theory of sheath formation around an absorbing planar surface immersed in the anisotropic solar wind plasma in the case of a negligible photoelectric effect and presented solutions for the sheath structure. In this study we combined the results from these analyses and provided estimates for the size distribution function of dust that is expected to be lofted in regions dominated by the solar wind plasma, such as near the terminator and in nearby shadowed craters. Corresponding to the two dominant streaming velocity peaks of 300 and 800 km/s, mean dust diameters of 500 and 350 nm, respectively, are expected to be found at equilibrium at heights of relevance to exploration operations, e.g., around 1.5 m height off the lunar surface. In shadowed craters near the terminator region, where isotropic plasma should be dominating, we estimate mean lofted dust diameter of 800 nm around the same 1.5 m height off the lunar surface. The generally applicable solutions could be used to readily calculate the expected lofted size distribution near the lunar surface as a function of plasma parameters, dust grain composition, and other parameters of interest.  相似文献   

Direct statistical simulation of the near-surface layers of the cometary atmosphere. I. A spherical nucleus     

Yu. V. Skorov  G. N. Markelov  H. U. Keller 《Solar System Research》2004,38(6):455-475

  相似文献   

Gas kinetics and dust dynamics in low-density comet comae     

Björn J.R. Davidsson  Samuel Gulkis 《Icarus》2010,210(1):455-471

Extensive regions of low-density cometary comae are characterized by important deviations from the Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution, i.e. breakdown of thermodynamic equilibrium. The consequences of this on the shapes of emission and absorption lines, and for the acceleration of solid bodies due to gas drag, have rarely been investigated.These problems are studied here to aid in the development of future coma models, and in preparation for observations of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from the ESA Rosetta spacecraft. Two topics in particular, related to Rosetta, are preparation for in situ observations of water, carbon monoxide, ammonia, and methanol emission lines by the mm/sub-mm spectrometer MIRO, as well as gas drag forces on dust grains and on the Rosetta spacecraft itself.Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) modeling of H₂O/CO mixtures in spherically symmetric geometries at various heliocentric distances are used to study the evolution of the (generally non-Maxwellian) velocity distribution function throughout the coma. Such distribution functions are then used to calculate Doppler broadening profiles and drag forces.It is found that deviation from thermodynamic equilibrium indeed is commonplace, and already at 2.5 AU from the Sun the entire comet coma displays manifestations of such breakdown, e.g., non-equal partitioning of energy between kinetic and rotational modes, causing substantial differences between translational and rotational temperatures. We exemplify how deviations from thermodynamic equilibrium affect the properties of Doppler broadened line profiles. Upper limits on the size of liftable dust grains as well as terminal grain velocities are presented. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the drag-to-gravity force ratio is likely to decrease with decreasing cometocentric distance, which may be of relevance both for Rosetta and for the lander probe Philae.  相似文献