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WORLD SCIENTIFIC SERIES IN ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS

Editor: Jayant V. Narlikar
Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, India

Published:
Volume 1:

Lectures on Cosmology and Action at a Distance Electrodynamics

F. Hoyle and J. V. Narlikar

Volume 2:

Physics of Comets (2nd Ed.)

K. S. Krishna Swamy

Volume 3:

Catastrophes and Comets*

V. Clube and B. Napier

Volume 4:

From Black Clouds to Black Holes (2nd Ed.)

J. V. Narlikar

Volume 5:

Solar and Interplanetary Disturbances

S. K. Alurkar

Volume 6:

Fundamentals of Solar Astronomy

A. Bhatnagar and W. Livingston

Volume 7:

Dust in the Universe: Similarities and Differences

K. S. Krishna Swamy

Volume 8:

An Invitation to Astrophysics
T. Padmanabhan

Volume 9:

Stardust from Meteorites: An Introduction to Presolar Grains

M. Lugaro

Volume 10:

Rotation and Accretion Powered Pulsars

P. Ghosh

Volume 11:

Find a Hotter Place!: A History of Nuclear Astrophysics

L. M. Celnikier

Volume 12:

Physics of Comets (3rd Edition)

K. S. Krishna Swamy

*Publication cancelled.

Lakshmi - Physics of Comets (3rd Ed).pmd

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World Scientific Series in Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol. 12

K S Krishna Swamy

retired from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India

World Scientific
NEW JERSEY

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LONDON

SINGAPORE

BEIJING

SHANGHAI

HONG KONG

TA I P E I

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8/3/10 3:25 PM

Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224
USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601
UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

PHYSICS OF COMETS (3rd Edition)

World Scientific Series in Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol. 12
Copyright 2010 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.

For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright
Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to
photocopy is not required from the publisher.

ISBN-13 978-981-4291-11-8
ISBN-10 981-4291-11-0

Printed in Singapore.

Lakshmi - Physics of Comets (3rd Ed).pmd

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comets

Foreword

Only in recent years has the true nature of comets become evident.
With this knowledge has come the realization that comets are almost certainly debris left over from the building of the outermost planets. This
material must be typical of the gas and dust in the interstellar cloud from
which the Sun and planetary system evolved. Thus, comets appear to offer
us an opportunity to study primitive matter involved in the origin of the
solar system, material that has been stored in deep freeze for 4.6 109
years. At the same time, the comets provide a link with interstellar solids,
of which they are probably largely composed. The physical and chemical
study of comets has now replaced classical celestial mechanics as the major
focus of observational and theoretical research. Familiar areas of astronomical spectroscopy are approached from a somewhat unusual point of view in
cometary studies, while comets provide an entirely new laboratory for an increased understanding of magneto-hydrodynamics. On the other extreme,
the physics of amorphous ices and other solids can be applied to probe the
internal structure, origin and activity of the comet nuclei. In summation,
the study of comets has now become a manifold discipline with fascinating
potential, particularly as the space age provides new observational input
over the entire electromagnetic spectrum, coupled with the expectation of
direct in situ studies and even the eventual return of samples from cometary
nuclei. The marked progress in this direction is represented by the new results described in this books revised (second) edition. The several missions
to Halleys comet have filled in many lacunae of comet knowledge.
Fred L. Whipple

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Preface

We are in an exciting era of cometary science. This has come about due
to space mission to comets, launch of several satellites and ground based
studies. The first major space adventure was in 1986 when six spacecraft
passed through Comet Halley as close as 500 km from the nucleus. More
recently, the far more adventures venture of the Deep Impact Mission to
Comet Tempel 1 and Stardust Mission to Comet Wild 2 made it possible for
the first time to look at the material in the deeper layers of the cometary
nuclei and to study in the laboratory the collected cometary dust. All
these studies have given rise to exciting and unexpected results which have
raised some fundamental issues about comets and in turn on the solar
system itself. For example, the detection of X-rays from comets was a
real challenge in its understanding. The observed diversity in chemical
composition among comets has direct bearing on the formation conditions
in the solar nebula. The mineralogy of dust in IDPs, comets, meteorites,
asteroids and circumstellar shell of stars are quite similar showing generic
relationship between them.
In view of these exciting developments it is an appropriate time to revise
and update the second edition of the book Physics of Comets published
in 1997. Therefore extensive revision has been carried out in most of the
chapters. Emphasis has been to include all the new results with the hope
that the flavour of excitement may be conveyed to the reader. The general
arrangement, purpose and level of the updated and revised edition of the
book remains the same as that of second edition.
I am especially grateful to my colleagues, H.M. Antia who helped me in
various ways and especially in the preparation of figures and S. Ramadurai
for a thorough reading of the manuscript. I would also like to express my
gratitude to my family and parents for their support and encouragement.
vii

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Physics of Comets

I would like to thank all the publishers and authors who have given permission for the reproduction of figures and tables. The help of Mr. Vivek
Vengurlekar in the preparation of the manuscript is highly appreciated. My
interaction with several astronomers have been very helpful and especially,
the cometary experts like, M.F.AHearn, P.D. Feldman, W.F. Huebner,
M.J. Mumma, C.R.ODell and J. Watanabe.

K S Krishna Swamy
204, Sigma Tower
Plot 32, Gorai Road
Borivali West
Mumbai 400 091, India

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Contents

Foreword

Preface
1.

General Introduction
1.1. Historical Perspective
1.2. Discovery . . . . . . .
1.3. Appearance . . . . . .
1.4. Statistics . . . . . . .
1.5. Importance . . . . . .
1.6. Brightness . . . . . .
1.7. Main Characteristics
1.8. Spacecraft Encounters
1.9. An Overall View . . .
Problems . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . .

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Dynamics

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Orbital Elements . . . . . . . .
Orbit in Space . . . . . . . . .
2.2.1. Relevant equations . .
2.2.2. Orbital elements from
2.2.3. Orbital elements from
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Physics of Comets

3.

Physical Aspects

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3.1.
3.2.
3.3.
3.4.
3.5.

Black Body Radiation . . . . . .

Perfect Gas Law . . . . . . . . .
Dissociative Equilibrium . . . .
Doppler Shift . . . . . . . . . . .
Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . .
3.5.1. Atomic spectroscopy . .
3.5.2. Molecular spectroscopy
3.5.3. Chemical subgroups . .
3.6. Isotopic Effect . . . . . . . . . .
3.7. Franck-Condon Factors . . . . .
3.8. Intensity of Emitted Lines . . .
3.9. Boltzmann Distribution . . . . .
3.10. -Doubling . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.11. Photochemistry of Water . . . .
3.12. Silicate . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.13. Annealing . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.14. Carbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.15. Solar Radiation . . . . . . . . .
3.16. Solar Wind . . . . . . . . . . . .
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Spectra of Coma
5.1.

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4.1. Main Characteristics . . .

4.2. Forbidden Transitions . . .
4.3. LinetoContinuum Ratio
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Fluorescence Process . . . . . . . . . .
5.1.1. Rotational structure . . . . . .
5.1.2. Vibrational structure . . . . .
5.1.3. Comparison with observations
5.1.4. Case of C2 molecule . . . . . .
5.1.5. Prompt emission lines of OH .
5.1.6. Molecules other than diatomic

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Contents

5.1.7. OH radio lines . . . . . . . .

5.1.8. Oxygen lines . . . . . . . . .
5.1.9. Forbidden transitions . . . .
5.1.10. Molecular band polarization
5.2. Excitation Temperature . . . . . . . .
5.2.1. Rotational temperature . . .
5.2.2. Vibrational temperature . .
5.3. Abundances of Heavy Elements . . .
5.4. Isotopic Abundances . . . . . . . . . .
5.5. Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Gas Production Rates in Coma

6.1.

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6.7.

Theoretical Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.1. From the total luminosity . . . . . . .
6.1.2. From surface brightness distribution .
6.1.3. From number densities . . . . . . . .
6.1.4. Semi-empirical photometric theory . .
Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.1. OH and H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.2. H2 O, H2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.3. CN, C2 , C3 , NH . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.4. CH, NH2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.5. CO, CO2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.6. CS, S2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.7. Ions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.8. Complex molecules . . . . . . . . . .
6.2.9. O, C, N, S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Analysis of Hydrogen Observations . . . . . .
6.3.1. Analysis of Lyman measurements .
6.3.2. Analysis of H observations . . . . .
Related Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.4.1. Gas-phase chemistry in the coma . .
6.4.2. In situ mass spectrometer for ions . .
6.4.3. Temperature and velocity of the coma
Parent Molecules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chemical Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Physics of Comets

Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
7.

Dust Tails
7.1. Dynamics . . . . .
7.2. Anti-tail . . . . .
7.3. Dust Trails . . . .
7.4. Sodium Gas Tails
7.5. Dust features . . .
Problems . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . .

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Light Scattering Theory

8.1.

Mie Scattering Theory . . . .

8.1.1. Efficiency factors . . .
8.1.2. Albedo . . . . . . . .
8.1.3. Scattered intensity . .
8.1.4. Polarization . . . . .
8.2. Approximate Expressions . . .
8.3. Computation of Cross Sections
8.4. Results . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8.5. Particles of Other Types . . .
8.6. Optical Constants . . . . . . .
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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The Nature of Dust Particles

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9.4.

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Visible Continuum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9.1.1. Albedo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9.1.2. Phase function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9.1.3. Dust production rate from continuum . . .
9.1.4. Dust production from A()f . . . . . . .
Polarization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9.2.1. Linear polarization . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9.2.2. Circular polarization . . . . . . . . . . . .
Grain Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Infrared Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9.4.1. Dust production from infrared observations

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Contents

xiii

9.4.2. Anti-tail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9.5. Spectral Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9.5.1. Silicate signature . . . . . . . . . . . .
9.5.2. Mineralogy of dust particles . . . . .
9.5.3. The C-H stretch feature . . . . . . . .
9.5.4. Ice signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9.6. Properties Derived from Direct Measurements
9.7. Radiation Pressure Effects . . . . . . . . . . .
9.8. Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Ion Tails
Evidence for the Solar Wind . . . . . .
Dynamical Aberration . . . . . . . . . .
Theoretical Considerations . . . . . . .
10.3.1. Comparison with observations
10.4. Instabilities and Waves . . . . . . . . .
10.5. Acceleration of Cometary Ions . . . . .
10.6. Large Scale Structures . . . . . . . . .
10.6.1. Tail rays or streamers . . . . .
10.6.2. Knots or condensations . . . .
10.6.3. Oscillatory structure . . . . . .
10.6.4. Swan-like feature . . . . . .
10.6.5. Bend in the tail . . . . . . . .
10.6.6. Disconnection events . . . . .
10.7. X-rays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10.8. Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Nucleus
11.1.
11.2.
11.3.
11.4.
11.5.
11.6.

Morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Theory of Vapourization . . . . . .
Outbursts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Albedo and Radius . . . . . . . . .
Mass, Density and Surface Gravity .
Rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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10.1.
10.2.
10.3.

