Comet Halley-solar wind interaction from electron measurements aboard Giotto
Anderson, K. A.; Reme, H.; Korth, A.; Lin, R. P.; Carlson, C. W.; Richter, A. K.; Mendis, D. A.; Sauvaud, J. A.; Curtis, D. W.; D'Uston, C.; Cros, A.; Cotin, F.
France
Abstract
Measurements made by the three-dimensional electron spectrometer of the RPA-Copernic experiment aboard the Giotto spacecraft give a preliminary description of the complex interaction between comet Halley and the solar wind. As Giotto approached the comet, it traversed several regions of differing plasma characteristics: a large (~107 km) upstream region, a foreshock, a bow wave with its apex at ~4×105 km, a transition region, a region permanently and strongly contaminated by cometary ions, a collisionopause at a sub-solar distance of ~5-6×104 km, and various inner regions up to the inner coma, including a region of depleted hot plasma.