Model analysis of the dust tail of comet Hale-Bopp

• Published in: Kinematics and physics of celestial bodies Vol. 25; no. 4; pp. 189 - 193
• Main Authors: Kharchuk, S. V., Korsun, P. P., Mikuz, H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Allerton Press, Inc 01-08-2009; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Astronomy; Astrophysics; Comets; Computer based modeling; Dust; Dynamics and Physics of Solar System Bodies; Observations and Techniques; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Studies; Brightness Distribution; Dust; Dust Particle; Celestial Body; Solar Radiation Pressure
• ISSN: 0884-5913; 1934-8401
• DOI: 10.3103/S0884591309040035

The paper presents the results of dynamic simulation for the dust tail formation of comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp). To simulate the dust tail, the trajectories of 2 × 10
6
dust particles were traced. The sizes, ejection moments, outflow directions and velocities of the dust particles were defined by the Monte Carlo algorithm. The obtained three-dimensional tail was projected on the sky plane to compare it with the observed images. The brightness distribution in the comet tail was fitted to similar model parameters for three different dates. According to our model experiments, the observed tails could be formed by particles with sizes from 0.3 to 8.0 μm, ejection velocities from 0.155 to 0.670 km/s, and power index of the exponential size distribution from −3.6 to −3.7. It is shown that the inclusion of the particles fragmentation processes leads to a noticeable improvement of the simulation results.