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xiv

Physics of Comets

11.7. Nucleus Composition . . . . . . .

11.8. Mass Loss . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11.9. Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11.10. Non-gravitational Forces . . . . .
11.11. Ortho to Para Ratio of Molecules
11.12. Binary Systems . . . . . . . . . .
11.13. Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Relation to Other Solar System Studies

13.1. Asteroids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13.2. Meteorites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13.3. Meteor Streams . . . . . . . . . . . .
13.4. Particles Collected at High Altitudes
13.5. Primordial Material . . . . . . . . . .
13.6. Chemical Evolution . . . . . . . . . .
13.7. Terrestrial Water . . . . . . . . . . .
13.8. Impact of Outside Bodies . . . . . . .
13.9. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Problems and Prospects
14.1.
14.2.

Index

359
360
361
365
370
375
376
377
377
381

Evidence for the Oort Cloud . . . . . .

Evolution and Properties of Oort Cloud
12.2.1. Short period comets . . . . . .
12.3. Origin of the Oort Cloud . . . . . . . .
12.4. Taxonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12.5. Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Origin
12.1.
12.2.

13.

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401
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Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
Future studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
441

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CHAPTER 1

General Introduction

1.1.

Historical Perspective

Among the various objects of the solar system, comets have attracted
and fascinated the common man to a large extent for the last two thousand
years or so. This information comes from the ancient records of paintings or
drawings of comets on caves, clothes, etc. as well as from the observations
of early writers. It was not until the sixteenth century that comets were
demonstrated to be celestial objects. This came from the work of Tycho
Brahe who observed the bright comet of 1577 AD with accurate instruments
and from various locations in Europe. This really revolutionized the ideas
about comets and from then on, observers took a serious view of comets
and started making position measurements.
The complete credit for the discovery that comets are part of the solar system goes to Edmond Halley. Halley, using Newtonian mechanics,
showed that the comets which had appeared in 1531, 1607 and 1682 are
the one and the same with a period of about 75 12 years. He also noticed
that the time interval between the successive perihelion passages was not
the same. He concluded rightly that this could be due to the perturbation
of the cometary orbit produced by the planets Jupiter and Saturn. Following these successes, he predicted that the same comet would return in
1758. As predicted, the comet did appear in 1758, though Halley, dead by
then, was not there to witness the glorious triumph of his prediction. This
comet is therefore named after him. In recent years this comet has been
traced backwards through many centuries by several investigators through
orbit calculations. Through this work, it has been possible to identify every
appearance of the comet as shown by ancient records until about 240 BC.
So far, it seems to have made about twenty-eight appearances.

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Since early times, the appearance of a comet has been associated

with disasters, calamities, tragedies and so on. One beneficial result of
such wrong notions and ideas is that the appearances of most comets are
recorded. These observations have proved very valuable to modern astronomers. Although there were many bright comets which have been
recorded since early times, somehow the Comet Halley seems to have attracted much more attention than the others. The comet which has been
depicted in the Bayeux tapestry is the Comet Halley which appeared in
1066 AD (Fig. 1.1). The comet in the tapestry can be seen to hover above

Fig. 1.1 A portion of the Bayeux tapestry showing the 1066 apparition of Comet Halley.
The tapestry depicts the people pointing at the comet with fear for its effect on King
Harold of England (Report of the Science Working Group. The International Halley,
Watch, NASA, July 1980).

the English King Harold who is being told of the bad omen. Such types
of association of Comet Halley with the occurrence of bad things on Earth
have also been made for many other apparitions. The last apparition of
Comet Halley in 1910 drew wide publicity (Fig. 1.2). It was very bright
and enormous in extent. Actually the Earth passed through the tenuous
gas of this comets tail.
There was also the fear that a comet might collide with the Earth and
bring disastrous consequences. There are several indirect observational evidences, such as the presence of Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, Tunguska
event and so on, which show that such events must have happened on the
Earth in the past. The collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter
during July 1994 has given supporting evidence, although the probability
of such an event happening on the Earth is very small. With the passage of
time some of the fears have been erased from the peoples minds. Today the
appearance of a bright comet in the sky like that of the Comet Ikeya-Seki of

comets

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comets

Fig. 1.2 Some of the newspaper headlines which appeared in The New York Times
during Comet Halleys appearance in 1910 (Report of the Science Working Group, loc,
cit.).

1965, Comet West in 1975, Comet Hale-Bopp in 1995 or the Comet Hyakutake in 1996 is welcomed both by the scientists and the public at large.
Scientists look forward to observing and studying these objects and understanding their nature. The public look forward to viewing a spectacular
and colourful event in the sky.
During early times, comets were studied more from the point of their
dynamics. This was made possible through the efforts of many pioneers in
celestial mechanics. These extensive dynamical studies of various comets
have shown, for the first time, the existence of some important physical
effects like the presence of non-gravitational forces in comets. With the
passage of time, cometary research has evolved from the study of dynamics

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Physics of Comets

to the study of these objects per se. Specifically, in the last three or four
decades, emphasis has been laid more in understanding the origin, physics
and chemistry of these objects. The presence of complex organic molecules
including molecules of biological interest in comets, which may have some
relation to the existence of life on Earth, has interested biologists too, in
the study of comets.

1.2.

Discovery

Many comets are discovered by amateur astronomers who just scan the
sky with a low-power telescope. They are called comet seekers. The
comets are usually named after their discoverers. If two or even more
observers find the same comet nearly simultaneously, all the names are
attached to that comet. For example, the Comet Ikeya-Seki (1965 VIII)
which was visible to the naked eye in 1965, was discovered by two Japanese
amateurs, Ikeya and Seki. However, not all comets are found by amateurs.
Many are being discovered nowadays by astronomers in their photographic
plates taken from some other scientific study. A typical example of this class
is Comet Kohoutek (1973 XII) discovered in 1973. Comets discovered by
them are fainter as the professional astronomers have better instruments.
Several comets have also been discovered through satellites, such as Solar
Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). In addition to the names of the discoverers, comets are also assigned temporary designations, indicating the
year of their discovery followed by a small letter denoting the order of their
discovery in that year. For example, the first two comets found in the
year say 1968, are designated as 1968a and 1968b respectively. Later on
when the orbits of all the comets discovered in that particular year are well
determined, permanent designations are given. This consists of the year
in which the comet passed nearest to the Sun i.e., perihelion, followed by
a Roman numeral which indicates the order of perihelion passage during
that year. Hence, the comets mentioned above will be given the permanent
designations 1968I and 1968II and so on. If the comet is periodic, one also
attaches P to the name of the comet. Thus the periodic Comet Encke is
written as P/Encke.
However, in this system of naming of comets, there is the difficulty
sometimes in deciding whether a particular object is a comet or a minor
planet. e.g. 2060 Chiron, 1990 UL3=1990P=1990XVI. In addition, confusion can creep in when the better orbit of the comet becomes available

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comets

which could change the prediction of the order of perihelian passage by

even a year. In view of this, a change in the cometary designation is being
followed effective January 1, 1995. In the new system a year is divided
into fortnights assigning successively the Roman alphabet A to Z (leaving
out the letters I and Z). The designation of the comets consists of year
followed by the alphabet representing the fortnight of observation and the
order in which it was discovered. As for example, the third comet reported
as discovered during the second half of February 1995 would be designated
as 1995D3. If there is an indication of the nature of the object it could
be expressed by preceding the designation with C/(for comet), P/(as now,
for periodic comet), etc. Routine recoveries of periodic comets will not in
future receive additional designations. The new scheme also proposes to retain the tradition of naming comets after their discoverers such as C/1996
B2(Hyakutake).

1.3.

Appearance

Comets spend almost all their time at great distances from the Sun. The
cometary activity starts showing up only when it approaches the Sun. At
far-off distances from the Sun, it appears as a faint fuzzy patch of light. The
fuzzy patch of light is a cloud of gas and dust called coma. The coma grows
in size and brightens as it nears the Sun. In addition to the brightening
of the coma, the tail starts developing and reaches its maximum extent at
about the closest approach to the Sun. After its perihelion passage, the reverse process takes place in the sense that the comet starts fading away as it
recedes from the Sun. These effects can be seen clearly in the time sequence
photographs of Comet Halley Halley, as shown in Fig. 1.3. Cometary activity is therefore transient in nature. These observations clearly show that
the material composed of gas and dust must have come from a central compact solid source called the nucleus of comet. The diameter of the nucleus
is extremely small and is estimated to be about 1 to 10 km. This size is so
small that it appears as a point source and cannot be resolved even with
the largest telescope. On the other hand, the diameter of the coma is much
larger and lies in the range of about 104 to 105 km. The nucleus and the
coma forms the head of a comet. The most characteristic feature of a comet
is the tail which may extend up to about 107 to 108 km.

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Physics of Comets

Fig. 1.3 Shows the time sequence photographs of Comet Halley in 1910 which brings
out the transient nature of comets (Report of the Science Working Group, loc. cit.).

1.4.

Statistics

The rate of discovery of comets has increased steadily since the beginning of the century. In recent times more and more fainter comets are also
being discovered due to vast improvement in the observational techniques
and also due to several systematic search programmes. On an average,
around 25 to 30 comets are seen every year. Of these, the newly discovered
comets are around 12 to 15 per year and the recoverable ones are around
13 to 15 per year. Comets are classified based on their orbital periods. The
general convention which has been followed is that short-period comets are
those which have periods (P) less than 200 years. Those which have periods greater than 200 years are called long-period comets. The short period
comets are further subdivided into two classes. Comets with periods < 20
years are called Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) and cluster around Jupiter

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comets

(semi major axis 7.4 AU). Those comets whose periods is in the range
20 < P < 200 years are called Halley- type comets (HTCs) with Comet
Halley as prototype. The semi major axis lies in the range of around 7.4 to
34.2 AU. Halley - type comets may be considered as short-period extension
of long-period comets. Among the newly discovered comets, about 810
are long period comets and 5 are short period ones. Most of these comets
are generally faint. The bright comets and, in particular, the sun-grazing
comets occur occasionally. Comets have been seen as close as 0.01 AU from
the Earth. Comets have also been classified as old and new based purely
on their orbital characteristics. Comets which have made several perihelion
passages around the Sun are generally termed old and those which are
entering for the first time are called new. If the direction of motion of the
comet is the same as that of the Earths motion, in its orbit, it is said to
have a direct orbit. If they are in opposite directions, the comet is said to
have a retrograde orbit.
More than 1000 Comets are known. The ratio of long-period to shortperiod comets is 5 : 1. For Jupiter-family comets, the peak in the orbital
period occurs around 7 to 8 years. The median orbital period of Halleytype comets is around 70.5 years. But in short-period comets, the period
of a few years has also been seen as in the case of Comet Encke which has a
period of 3.3 years. Among the long period comets, most of them seem to
have parabolic and osculating elliptical orbits. It is of interest to know how
far the comets reach away from the Sun in their orbit, which is called the
aphelion distance. Figure 1.4 shows a histogram of the number of comets
versus aphelion distance. A peak in the distribution occurs around 5 AU,
which corresponds roughly to the distance of Jupiter which are the Jupiterfamily comets. The general pattern of the histogram remain roughly the
same with the addition of more comets. On the other hand, the long-period
comets seem to peak around 4104 AU (Fig. 12.1). Those with a < 104 AU
are often called returning comets and those with a > 104 AU are called
dynamically new comets. It is also found that for most of the comets the
closest approach to the Sun, called the perihelion distance, is around 0.6 to
1.5 AU. The distribution of inclination to the ecliptic plane of short and long
period comets are striking. The short period comets have inclinations < 20
to 30 and the median inclination is around 11 . The median inclination
for Halley-type comets is around 64 . However, for long-period comets, the
inclinations are randomly distributed. They also approach the Sun more
or less isotropically. The short-period comets generally have direct orbits
while long-period comets have both direct and retrograde oribits.

