P52A-07
Comet 73P Measurements of Solar Wind Interactions, Cometary Ion Pickup, and Spatial Distribution
Friday, 18 December 2015: 11:50
2007 (Moscone West)
Jason A Gilbert1, Susan T Lepri2, Martin Rubin3, Michael R Combi1 and Thomas Zurbuchen1, (1)University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, United States, (2)Univ Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States, (3)University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Abstract:
Several fragments of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 passed near the Earth following a 2006 disintegration episode. Unique measurements regarding the charge state composition and the elemental abundances of both cometary and heliospheric plasma were made during this time by both the ACE/SWICS and Wind/STICS sensors. As the solar wind passed through the neutral cometary coma, it experienced charge exchange that was observed as an increase in the ratio of He+/He++. In addition, particles originating from fragments trailing the major cometary objects were ionized and picked up by the solar wind. The cometary material can be identified by the concentrations of water-group pickup ions having a mass-per-charge ratio of 16-18 amu/e, indicating that these are actively sublimating fragments. Here we present an analysis of cometary composition, spatial distribution, directionality, and heliospheric interactions with a focus on Helium, Carbon (C/O), and water-group ions.
