Fine dust structures in the emission of comet P/Halley observed by the Halley Multicolour Camera on board Giotto

Abstract

Halley Multicolor Camera (HMC) observations on board the ESA Giotto spacecraft provided images of comet P/Halley with resolution 4-orders of magnitude better than from the ground in March 1986. The fine structure seen in the emission from the cometary surface has led to some confusion over the nomenclature of jets and jet-like features streaming from the nucleus. In this letter, emission features are classified according to directions with resect to the sun and to positions with respect to the nucleus. In total 17 fine dust structures (filaments) are identified, more than doubling the number presented earlier (Keller et al., 1986). This will assist in correlation with other spacecraft and ground-based observations.