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Physics of Comets

Fig. 1.4 Shows the distribution of the number of comets as a function of the aphelion
distance for short period comets. The peak around Jupiters distance can clearly be
seen. Smaller peaks at the distances of other planets also appear to be present (Bailey,
M.E., Clube, S.V.M. and Napier, W.M. 1990. The Origin of Comets, Pergamon Press).

There is a group of sun-grazing comets called Kreutz family of comets.

Several hundred such comets have been discovered by satellies such as
SOHO. This is because these comets are hardly visible from the earth due
to their intrinsic faintness and also because of their peculiar orbit characteristics. They all appear to have the same orbital elements. The orbit of
these comets indicate an aphelion distance of around 120200 AU from the
sun. This corresponds to a time period of revolution of around 5001000
years. Their inclination peak is around 145 . This indicates that these sungrazing comets are likely to have resulted from the break up of a very big
comet into large number of parts, sometime in the past. These sun-grazing
comets disappear during their approach to the sun. An example of such a
comet is shown in Fig. 1.10.

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comets

Age of a comet is generally measured by the reciprocal of the semi major

axis i.e. a1 (AU1 ). New comets coming from the Oort cloud for the first
time have a > 104 AU or (1/a) < 100106 AU1 . With successive passges
the orbit shrinks gradually primarily due to planetary perturbations and
hence the value of (1/a) becomes larger and larger. Consequently, the
increasing value of (1/a) corresponds to increasing time with respect to the
first approach to the solar system. In other words, (1/a) gives a measure
of the comets age.

1.5.

Importance

The study of comets is important from several points of view. Cometary

activity arises basically from the solar heating of the nucleus, releasing the
gas and dust, which finally are lost into the solar system. The time which
the comet spends near the Sun is a very small fraction of its total period. So
only a thin layer of the material of the nucleus is ablated at every perihelion
passage and nothing much would have happened in the inner regions of the
nucleus of a comet. The inner core of the comet may thus represent the
composition of the original material at the time of its formation. Therefore
it is hoped that a systematic study of the material of the nucleus of comets
can give information with regard to the nature of the material present at
the early phase of the solar nebula, 4 to 5 billion years ago, even before
the formation of the Earth and the solar system. The isotopic anomalies
seen in the cometary dust particles indicate the presence of presolar grains.
i.e. they refer to grains produced in the circumstellar shell of stars. This
indicate the presence of interstellar grains in comets. The highly complex
molecules and organic compounds seen in comets can finally find their way
on to the Earth. These might have played a key role in the complex scenario
of chemical evolution finally leading to life on the Earth. The tail pointing
away from the Sun arise primarily due to the interaction of the dust and gas
of the cometary material with the solar radiation and solar wind. Therefore
the study of cometary tails may throw light on the physical conditions of the
interplanetary medium as well as of the solar wind and the solar activity.
It is also of great interest from the point of view of Plasma Physics for
the study of interactions, generation of instabilities and waves and so on,
many of which cannot be produced under the laboratory conditions. In
fact, the existence of the solar wind, i.e. the flow of high velocity charged
particles from the Sun, was predicted by Biermann in the 1950s from the

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10

comets

Physics of Comets

study of the ion tails of comets. After a large number of revolutions around
the Sun, the cometary activity may die out completely leading finally to
a residual solid nucleus, which possibly may lead to an asteroid. Comets
are also believed to be the sources of meteors and interplanetary dust. It
is generally believed that the origin of comets is intimately related to the
origin of the solar system, a problem of great current interest. Therefore,
the study of comets can provide clues which may help in understanding the
origin and evolution of the solar system. There is also generic relationship
between comets with the interplanetary dust particles, meteorites, asteroids
and interstellar matter. In addition to these possible interrelationships, the
comets themselves are interesting objects to study, as their nature and
origin are still not well understood.
1.6.

Brightness

One of the uncertain facts about a comet is its brightness. The comet
shines mostly due to the reflected sunlight at far-off distances from the Sun.
The brightness depends upon three factors: (i) the distance r from the Sun
to the comet: (ii) the nature of the comet and (iii) the distance from the
comet to the earth. The brightness depends upon the nature of the comet
as it is the one which is producing the observed radiation.
The expected brightness of a comet I, can be written as
Io
()
(1.1)
r2 2
where () is the appropriate phase function which is not important for
the total brightness, Io is the constant of proportionality, usually taken to
be the brightness of the comet at r = = 1 AU. It has been found that
the brightness of comets rarely follow a simple relation of the above type.
Figure 1.5 shows results for a few comets. Mostly the power of r is greater
than 2. One usually writes a modified form of Eq. (1.1) as
I=

Io
.
rn 2
The above equation can be written in terms of magnitudes as
I=

m = m0 + 5 log + 2.5n log r

(1.2)

(1.3)

where m refers to the total apparent magnitude and m0 the absolute magnitude formally corresponding to r = = 1 AU. The study of a large number
of comets has given a pretty good idea as to the variation of brightness with

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Fig. 1.5 The magnitude of the comet reduced to a standard distance of 1 AU from the
Earth is plotted as a function of log of the solar distance in AU. Circles and dots refer
to observations made before and after perihelion respectively (Jacchia, L.G. 1974. Sky
and Telescope 47, 216; courtesy of Sky and Telescope).

Table 1.1

Parameters for brightness.

Comet

mo

Arend-Rigaux
Tuttle
Kobayashi-Berger-Milon
West
Machholz
Meier
Klemola

10.9
7.97
7.34
5.94
6.5
9.3
9.7

4
6
3.8
2.4
4
4
4

Meisel, D.D. and Morris, C.S. 1982, In

Comets, ed Wilkening, Univ. Arizona
Press, Tucson

heliocentric distance r as well as the mean value of n. The value of mo and

n for some comets are given in Table 1.1.
Quite often it is found that it is not possible to find a single value of

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Physics of Comets

n covering the whole range of the Sun-comet distance. In addition, the

variation of the observed brightness, before and after perihelion passage,
seems to require different values of n. Because n varies from comet to
comet, a mean value for n has been derived, with the proper weightage
given to the observations. The results of such a study based on carefully
analyzed photometric data for more than 100 comets grouped into four
classes are shown in Table 1.2. The range of parameters of the classes
selected are,
I
II
III
IV

(new) 1/a 106 50(AU)1 ; (P ) > 2.8 106 yr

5 105 < 1/a < 0.00215(AU)1 ; 104 < P < 2.8 106 yr
0.00215 < 1/a < 0.01(AU)1 ; 103 < P < 104 yr
0.01 < 1/a < 0.117(AU)1 ; 25 < P < 103 yr

Table 1.2

Values of hni, hqi and (n) for various comets.

Orbit Class

II

III

IV

Maximum period (yr)

Minimum period (yr)

2.8 106
Pre-Perihelion Dominated
10
0.43
2.45
0.35
Post-Perihelion Dominated
15
1.20
3.16
0.26

2.8 106
104

104
103

103
25

5
0.90
3.11
0.71

5
1.17
3.32
0.52

6
0.71
3.83
0.49

16
1.54
3.87
0.58

9
0.88
4.48
0.53

17
0.80
4.94
0.79

Number of Comets
hqi(AU)
hni
(n)
Number of Comets
hqi(AU)
hni
(n)

(Whipple, F.L. 1991, In Comets in the Post-Halley Era, Eds. R.L. Newburn, Jr.
et al., Kluwer Academic Publishers, p. 1259).

where P is the period. Table 1.2 give weighted mean perihelion distance
hqi, the weighted mean hni and (n) the mean error of hni. The mean value
of n shows a variation with the comet class and with the age of the comet
(i.e. inversely with the period). This is indicated for both pre-and post -q
data. The post -q observations give a considerably larger value of hni than
the pre -q observations. In general, the large value of n required for comets
arises due to the fact that the brightness is the sum total of the reflection
component and the emission of gases from the coma. For the case of pure

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reflection the value of n is 2. Therefore the expected brightness of a comet

is a complicated function of the physical condition of the coma. However,
in the absence of any knowledge or data on the comet, one can get an idea
of the average behaviour of its brightness from Eq. (1.3) with a suitable
value of n.
As remarked earlier the larger value of n arises due to the contribution
of the emission component into the total light that is observed. The amount
of emission depends upon the total number of the molecules present in the
coma. In principle, it is possible to predict the brightness of a comet by
relating it to the evaporation of the gases from the nucleus. This is a
difficult practical problem. However, the problem is simplified if the comet
has already been observed once before, for which the visual light curve is
usually available. For such cases, one can use a simplified approach for
predicting the expected brightness for its next apparition. In the visual
spectral region, the emission is mainly due to the C2 molecule. Therefore,
to a first approximation one can assume the visible light is mainly due to the
fluorescence process of the C2 molecule, which depends upon the production
rate of the C2 molecule. This could in turn be related to the total hydrogen
production rate which is very well studied in various comets. From such
a procedure and using the observed light curve, it is possible to evaluate
the unknown constants occurring in the photometric equation. Knowing
the photometric equation, the calculation of the expected brightness of a
comet as a function of r and is quite simple. (Sec. 6.1.4).
There is still a simpler way than the above method. Since in Eq. (1.3)
the value of n is uncertain, it can be written in a simplified form as
m = 5 log + m(r)

(1.4)

where
m(r) = m0 + 2.5n log r.
From the observed light curve, the value of m(r) can be calculated from
Eq. (1.4) as a function of the time from the perihelion passage ( r).
Figure 1.6 shows the results of such calculations for Comet Crommelin
(1984 IV) based on the last four apparitions. Based on Eq. (1.4) and the
curve of Fig. 1.6, the expected brightness can be predicted.
1.7.

Main Characteristics

Some of the main observed features in comets are the following:

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Fig. 1.6 A plot of the heliocentric magnitude of the Comet Crommelin as a function
of time (equivalent to perihelion distance) from perihelion for four different appearances
(Festou, M. 1983. International Halley Watch News Letter No. 3, p. 4).

