Large dust particles along the Giotto trajectory
- Max-Planck-Institut fuer Aeronomie, Katlenburg-Lindau (Germany, F.R.)
Giotto's Halley Multicolor Camera (HMC), by being incorporated into the spacecraft's dynamical system, was rendered highly sensitive to attitude variations during its final approach to Comet P/Halley in March, 1986. HMC identified several discrete events due to dust particles in the 1-50 mg range; these measurements were sufficiently well calibrated to set firm lower limits on the mass of the large dust particles which dominate the impact history of the spacecraft, and therefore on the dust mass distribution. The information obtained suggests the presence of a halo of old, heavy dust grains around the cometary nucleus, supporting models which assume a dust mass distribution dominated by large grains. 23 refs.
- OSTI ID:
- 6862924
- Journal Information:
- Icarus (International Journal of the Solar System); (USA), Vol. 86; ISSN 0019-1035
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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