Kinetic simulation of neutral/ionized gas and electrically charged dust in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Journal Article · Fri May 20 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3562802· OSTI ID:21511577

Tenishev, Valeriy; Rubin, Martin; Combi, Michael R ^[1]

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1. University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States)

The cometary coma is a unique phenomenon in the solar system being a planetary atmosphere influenced by little or no gravity. As a comet approaches the sun, the water vapor with some fraction of other gases sublimate, generating a cloud of gas, ice and other refractory materials (rocky and organic dust) ejected from the surface of the nucleus. Sublimating gas molecules undergo frequent collisions and photochemical processes in the near-nucleus region. Owing to its negligible gravity, comets produce a large and highly variable extensive dusty coma with a size much larger than the characteristic size of the cometary nucleus.The Rosetta spacecraft is en route to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for a rendezvous, landing, and extensive orbital phase beginning in 2014. Both, interpretation of measurements and safety consideration of the spacecraft require modeling of the comet's dusty gas environment.In this work we present results of a numerical study of multispecies gaseous and electrically charged dust environment of comet Chyuryumov-Gerasimenko. Both, gas and dust phases of the coma are simulated kinetically. Photolytic reactions are taken into account. Parameters of the ambient plasma as well as the distribution of electric/magnetic fields are obtained from an MHD simulation of the coma connected to the solar wind. Trajectories of ions and electrically charged dust grains are simulated by accounting for the Lorentz force and the nucleus gravity.

• OSTI ID: 21511577
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1333, Issue 1; Conference: 27. international symposium on rarefied gas dynamics, Pacific Grove, CA (United States), 10-15 Jul 2010; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3562802; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COLLISIONS
COMETS
DISTRIBUTION
DUSTS
GRAVITATION
LORENTZ FORCE
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MOLECULES
NUCLEI
PHOTOCHEMISTRY
PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES
REFRACTORIES
SAFETY
SIMULATION
SOLAR SYSTEM
SOLAR WIND
SUBLIMATION
SURFACES
WATER VAPOR
ATMOSPHERES
CHEMISTRY
EVAPORATION
FLUID MECHANICS
FLUIDS
GASES
HYDRODYNAMICS
MECHANICS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
SOLAR ACTIVITY
STELLAR ACTIVITY
STELLAR WINDS
VAPORS