Most of the comets seem to deviate from their predicted orbits. They are
known to arrive into the solar vicinity earlier or later than the predictions
based on Newtonian gravitation. The classic example for which the data
exist for the last two centuries is Comet Encke, which has a period of 3.3
years. It arrives earlier every time by about 2 21 hours. The splitting of
the nuclei of comets into two or more fragments has been seen in many
comets. The best example is Comet West (1975VI) in which the nuclei
split up into four components in a time span of a few days. This can be
seen from Fig. 1.7. There appears to be some correlation between the
time of fragmentation and the increase in brightness of the comet. This
might mean that a spurt of cometary activity leads to fragmentation. For
sun-grazing or planet grazing comets the splitting might also take place
because of the tidal forces. The classic example is the nucleus of Comet
Shoemaker-Levy 9 (D/1993 F2) which is believed to have fragmented into
several pieces primarily due to the tidal forces exerted by Jupiter during
its closest approach in July 1992. The spectacular feature of such an event

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Fig. 1.7 Photograph shows the splitting of the nucleus of the Comet West 1975 VI into
four parts in a time period of 10 days. The separation of the various components with
time can easily be seen (Whipple, F.L. 1978. In Cosmic Dust, ed. J.A.M. McDonnell,
New York: John Wiley and Sons, p. 1).

is that as many as 21 nuclei all in a line, were discovered in mid July 1993.
(Fig. 1.8). The subsequent orbit of these fragments and their collision with
Jupiter in July 1994 is schematically shown in Fig. 1.9.
Comets which come very close to the Sun can be completely destroyed.
An example of this type is shown in Fig. 1.10 which was discovered accidentally in the satellite observation and shows the time sequence photograph
of a comet. After its closest approach to the Sun, the comet was not visible
at all, most probably due to complete evaporation or falling into Sun.
Many comets show a sudden increase in brightness of one to two magnitudes in a short time scale usually called outbursts or flares. These outbursts
are not periodic in character. An outburst may mean a sudden release of

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Fig. 1.8 Image of Shoemaker-Levy 9 taken with the Hubble space Telescope on July 1,
1993. The comets heliocentric distance was 5.46 AU and the geocentric distance was 5.4
AU. The various fragments of the comet can clearly be seen. (Courtesy of H.A. Weaver
and collaborators).

material from the nucleus. A classic example in which the flares have been
seen very frequently is Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 1. Figure 1.11
shows one such event for this comet. This comet has a period of 16.5 years
and has been seen to brighten as much as 8 magnitudes. The flaring activity appears to be a general property of comets and is not associated with
any particular type of comet. A strong outbursts was seen in Comet Halley
even at a heliocentric distance of around 14 AU.
In many comets successive halos coming out of the coma have also been
seen. Comet Donati (1858VI) is an example of this class where the successive halos can distinctly be seen (Fig. 1.12). In many comets a broad
fan-shaped coma coming out of the central condensation has also been seen.
The satellite observations in the Lyman line of hydrogen at 1216
A
led to the discovery of the enormous extent of the hydrogen envelope (

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Fig. 1.9 The orbit of the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 around Jupiter is shown schematically. The comet which appears to have come close to Jupiter around July 8, 1992 was
disintegrated due to Jupiters tidal force. This comet discovered in March 25, 1993 had
as much as 21 components. These components penetrated Jupiters atmosphere during
July 16 to 22, 1994 (Courtesy of Sekanina, Z., Chodas, P.W. and Yeomans, D.K.).

107 km) around the visible coma of about 104 to 105 km. The size of the
hydrogen halo was found to be larger than the size of the Sun at the same
distance. This can clearly be seen in the observations of Comet Kohoutek
which is shown in Fig. 1.13.
The most characteristic feature of a comet is, of course, the presence
of two tails. One is the dust tail which is curved, also called Type II tail.
The other is the plasma tail which is straight, also called Type I tail or ion

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Fig. 1.10 Time sequence photographs taken between August 30, 18h 56m to August 31,
20h 36m by Solwind satellite show the disappearance of the comet. The comet enters
from the right. The photographs are taken by Howard, R.A., Koomen, M.J. and Michels
D.I. official US Navy photograph. (Courtesy of Howard, R.A. and collaborators).

tail. Figure 1.14 shows these two well-developed tails for the Comet Mrkos
(1957V). Both the tails point to the direction away from the Sun. The
nature of these two tails can be seen clearly in the colour photographs in
which the dust tail appears yellowish and the plasma tail bluish in colour.
Quite often a third short tail has also been seen in the direction towards
the Sun. This is called the anti-tail of the comet. Figure 1.15 shows an
example of this class for Comet Arend-Roland (1957 III).
The dust tail is generally very smooth and structureless. But this is not
so in the case of the plasma tail. Large scale structures of various kinds

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Fig. 1.11 An outburst seen in Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 1. The position of the

comet on October 12, is shown by lines in the margin. The comet is very bright on
October 18, but has become faint by November 3 (Roemer, E. 1966. In Nature and
Origin of Comets. Memoirs of the Society Royale de Sciences of Liege 12, 15; Courtesy
of E. Roemer, official US Navy photographs).

have been seen in the plasma tail of comets. As the name indicates, this
tail is composed mainly of ions. Therefore many of the features seen in
the laboratory plasma arising out of various physical processes as well as
others, which cannot be seen in the laboratory plasma, have also been seen
in the plasma tail of comets. For example features like oscillations, kinks,
helices, knots, filaments, rays etc., have been seen in many comets. These
indicate clearly the presence of complex interactions of the magnetic field
with the tail plasma. Some typical large scale observed features in comets
are shown in Figs. 1.16 to 1.18.

1.8.

Spacecraft Encounters with Comets

The general nature of comets has been revealed mainly through indirect
means from the studies of ground based observations, rockets, aeroplanes
and satellites. However space mission to comets will provide an opportunity
to make in situ measurements of a comet. Since this is almost like direct
access, it will provide more detailed information about the nucleus. With
this in view several space missions to comets have been undertaken. They
are given in Table 1.3. The main objective of space missions are, to image
the nucleus for its morphology; to determine the composition of gas and
dust; and to understand the interaction of the solar wind with the cometary
ionosphere.

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Fig. 1.12 Successive halos around Comet Donati (1858 VI) as observed visually by
Bond on October 1858 (Whipple, F.L. 1981. In Comets and Origin of Life, ed. C.
Ponnamperuma, Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Company, p. 1).

Comet Halley was the first comet to be studied in great detail from
several spacecrafts in 1986. Even prior to Comet Halley observations, in
situ measurements of particles, fields and waves were carried out by the ICE
satellite (International Cometary Explorer). It passed through the plasma
tail of Comet Giacobini-Zinner on September 11, 1985.
During March 1986, around the time of the closest approach of Comet
Halley to the Sun, six spacecrafts from various space agencies made detailed
and extensive in situ measurements of various kinds in the coma of Comet
Halley (Fig. 1.19). All the encounters took place on the Sunward side of

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Fig. 1.13 Comet Kohoutek (1973 XII) as seen in visible (left) and in ultraviolet region
taken in Lyman line (right). Circle represents the apparent size of the Sun at the same
distance. The vast extent of the hydrogen halo can clearly be seen. (Whipple, F.L. 1981,
loc. cit.).

the comet. The closest approach to the nucleus was made by the European
Space Agencys (ESA) Spacecraft Giotto, which passed at a distance of
approximately 500 km from the nucleus. The Russian spacecrafts Vega
1 and 2 passed at distances of around 8000 km from the nucleus. The
distances of the closest approach of the Japanese spacecrafts Suisei and
Sakigake were around 1.5 105 km and 7.0 106 km respectively. The ICE
spacecraft also passed through at a distance of around 0.2 AU upstream
of Comet Halley later in March 1986. Another space encounter with a
comet took place on July 10, 1992 when the Giotto Spacecraft, which was
successfully redirected in July 1990, passed through the Comet P/GriggSkjellerup nucleus within 100 to 200 km.
The Comet Halley, with a period of about 76 yrs, moves in a retrograde
motion with respect to the planets. Due to the retrograde motion of Comet
Halley with respect to the Earth and the Spacecrafts, the relative encounter
velocity was very high, 68 km/sec. Since the gas and dust velocities in
the coma are 1 km/sec, the Giotto Spacecraft essentially saw the static
situation while it passed through the coma as particles hit the spacecraft
from the forward direction. The scientific payload on the spacecrafts, which

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Fig. 1.14 Photograph of Comet Mrkos (1957V) taken on 27 August 1957 which shows
the characteristic feature of the two tails, ion tail (straight) and the dust tail (curved).
(Arpigny, C. 1977, Proceedings of the Robert A. Welch Foundation Conferences on
Chemical Research XXI, Cosmochemistry, Houston).

passed through Comet Halley, had experiments for the study of flux and
composition of neutrals, ions, electrons and dust, magnetic field and waves,
imaging the nucleus, infrared spectra and ultraviolet images among others.
The space missions, Deep Space 1, Stardust and Deep Impact also
made in situ measurements of various kinds in the Comets 19P/Borrelly,
81P/Wild 2 and 9P/Tempel 1 respectively. The cometary material from
Comet Wild 2 was successfully brought back to the earth by Stardust mission. This is the first time, laboratory studies are being carried out on the
real cometary dust particles.
The Deep Impact mission released a projectile which impacted on the
surface of the nucleus of Comet Tempel 1 resulting in a crater on the nucleus. As a result, the vapourized ejecta from the deeper layers came out.
This material was subjected to a thorough investigation, in addition to
studying the crater itself. This gave an opportunity for the first time to
study the material in the deeper layers of the nucleus of a comet. All these
missions have met with tremendous success. They provide new insights into
the nature of nucleus, coma, dust and the tails. These observations were
supplemented by extensive observations of various kinds carried out with
worldwide ground based telescopes, satellites, rockets and Kuiper Airborne

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Fig. 1.15 Photograph of Comet Arend-Roland (1957III) which shows the anti-tail
(sharp ray towards the left). Taken on 24 April 1957 (Whipple, F.L. 1981, loc. cit.).

Observatory, with sophisticated instrumentation by professionals and amateur astronomers to obtain as much coverage as possible, over the orbit of
the comets. This co-ordinated effort of an unprecedented nature have not
only confirmed our knowledge about comets, theories and hypothesis that
existed before these measurements were made, but have also provided new
and unexpected insight into the cometary phenomena.

1.9.

An Overall View

The various aspects of cometary phenomena has come from studies carried out over the entire range of the electromagnetic spectrum from X-rays
to radio region, from in situ measurement of comets and from laboratory
studies of cometary dust particles brought back to earth. All these studies
had a tremendous impact on Cometary Science.
The three major parts of a comet are the nucleus, the coma and the

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Fig. 1.16 Comet Kohoutek showing the helical structure. Photograph was taken on 13
January 1974. The oscillations in the tail at far off distances from the head can clearly
be seen. (Brandt, J.C. and Chapman, R.C. 1981. Introduction to Comets, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, illustrations credited to Joint Observatory for Cometary
Research (JOCR), NASA).

tail (Fig. 1.20). Most of the information about these three components has
come basically from the study of spectra. Almost all the observed activities
seen in a comet should be related directly or indirectly to the nucleus of
a comet. A reasonable working model for the nucleus which is the icyconglomerate model was first proposed by Whipple in the 1950s. In this
model the nucleus was believed to be a discrete rotating body consisting
of frozen water, complex molecules formed out of abundant elements H,
C, N and O, and dust. All the subsequent observations of comets for the
last four decades had supported this model by indirect means, basically
through the observation of the dissociated products of H2 O (i.e. OH, H
and O) and H2 O+ . The first actual detection of H2 O in a comet came from
the observation of Comet Halley in 1986, when well resolved rotational
lines of the 2.7 m band of H2 O were detected with observations carried
out with the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. The nucleus contains around
80% of H2 O-ice and the rest is made up of other constituents. The single
body nature of the nucleus, in contrast to that of loosely bound system,

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Fig. 1.17 Photograph showing a big knot in the tail of Comet Kohoutek. This is
generally called as Swan-like feature. The photograph was taken on 11 January 1974
(Brandt, J.C. and Chapman, R.C. 1981, loc. cit. JOCR photograph).
Fig. 1.17 Photograph showing a big knot in the tail of Comet Kohoutek. This is
generally called as Swan-like feature. The photograph was taken on 11 January 1974
(Brandt, J.C. and Chapman, R.C. 1981, loc. cit. JOCR photograph).

