CAOSP abstracts, Volume: 22, year: 1992


Abstract: A set of four large-scale exposures of comet P/Brorsen-Metcalf 1989 X between 1989 August 29 and September 3 is evaluated. The observations were obtained with the 40/300 cm Zeiss double astrograph of the International Latitude Station, Kitab, Uzbek Republic. The studied plasma tail is narrow and longer than 3 degr. with visible plasma kinks, rays, and disconnections events. For this period the solar wind velocity is determined from the aberration angle of the plasma tail. Its radial component had about 210 km/s, tangential component 0.5 km/s, in the comet's environment: 0.5 AU above the ecliptic plane at a heliocentric distance of 0.6 AU, in the direction of 29-49 degr of the ecliptical longitude. The tree plasma kinks visible on the 1989 August 29 exposures moved from the nucleus at a radial velocity of about 17 km/s and a tangential velocity of about 5 km/s.

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