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Giotto observations of the bow shock at Comet Halley

Winningham, J. D.; Thomsen, M.; Borg, H. +8 more

Preliminary results from the JPA instrument on Giotto indicate that Comet Halley, even on the flanks, has a bow shock which moves backwards and forwards over the spacecraft. To understand the structure properly will require more detailed investigation of the relationships between three particle populations, cometary ions, solar wind ions and elect…

Comet plasma tail formation - Giotto observations

Winningham, J. D.; Thomsen, M.; Borg, H. +8 more

The process of mass loading of the solar wind by cometary ions, which forms comet tails, has been observed throughout the coma of comet Halley. Three distinct regimes were found where the nature of the energy and momentum coupling between solar wind and cometary ions is different. Outside the bow shock, where there is little angular scattering of …

Extraterrestrial material analysis: Achievements and future opportunities for laboratory analysis in NASA and ESA planetary programmes

McDonnell, J. A. M.

Achievements in the understanding of the nature and distribution of extraterrestrial material recovered from space missions and stratospheric collection of ``Brownlee particles'' are examined in the context of the analytical techniques which have been applied to their study. A very wide range of powerful tools and techniques is now available for t…