Table 1.3

Spacecrafts to Comets.

Table 1.3
Comet

Spacecraft

Halley

6 spacecrafts

Borrelly

Deep Space 1

Wild 2

Tempel 1

Launch
date

Spacecrafts to Comets.

Date of
closest
approach

Distance of
closest
approach
(Km)

Period of
Comet
(yr)

Remarks

March 1986

Giotto
500

76

Oct.25, 1998

Sept.22, 2001

2171

6.9

Stardust

Feb.7, 1999

Jan.2, 2004

100-150

6.4

Deep Impact

Jan.12, 2005

July 4, 2005

500

5.5

Out of 6 spacecrafts,
Giotto mission was
the closest
Extended mission
to comet after
asteroid flyby
Returned to Earth on
Jan.15, 2006 with
cometary dust
104 tons of material
was excavated from
the nucleus

was confirmed by the photographs taken of the nucleus of Comet Halley by

Giotto Spacecraft when it was at a distance of 500 km from the nucleus,
supporting
concept oftaken
the Whipple
The
was confirmed
bythe
thegeneral
photographs
of the model.
nucleus
of nucleus
Cometwas
Halley by
observed to bewhen
irregular
shape
there wereof
only
a few
areas
Giotto Spacecraft
it in
was
at and
a distance
500
kmactive
from
theonnucleus,
its surface. The rotation of the nucleus of Comet Halley was also confirmed.
supporting
the results
general
of thewith
Whipple
model. The
nucleus
was
All these
haveconcept
been confirmed
further observations
carried
out
observedwith
to be
irregular
in Comet
shapeBorrelly;
and there
wereon
only
a few
active
Deep
Space 1 on
Stardust
Comet
Wild
2; andareas on
DeepThe
Impact
on Comet
Tempel
1. Theofshapes
andHalley
sizes ofwas
the cometary
its surface.
rotation
of the
nucleus
Comet
also confirmed.

All these results have been confirmed with further observations carried out
with Deep Space 1 on Comet Borrelly; Stardust on Comet Wild 2; and
Deep Impact on Comet Tempel 1. The shapes and sizes of the cometary

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Fig. 1.18 Photograph of Comet Halley showing well developed streamers. Taken on 8
May 1910. (Report of the Science Working Group, loc.cit.).

nuclei have been determined from the images taken at different angles.
When the comet is far off from the Sun, the continuum spectrum seen
is simply that of the reflected sunlight by the nucleus. As it approaches the
Sun, the gas, mostly made up of complex molecules and the dust are released from the nucleus, due to solar heating. This then expands outwards
into the vacuum at about 0.5 km/sec giving rise to the observed coma. The
dimension of the visible coma is around 104 to 105 km, while the ultraviolet
coma extends up to about 106 to 107 km. As the gas expands, it is subjected to various physical processes like dissociation, ionization, gas-phase

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Fig. 1.19 The geometry of the six spacecraft flybys to Comet Halley. The distances are
marked in logarithmic scale and the Sun is to the left of the Comet. The flyby dates for
each mission are given at the bottom, flyby phase angle in the centre and flyby speeds
at the top (Mendis, D.A. 1988. Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 26, 11).

reactions, etc. Therefore, the gaseous material in the coma is modified to

a large extent. The complex molecules released by the nucleus, generally
known as parent molecules, ultimately give rise to simple molecules and
radicals like CN, C2 , OH, CH, NH2 , etc., which are seen in the comets
emission spectra. The emission lines of various elements like Na, Si, Ca,
Cr, etc., show up in sun-grazing comets. Through the study of the radio
region, large number of molecules possibly the parent molecules of some of
the observed species, have been identified.
The dust coming out of the nucleus is dragged outwards by the gas accompanying it. These dust particles are subjected to the radiation pressure
of the Sun which pushes them in the direction away from the Sun. Since
the dust particles lag behind as they stream away from the sun, they take
a curved path. This gives rise to the observed curved nature of the dust
tail. The tail that is usually seen in the sky is the dust tail, which is made
visible through the scattering of the solar radiation by the dust particles in
the tail. The tail extends up to about 107 km or so.
The understanding of the nature and composition of the dust parti-

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Physics of Comets

Fig. 1.20

Descriptive sketch of a comet.

cles came mostly from the interpretation of continuum, polarization and

infrared radiation from comets. That the grain material could be some
form of silicate, was inferred from the detection of broad emission features
occurring around 10 and 20 m in comets, which are characteristic features
of all silicate materials. The silicate material could be of the olivine type
which can be further inferred from the detection of a feature at 11.3 m
in the high resolution spectral observations of Comet Halley. There is another component of the grains in comets came from the discovery of CHON
particles from the in situ measurements of Comet Halley. As the name
indicates, these particles are mostly made up of H, C, N and O. This was
also supported from the ground-based observations of Comet Halley and
other comets by the detection of a broad emission feature around 3.4 m
attributed to C-H stretching bond of hydrocarbons. Therefore these studies
indicated two major components for the grains in comets, namely silicate
and some form of carbon.
More recent studies of Comets Tempel 1 and Wild 2 has shown the
highly complex mineralogy of the cometary dust particles. They have shown
the presence of silicates of various types, carbonates, water-ice, amorphous
carbon, sulphides among others. The organics present in the dust particles
are also highly complex. The surprising result was the observation of wide
variation in the chemical composition among comets. The dust particles
also contain material of low and high temperature condensates indicating
that there must have been large scale mixing of material in the solar nebula.
The presence of large numbers of small-sized grains, <
0.1 m, which cannot

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be detected through observations made in the visible region, was found to

exist in comets in abundance. The grains in the coma can also act as a
source of observed molecules which comprise the gas.
The solar radiation also breaks up the original molecules released by the
nucleus and ionizes them. The ionized gas in the coma is swept outwards
by a stream of charged particles present in the solar wind. These two are
coupled through the interplanetary magnetic field. This gives rise to the
plasma tail in the antisolar direction and extends up to about 107 to 108
km. Therefore, the structure and the dynamics of plasma tail are basically
due to the interaction of the cometary plasma with the solar wind. The theoretical modelling of the interaction between the solar wind plasma and the
cometary ions had predicted the existence of several gross features like bow
shock, ionopause etc., which were confirmed based on the in situ measurements carried out on Comets Halley, Giacobini-Zinner, Borrelly, Tempel 1
and Wild 2 by the spacecrafts. Therefore the multi-layered structure and
variations seen in comets arise due to complex interactions taking place in
the plasma between electrons, heavy cometary ions, cometary protons and
solar wind protons as they are being thermalised at different positions in
the coma. The spectrum of the plasma tail shows mainly emissions from
+
+
ions like H2 O+ , CO+ , CO+
2 , N2 , etc; of these the emission due to CO is
the dominant one. Since this emission spectrum lies in the blue spectral
region, the ion tail appears blue in colour photographs.
The comets are believed to be members of the solar system inferred
from the observed orbital characteristics of comets. The study based on
the isotopic ratio of 12 C/13 C in many comets gives a value 90 which
is the same as the solar system value. Several other isotopic ratios seen
in Comet Halley are also consistent with the solar system values. These
results seem to suggest that the cometary material and the solar system
material are similar in nature. With regard to the origin of comets, the
widely accepted hypothesis is that of Oort. He pointed out that there
appears to be a cometary reservoir whose aphelia is about 50,000 AU or
more from the Sun. This is usually called the Oort cloud. It is estimated
that there may be around 1012 comets in the Oort cloud. Many of the
comets leaving this cloud are finally brought into the solar system due to
stellar perturbations. This accounts for the steady influx of comets into
the solar system. However, the long period comets coming from the Oort
cloud faces serious problems in explaining the number and inclination of
the observed short period comets. This has led to the hypothesis that the
short period comets come from another population of comets from a region

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beyond the orbit of Neptune, between 30 and 50 AU. This region is generally
called the Kuiper belt. The origin of comets therefore is related to the origin
of the Oort cloud and the Kuiper belt. Several hypotheses have been put
forward to explain the origin of these clouds.
In the succeeding chapters, we would like to elaborate on some of these
aspects. Before going into the actual subject matter, we would like to give
a brief account of the physical background required for the interpretation
of various observed phenomena.
Problems
1. What is the basis of the assumption that a comet possesses a nucleus
at its centre? Since it is hard to see the nucleus of a comet directly,
what is the best way to locate it?
2. Suppose a Comet A has n = 3 [Eq. (1.2)] in its 50th orbit around the
Sun while Comet B has n = 6 in its first orbit around the Sun. Does
one expect the same brightness variation of Comets A and B in their
next orbits? Give reasons. Explain why the two values of n could be
vastly different.
3. Is it possible for the comets to be in orbit around the Sun, but not seen
from the Earth?
4. Discuss with examples that impact of comets on solar system objects
is a natural phenomena.
5. Discuss the consequences of a comet hitting the Earth.
6. Compare the energy released by a 1 km size comet moving at 60 km/sec
and suddenly coming to a stop with that of two 3500 lb cars colliding
head-on at 50 km/hr.

References
Some of the references pertaining to cometary studies are the following:
1. Bailey, M.E., Clube, S.V.M. and Napier, W.M. 1990. The origin of
comets. Pergamon Press, Oxford.
2. Brandt, J.C. and Chapman, R.D. 2004. Introduction to comets. 2nd
Edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
3. Festou, M.C., Keller, H.U. and Weaver, H.A. (eds), 2005. Comets II,
Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson.

comets

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31

4. Grewing, M., Praderie, F. and Reinhard, R. (eds). 1987. Exploration

of Halleys Comet. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. (Astron. Astrophys., 187,
1-936, 1987).
5. Huebner, W.F. (ed.) 1990. Physics and Chemistry of Comets.
Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
6. Lazzaro, D., Mello, S.F. and Fernandez, J.A. (eds.) 2006. Asteroids,
Comets and Meteors, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
7. Nature. 1986. Encounters with Halley, 321, 259.
8. Newburn, Jr., R.L., Neugebauer, M. and Rahe, J. (eds.). 1991. Comets
in the Post-Halley Era. Vols. 1 and 2. Kluwer Publishers, Dordrecht.
9. Wickramasinghe, N.C. 2009. Astrobiology, Comets and the Origin of
Life, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore.
10. Wilkening. L.(ed.). 1982. Comets, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson.
Deep Impact: The important and first of its kind results based on Deep
Impact studies of Comet Tempel 1 are presented in the following publications:
11. Deep Impact 2005. Science (Special Issue), 310, 257-283.
12. AHearn, M.F. and Combi, M.R. (Eds). 2007. Deep Impact Mission to
Comet 9P/Tempel 1, Icarus (Special Issue), 187, 1-356 (Part I); 190,
283-459 (Part II).
Stardust: The important and first of its kind results based on in situ measurements and laboratory studies of collected dust particles from Comet
Wild 2 from Stardust mission are presented in the following publications:
13. Stardust 2004. Science (Special Issue), 304, 1762-1780.
14. Stardust 2006. Science (Special Issue), 314, 1707-1739.

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CHAPTER 2

Dynamics

2.1.

Orbital Elements

The objects in space are generally specified with respect to the ecliptic
or to the equatorial system of coordinates. In the former the Earths orbit
around the Sun, i.e., the ecliptic plane is the reference frame, while in the
latter it is the plane of the Earths equator. The position of an object is
specified by the longitude and the latitude in the ecliptic system and by the
right ascension () and the declination () in the equatorial system. The
right ascension is measured from the vernal equinox, which is the point
where the ecliptic plane cuts the Earths equator. The declination is the
angular distance from the north to the south of the celestial equator. The
two systems can be transformed from one to the other through trigonometric relations.
The orbit of a body around the Sun is generally a conic section. In
general, the conics are the ellipse, parabola and hyperbola. The major axis
refers to the maximum diameter of the ellipse and it determines the size of
the ellipse (Fig. 2.1). The eccentricity e of the ellipse is defined as the ratio
of the distance between the center and a focus to the length of the semi
major axis. An ellipse is completely defined by the eccentricity and the
major axis. The value of e varies between 0 and 1. A circle is a special case
of the ellipse when the eccentricity is zero. The parabola has an eccentricity
equal to unity while a hyperbola has an eccentricity greater than one. In
an elliptical orbit the closest and the farthest distance of the object from
the Sun which is stationed at one of the foci is known as the perihelion and
aphelion distances respectively.
The position of a comet in the sky is generally referred to the ecliptic
system of coordinates. To define completely an orbit in space, six quantities

33

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Fig. 2.1 Various parameters defined for an elliptical orbit. S denotes the position of
the Sun occupying one of the foci.

Fig. 2.2

The orbital elements required for specifying an orbit.

usually termed as elements of the orbit are to be specified (Fig. 2.2). They
are the following:
a = length of the semi major axis;
e = eccentricity;
i = angle between the orbital plane and the plane of the ecliptic;
= longitude of the ascending node. This is the angle from the vernal

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equinox along the ecliptic plane to the point of intersection of orbital

plane with the ecliptic plane;
= argument of the perihelion, which is the angle measured from the
ascending node to the perihelion point.
The first two parameters specify the size and the shape of the orbit in
its orbital plane, while the other three define the orientation of the orbit
with respect to the ecliptic plane.
The sixth element is the time parameter which defines the position of the
body in its orbit at that time. This is taken to be T , the time of perihelion
passage. This gives a reference time to fix the body at other times in its
orbit.
Therefore, the quantities, a, e, T and the angle i, , define completely
the position of the body and its orbit at any given time. For a parabolic
orbit, the semi major axis which is infinite is replaced by the perihelion
distance q, which defines the size of the parabola.

2.2.
2.2.1.

Orbit in Space
Relevant equations

The orbit of a comet is a conic section about the Sun and it can be
defined under the Newtonian Gravitation.
The equation of motion of a comet of mass m around the Sun can be
represented as


 2 
G(M + m)
r
d r
(2.1)
=

r 3
2
3
dt
r
r
where M is the mass of the Sun and G is the gravitational constant. Since
m<
M , = GM and r is the position vector of the comet relative to
the Sun, the use of plane polar coordinates r and in the orbital plane
of motion allows one to separate the Eq. (2.1) into r and components,
giving, for the r component

r r2 = 2
(2.2)
r
and for the component
r + 2r = 0
(2.3)
Equation (2.3) can be written as
1 d 2
(r ) = 0.
r dt

(2.4)

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The integration of the above equation gives the specific (means per unit
mass) angular momentum integral
r2 = constant = h.

(2.5)

Specific energy integral is given by

1

E 0 = (r 2 + r2 2 ) .
(2.5a)
2
r
From the above system of equations, one can derive the polar equation for
the conic section for an angle as
p
(2.6)
r=
1 + e cos( )
q
0 2
where is constant, p = h2 / is the semi latus rectum and e = 1 + 2E2h
is the eccentricity of the orbit and therefore the length of the semi major

axis a = 2E
0 . is actually the angle that the major axis makes with the
axis = 0. At the perihelion point = = 0 and therefore the perihelion
distance is given by h2 /(1 + e). The perihelion distance is also equal to
a(1 e). Hence
h2 = a(1 e2 ).

(2.6a)

Equation (2.6) can be expressed as

r=

a(1 e2 )
a(1 e2 )
=
1 + e cos( )
1 + e cos f

(2.7)

where a is the semimajor axis and the angle f is known as the true anomaly
(Fig. 2.3).
The other quantity of interest is the velocity of the object in its orbit.
From Eqs. (2.1) and (2.4), the expression for the orbital speed of the particle
can be obtained and it is given by


2 1

.
(2.8)
v2 =
r
a
The quantity 1/a is +ve , zero or ve depending on whether the orbit is
an ellipse, a parabola or a hyperbola. The velocity at the perihelion point
for an ellipse is given by


1+e
vp2 =
;
(2.9)
a 1e
similarly at the aphelion point, the expression for the velocity is given by


1e
.
(2.10)
va2 =
a 1+e

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37

Definition of eccentric anomaly E. f represents the true anomaly.

From Eq. (2.7) it is clear that the value of r1 monotonically decreases from
perihelion to aphelion, Eq. (2.8) would then suggest that the velocity of
the object is maximum at perihelion and minimum at aphelion and varies
along its orbit in between these, two limits.
Another quantity of interest is the heliocentric radial velocity of the
object. For elliptical orbits, it can be shown from Eq. (2.7) by taking its
time derivative that
 2 2

2 1/2
1/2 a e (a r)
r =
.
(2.11)
ar2
The minus and positive signs refer to preperihelion and postperihelion radial
velocities.
The mean angular motion n of the body in its orbit with the period P
is by definition
2
n=
.
(2.12)
P
Since Eq. (2.5) suggest that h = r2 = constant and 21 r2 is the areal
velocity, the orbital period
Area of the ellipse
P =
areal velocity

2a2 1 e2
(2.12a)
=
h

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s
P = 2

a3
.

(2.13)

Hence
n = 1/2 a3/2 .

(2.14)

If T represents the time of perihelion passage, the angle swept by the

radius vector in a time interval (t T ) is called the mean anomaly M and
is defined as
M = n(t T ).

(2.15)

If a circle is drawn with OB as radius, then the line FP referring to the

ellipse when extended perpendicular to the major axis cuts the circle at
T 0 (Fig. 2.3). The angle T 0 OB is calledby definition eccentric anomaly,
generally denoted as E. Since PF/T0 F= 1 e2 for any point P on the
orbit, it can be shown that
SF = x = a cos E ae
p
P F = y = a 1 e2 sin E
Therefore
r=

p
x2 + y 2 = a(1 e cos E)

(2.16)

. Further
cos f = 1 2 sin2

f
2

(2.16a)

or
f
= r(1 cos f )
2

(2.16b)

a cos E ae
SF
=
r
a(1 e cos E)

(2.16c)

PF
a(1 e2 )1/2 sin E
=
r
a(1 e cos E)

(2.16d)

2r sin2
However
cos f =
and
sin f =

Therefore the Eq. (2.16b) can be written as

2r sin2 f /2 = a(1 + e)(1 cos E)

(2.16e)

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similarly
2r cos2 f /2 = a(1 e)(1 + cos E)
Therefore

tan f /2 =

1+e
1e

1/2
tan

E
2

(2.17)

This is the relation which connects the eccentric anomaly E with the true
anomaly f .
There is also a relation connecting the mean anomaly M and the eccentric anomaly E. This is generally referred to as Keplers equation which is
derived as follows:
The quantity (tT )/P represents the fractional area of the ellipse swept
by SP with respect to the point B, where P is the orbital period. This is
also equal to n(t T )/2. From the law of areas and the properties of the
auxiliary circle, it follows that
n(t T )
M
area BSP
area BST 0
=
=
=
2
2
area of ellipse
area of circle
But Area BST 0 = area of circular sector BOT0 - area SOT0
a
a2 E
ae sin E
=
2
2
Therefore
M
a2 (E e sin E)
=
2
2
a2
or
E e sin E = M

(2.18)

which is the Keplers equation.

The above relation can also be written as
E e sin E = n(t T ).
The corresponding relations for the parabolic case are
2q
r=
1 + cos f
v2 =


2q 3

2
r

1/2
(t T ) = tan

(2.19)

(2.20)
(2.21)

f
1
f
+ tan3
2
3
2

(2.22)

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where q = a(1 e), and for the hyperbolic case,

r=

a(e2 1)
1 + e cos f

(2.23)

r = a(e cosh F 1)
tanh

F
=
2

e1
e+1

v2 =

2 1
+
r a

e sinh F F = M =
2.2.2.

1/2
tan

(2.24)
f
2

(2.25)

 1/2
(t T ).
a3

(2.26)

(2.27)

Orbital elements from position and velocity

The position and the velocity of an object along its orbit can be obtained
from the solution of the above equations. The reverse problem which is
often of interest in cometary studies is to determine the elements of the
orbit from a given set of position, velocity and time.
Let the position of the body in the heliocentric coordinate system at a
time t be (x, y, z) and the velocity components (x,
y,
z).
Then
r 2 = x2 + y 2 + z 2

(2.28)

v 2 = x 2 + y 2 + z 2 .

(2.29)

and

Since r and v are known, the semimajor axis can be calculated from
Eq. (2.8).
The areal constant h may be regarded as the vector product of r and
the orbital velocity v of the comet relative to the Sun. If the components
of h along x, y and z directions are represented as hx , hy and hz then,
hx = y z z y
hy = z x xz
hz = xy y x
and
h2 = h2x + h2y + h2z = p.

(2.30)

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41

Therefore the value of p the length of the semilatus rectum can be calculated. From a knowledge of p and a, e can be obtained from the relation
p = a(1 e2 ).

(2.31)

The projection of h onto the three planes yz, zx and xy gives the following
expressions
h sin i sin = hx
h sin i cos = hy
h cos i = hz .

(2.32)

Hence, the above equations give i and . The upper sign and lower sign
refer to the cases when i is less than or greater than 90 .
The value of ( +f ) can be derived from the following relations whichrelate the position of the point (x, y, z) in terms of the angles of the orbit.
z
sin( + f ) = cosec i
(2.33)
r
and
1
cos( + f ) = (x cos + y sin ).
r
The value of f can be obtained from the relation
r=

(h2 /)
.
1 + e cos f

(2.34)

Hence can be determined. The only other quantity remaining to be

determined is the time of the perihelion passage T , which depends upon
the conic section. For an elliptical orbit the eccentric anomaly E can be
obtained from the Eqs. (2.16) or (2.17). knowing E, e, n and f , the value
of T can be calculated from the Eq. (2.19).
Therefore all the elements a, e, i, , and T can be determined. The
procedure for the other two types of orbits are also similar. For parabolic
and hyperbolic orbits, the Eqs. (2.22) and (2.27) may be used to evaluate
T.
2.2.3.

Orbital elements from observations

Since in general six elements are required to specify completely the orbit
in space, it follows that six independent quantities must be obtained by the
observations. A single observation gives only two quantities say, in terms
of the angular coordinates and of the body. Therefore in all, three
different sets of observations are required to define its orbit.

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Let the heliocentric equatorial rectangular coordinates of the comet and

the Earth at any given time be denoted by (x, y, z) and (X, Y, Z) respectively with respect to the plane of the celestial equator. Let their heliocentric distances be r and R which are given by
r 2 = x2 + y 2 + z 2
and
R2 = X 2 + Y 2 + Z 2 .

(2.35)

Then neglecting comets mass,

x
=

GM x
r3

(2.36)

and for the Earth

= G(M + me )X
X
(2.37)
R3
where M and me are the mass of the Sun and the Earth respectively.
Let the geocentric direction cosines of the comet be l, m and n and its
geocentric distance be . Then
x = X + l
y = Y + m
and
z = Z + n.

(2.38)

The direction cosines l, m and n are given in terms of the observed position
of the comet, right ascension and declination , as
l = cos cos
m = cos sin
and
n = sin .

(2.39)

Equations (2.36), (2.37) and (2.38) give

X
(X + l)
+ G(M + me ) 3
r3
R

(2.40)





GM
+ l = GX M M + me .
l
+
2

l
+
r3
r3
R3

(2.41)

l + 2 l + l = GM
or

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Fig. 2.4

comets

43

Shows the geometry of the triangle with distances marked.

There will be two other equations in Y and Z. These equations may be

solved to give (
+ (GM /r3 )), 2 and . Except for r, all other quantities
are known or can be derived from the observed quantities; r can also be
expressed in terms of . From the triangle whose sides are R , r and
(Fig. 2.4) the following relation may be obtained:
r2 = R2 + 2 2R cos

(2.42)

where is the angle between R and . The projection of R in the direction

of gives
R cos = (lX + mY + nZ).

(2.43)

r2 = R2 + 2 + a1

(2.44)

Therefore
where
a1 = 2(lX + mY + nZ).
Equations (2.41) and (2.44) can be solved for r and . Knowing the values
of r and , the comets heliocentric coordinates (x, y, z) and the velocity
components (x,
y,
z)
can then be obtained from the relations
x = X + l
+ l
x = X + l

(2.45)

and with similar equations for y, y,

z and z.
Knowing the position and
velocity of the comet, the orbital elements and hence the orbit can be

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Physics of Comets

determined from the method already discussed. The method outlined above
is generally referred to as Laplaces method.
The actual computation involves a knowledge of the value l, m, n, X, Y, Z
and their derivatives. The values of X, Y, Z are given in the Ephemeris.
From this data the values of the first derivative can be found out. The
calculation of geocentric direction cosines, their first and second derivatives
can be deduced from three observations of the comet which are not too far
off from each other. Let the dates of observation be t1 , t2 and t3 . The right
ascension and declination for these three times are known. Here we will just
show an approximate method of getting the first and second derivatives. In
actual practice one can use various refined methods.
The average value of the first derivative of l for the time between t1 and
t2 is given by
l2 l1
.
l12 =
t2 t1

(2.46)

l3 l2
l23 =
.
t3 t2

(2.47)

Similarly

If the time interval (t2 t1 ) (t3 t2 ), then the value of l at time t2 is

approximately equal to
i
1 h
l12 + l23 .
(2.48)
l2 =
2
Similarly

l2 = l23 l12 .
1
2 (t3 t1 )

(2.49)

Similar relations for the first and second derivatives and m and n can be
obtained.
The elements obtained from three sets of observations define the initial
orbit of the comet. For getting a better orbit it is necessary to have many
more observations. The initial orbit can be improved further as more and
more observations become available. In fact equations can be set up for
the difference between the predicted and the observed positions. These can
then be solved to get the corrections for the preliminary orbit elements.
This procedure will eventually lead to a more accurate orbit. Such an orbit
is called a definitive orbit. The orbit calculated based on the six elements
gives the position of the comet in space. In order to find the position of the
comet in the plane of the sky, it is necessary to know the position of earth

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45

in space. The geometrical position of the earth can be obtained from the
ephemeris which is used to find the position of the comet in the plane of
the sky.
In the discussion so far, it is assumed that the comet is only under the
influence of the Suns gravitational field. But in actual practice the orbit
gets perturbed due to the planets as comets enter the solar system. The
dominant effect arises mainly from the planets Jupiter and Saturn because
of their large masses. When the comet is far off, the perturbation produced
due to stars, has also to be considered. The calculations which include
many of these perturbations have been carried out numerically. Through
these efforts the dynamical evolution of comets has been studied.
Problems
1. The components of velocity of a body are (0, 1, 3) corresponding to the
position (4, 2, 1). Calculate a and e. What is the nature of the orbit?
Assume for simplicity = 1.
2. The ecliptic heliocentric coordinates of position and velocity of a comet
are (4, 2, 3) and (2, 2, 1) respectively on March 16, 1959. Find the
elements of the orbit of the comet. Here again assume = 1.
3. The time period of the Earth around the Sun is 1 year and its orbital
velocity is 30 km/sec. Compute the distance from the Earth to the
Sun.
4. Calculate the lifetime of comets which have aphelion distances of 5 AU
and 5 104 AU, are almost in parabolic orbits and can survive 1000
perihelion passages.
5. The comet moving in an elliptical orbit has an eccentricity of 0.985.
Compare its velocity at perihelion and aphelion.
6. Show that in elliptic motion about a focus under attraction /r2 , the
radial velocity is given by the equation
r2 r 2 =

{a(1 + e) r} {r a(1 e)}

a

7. Calculate roughly the distance from the Sun beyond which Comet Halley spends about half of its total time period of 76 yrs.
8. Estimate the average values of r, dr/dt, dv/dt and the kinetic energy
in an elliptical orbit taking time as an independent variable.
9. A satellite is orbiting in a circle at an altitude of 600 km. Knowing the
radius and surface gravity of the Earth, calculate its orbital velocity

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and period of revolution. If it is brought to an altitude of 400 km,

what is the time period?

References
The solutions of the equations of Sec. 2.2.3 are specially discussed in:
1. Moulton, F.R. 1970. An Introduction to Celestial Mechanics, New
York: Dover Publications Inc.
2. Roy. A.E. 1965. The Foundations of Astrodynamics, New York: The
Macmillan Company.
3. Danby, J.M.A. 1988. Foundations of Celestial Mechanics, Richmond:
Willmann-Bell, Inc.
Orbit calculation with personal computer
4. Boulet, D.L. 1991. Methods of Orbit determination with Micro Computer: Richmond: Willmann-Bell, Inc.

comets

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CHAPTER 3

Physical Aspects

The gaseous material of a comet is immersed in the radiation field of the

Sun. The study of the interaction between the two requires knowledge of
some of the basic laws of radiation as well as of the spectroscopy of atoms
and molecules. Here we will briefly review some of the relations which are
used in subsequent chapters for interpreting the cometary observations.
3.1.

Black Body Radiation

The energy radiated at different wavelengths by a black body (which

absorbs all of the incident radiation) at temperature T is given by Plancks
law
1
2hc2
B d = 5 hc/kT
d
(3.1)
e
1
where h, k and c denote the Planck constant, Boltzmann constant and the
velocity of light respectively. Figure 3.1 shows a plot of the Eq. (3.1) for
several temperatures which shows clearly the shift of the maximum of the
curve to shorter wavelengths with an increase in temperature. The wavelength corresponding to the peak of the curve max can be represented by
the equation
max T = 0.2897

(3.2)

known as Wiens displacement law. Figure 3.1 also shows that the total
amount of the radiation emitted shifts gradually from the ultraviolet to the
visible and to the infrared spectral regions as the temperature goes from a
higher value to a lower value.
If the photon energy h is very much less than the thermal energy i.e.
h  kT , the Plancks formula simplifies to
47

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Fig. 3.1 The Planck function for various temperatures. The regions of ultraviolet,
visible and infrared are clearly marked.

2 2 kT
(3.2a)
c2
This is the well known Rayleigh - Jeans law which is valid for long wavelength region, such as radio wavelength region. This is extensively used in
the study molecules in the radio region.
The energy density u of the radiation field is related to B through the
relation
B (T ) =

4
B (T )
c
The total energy density is given by
u =

(3.3)

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Z
u=

u dv = aT 4

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49

(3.4)

where a is the radiation constant. The relation (3.4) known as the StephanBoltmann law, shows that the energy density of the black body radiation
depends upon the fourth power of temperature.
3.2.

Perfect Gas Law

The particles of gas in a container which are constantly in motion collide

with each other as well as with the walls of the container, giving rise to
a resultant force and hence the pressure. The pressure is a function of
the density of the gas and the temperature. For a perfect gas, in which
the interatomic or intermolecular forces can be ignored, there is a simple
mathematical relation between the pressure, density and temperature of
the gas, called the equation of state. The equation of state for a perfect gas
is given by
p = nkT

(3.5)

where p, n and T represent the pressure, density and temperature, respectively.

For a gas containing a number of non-interacting species of various types
each exerting its own pressure, the total gas pressure is just the sum of the
various components, i.e.
X
X
p=
pi =
ni kT.
(3.6)
3.3.

Dissociative Equilibrium

If the gaseous medium is at a low temperature, the atoms can combine

together to form molecules. These molecules in turn may dissociate giving
back the atoms. Finally an equilibrium situation will be reached when the
direct and the reverse processes balance each other. For such an equilibrium
situation, it is possible to calculate the number of molecules formed out of
the individual atoms for a given temperature.
Consider two atoms x and y combining together to form the diatomic
molecule xy, i.e.
x + y
xy.

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For the equilibrium situation one has the relation

p(x)p(y)
= K(xy)
p(xy)

(3.7)

where p(x), p(y) and p(xy) are partial pressures of x, y and xy respectively.
K(xy) is called the equilibrium constant or the dissociation constant of the
reaction. The equilibrium constant depends upon the temperature and on
various parameters of the molecule. An expression for the equilibrium constant can be obtained in an explicit form as
log10 Kxy (T ) = log10

5040.4D 5
px py
+ log10 T
=
pxy
T
2

3
Qx Qy
+ log10 M + log10
+ 4.41405.
2
Qxy

(3.8)

Here M is the reduced mass of the molecule equal to (mxy /(mx +my )) where
mx , my and mxy are the masses of x, y and xy respectively. The Qs are the
partition functions and D is the energy required to dissociate the molecule
called the dissociation energy. For many molecules of astrophysical interest
the equilibrium constant can be calculated from Eq. (3.8) as all the relevant
spectroscopic paramters are known. Since the equilibrium constant is a
function of the temperature, one usually fits the calculated data with a
polynomial expression of a suitable form.
3.4.

Doppler Shift

The frequency of the emitted radiation depends upon the relative velocity of the source and the observer. The effect is produced only by the
component of velocity in the direction towards or away from the observer
called the radial velocity. The shift of the lines produced as a result of the
above motion is termed as Doppler shift or Doppler effect. The expected
shift for a source moving with the velocity v is given by

( o )
v
=
=
(3.9)
o
o
c
where and o are the observed and the laboratory wavelength respectively.
The relative velocity of the source is denoted as positive if it is moving away
from the observer and negative if it is moving towards the observer. In the

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former case, the shift is towards longer wavelengths while in the latter case
it is towards shorter wavelengths. From the measurement of the shift of the
lines using Eq. (3.9), it is possible to determine the velocity of the source.
Doppler shift has been used extensively in astronomy to derive the relative
velocities of the various astronomical objects.

3.5.
3.5.1.

Spectroscopy
Atomic spectroscopy

Bohrs formalism of the absorption and emission processes in atoms is

that the lines arise out of transitions between well-defined electron energy
levels having definite quantum number. The wavelength of the emitted
radiation arising out of the two energy levels E1 and E2 (E2 > E1 ) is represented by

hc
E2 E1

(3.10)

When the transition takes place from a lower level to a higher level, the
energy is lost from the incident radiation and it gives rise to an absorption
line. If the reverse process takes place it releases the energy and is kown as
the emission line.
The energy level diagram for the hydrogen atom, which has a single
orbital electron around a proton, is shown in Fig. 3.2. The energy levels
are defined by the principle quantum number n which can take values n =
1, 2, , . The Lyman series arises out of the transition from n = 2, 3,
to n = 1. The Lyman line corresponding to transition n = 2 to n = 1 has
a wavelength of 1216
A and is in the ultraviolet region. This line is very
strong in comets. Most of the lines of the Balmer series lie in the visible
spectral region. Similarly there are Paschen, Brackett and other series,
whose lines lie mostly in the infrared region.
As n increases, the energy levels come closer and closer together and
finally they coalesce. The transitions arising out of these highest levels
give rise to a continuum. The excitation potential of a line is the energy
required to excite the line. The excitation potential for the Lyman line
is 10.15 eV. The ionisation potential is the energy required to remove the
electron completely from the atom. For the hydrogen atom this energy is
13.54 eV. For atoms with more electrons, the spectra becomes complicated.

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Fig. 3.2

Energy level diagram of the hydrogen atom showing various transitions.

However, the basic model on which they can be explained remains the same
except that one has to consider various types of transitions.
Since the electrons in an atom have orbital and spin angular momenta
around the nucleus, they are therefore characterised by three quantum numbers, n, l and j. They denote total quantum number, the orbital angular
momentum quantum number and the total angular momentum quantum
number. The quantum number j for the case of l and s coupling is given
by
j =l+s

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where s is the spin quantum number representing the spin of the electron
and can take the values + 21 and 21 . For many electron systems, the vector sum of the above quantities has to be taken and is represented by the
capital letters L, S and J. Therefore
L=

li , S =

si , and J = L + S.

The J levels are in general degenerate with (2J + 1) levels. They split up
into (2J + 1) levels in the presence of an external magnetic field. L can
take values 0, 1, 2 up to (n 1) and they are represented as S, P, D, F,...
terms. The value with S = 0, 21 , 1, denotes the multiplicity of the levels
and refers to lines as singlets, doublets, triplets, etc. The level is generally
written as
n(2S+1) LJ
where n is the total quantum number, (2S + 1) gives the multiplicity, J the
total angular momentum and L is the term symbol.
In general, the transitions between various levels have to satisfy certain
selection rules. For electric dipole transitions the selection rules are the
following:
J = 0, 1 with J = 0 9 J = 0
L = 0, 1
S = 0.
In situations where dipole transitions are forbidden it is possible to
observe magnetic or quadrupole transitions. These are called forbidden
lines. The transition probabilities of these lines are much smaller than those
of allowed transitions. Many of the forbidden lines have been observed in
various astrophysical situations because of low density present in them.
Collisions are infrequent in such an environment and hence forbidden lines
can be seen. Many of these lines cannot usually be observed under normal
laboratory conditions. The forbidden lines are generally denoted with a
square bracket. For example the forbidden line = 6300
A of oxygen
arising out of 1 D level is denoted as O[1 D]. If the atom is neutral, it is
designated by putting I in front of the chemical symbol, like OI, NI, ... The
symbols II, III,... represent atoms in singly ionized, doubly ionized states
like NII, NIII,...

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3.5.2.

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Molecular spectroscopy

Many of the diatomic and complex molecules are abundant in objects

like the Sun, the cool stars and comets. If the two atoms in the diatomic
molecule are of the same type, it is called a homonuclear molecule. Examples of this type are H2 , N2 , O2 etc. If the two atoms are of different types,
like CN, CH, OH, etc., it is called a heteronuclear molecule. The spectrum
of even the simplest diatomic molecule shows complicated behaviour comprising different bands and each band itself is made up of many lines. This
is due to the fact that the two atoms in the molecule can vibrate individually along the common axis as well as rotate along the axis perpendicular
to the common axis. The total energy of the molecule is the sum total of
the kinetic and potential energies of the electrons and the nuclei. This is
generally represented in terms of the potential energy curves which give the
variation of the potential energy as a function of the internuclear separation. The energy required to separate a stable molecule into its components
is called the dissociation energy of the molecule. The various vibrational
energies of the molecule are denoted by the vibrational quantum number
v and can take values 0, 1, 2,... Each vibrational level is further split up
into various rotational levels denoted by the rotational quantum number J.
Therefore each electronic state has many vibrational levels, each of which
in turn has several rotational levels as shown schematically in Fig. 3.3. A
transition can take place between vibrational and rotational levels of the
two electronic states. The total energy E, of the molecule can be represented as a sum of the electronic (Ee1 ), vibrational (Evib ) and rotational
(Erot ) energies, namely
Etotal = Ee1 + Evib + Erot .

(3.11)

In terms of actual energies

Ee1 > Evib > Erot .
The electronic transitions give lines which fall in the visible and UV regions
while those of rotational transitions lie in the infrared and far-infrared regions. The vibrational energy of the molecule can be represented as

2


1
1
hcwe xe v +
G(v)hc Evib = hcwe v +
2
2

3
1
+hcwe ye v +
+
2

(3.12)

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Fig. 3.3 Schematic representation of the vibrational and rotational levels of two electronic states A and B of a molecule. The left one shows the transitions involving P, Q
and R branches. The right one shows the transitions which define the band sequence
(see text).

where we , we xe and we ye are the spectroscopic constants of the molecule.

The expression for the rotational energy is of the form
F (J)hc = Erot =

h2
J(J + 1) = hcBJ(J + 1)
8 2 I

(3.13)

where B = [h/(8 2 cI)], J is the rotational quantum number and it can take
values, 0, 1, 2, I is the moment of inertia of the molecule. B is known as
the rotational constant of the molecule. All the quantum numbers of the
lower electronic level (T 00 ) are denoted as double prime (00 ) , like v 00 and J 00 ,
while that of the upper level (T 0 ) as prime (0 ) like v 0 and J 0 . Therefore, the
wave number (cm1 ) of the transition between the two electronic states is
given by
=

1
{[Eel (T 0 ) Eel (T 00 )] + [Evib (v 0 ) Evib (v 00 )]
hc
+[Erot (J 0 ) Erot (J 00 )]}.

(3.14)

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The classification of the electronic states of a molecule is based on a

scheme similar to that employed for atoms. L, i.e., (L1 + L2 ) and S, i.e.,
(S1 + S2 ) are the total angular momenta of the two atoms in the molecule.
The projections along the axis of the molecule are denoted as and .
can take values 0, 1, 2, , L. The designations used for these states are
for

similar to

(for molecules)

in the atomic case.

The total angular momentum is given by

=+
which is similar to the case of quantum number J in the atomic case. The
selection rules for the electronic transitions are
= 0, 1
= 0

and
= 0, 1.
The transition between any two electronic states, is determined by the
vibration-rotation structure of the two states involved. There are no rigorous selection rules for the vibrational quantum number and so the transition can take place between any two vibrational levels of the two electronic
states. A pure vibrational transition between the two electronic states,
called a band is denoted as (v 0 , v 00 ), i.e., the quantum number of the upper
level is written first. Thus for example (2, 0) means a transition from the
upper vibrational level v 0 = 2 to the lower vibrational level v 00 = 0. Pure vibrational transitions in a given electronic state are allowed for heteronuclear
molecules but not for homonuclear molecules like C2 , N2 , etc.
Each of the vibrational bands is further split up into a large number of
rotational lines. The selection rule for the rotational quantum number J
is given by J = J 0 J 00 = 0, 1. However, if = 0, only J = 1 is
allowed. Therefore, the rotational transitions give rise to three series of lines
called P, Q and R branches corresponding to J = 1, 0, +1 (Fig. 3.3).

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The rotational lines of a given vibrational band cannot in general be resolved in low resolution spectra and therefore it results in a blended feature.
It can be resolved with a higher spectral resolution. For some molecules
the bands arising for the same change in the vibrational quantum number
in going from the upper to the lower electronic state have wavelengths very
close to each other. Therefore these bands cannot be resolved and give rise
to blended features known as band-sequences (Fig. 3.3). For example, v =
0 of the Swan band sequence for the C2 molecule occurs around = 5165
A
(Fig. 4.1). To separate the bands from the band-sequences, it is necessary
to go in for even higher resolutions. To resolve rotational structure, still
higher resolutions are required (Fig. 5.17).
As in the atomic case, the molecular term can be written as
Z (2S+1)
where Z represents the designation of the electronic state, (2S + 1) the
multiplicity where S is the electron spin, the total angular momentum
and is the kind of term like , , etc. As a typical case, the designation
of some of the band systems are given below for illustrative purposes.
(B 2 X 2 ) of the CN system and (A2 X 2 ) of the CO+ system
and so on.
3.5.3.

Chemical subgroups

Certain chemical subgroups of atoms in a complex molecule, such as

-CH2 - (methylene), -CH3 (methyl) etc. vibrate at characteristic stretching
and bending frequencies for that group. This gives rise to absorption or
emission lines at or near the same frequency regardless of the structure
of the rest of the molecule. Therefore infrared spectra can be used as a
diagnostic of the chemical subgroup present in the material. The chemistry dominated by the cosmically abundant H, C, N and O atoms and
the diagnostic bands fall almost exclusively in the near and mid-infrared
region between 2.5 and 25 m. The various spectral signatures in the midinfrared region arising out of subgroups composed of H, C, N and O is
shown in Fig. 3.4. Figure 3.4 show that hydrocarbons have characteristic
frequency in the 33.4 m and 58 m regions depending on the exact
chemical composition and configuration of the larger molecules containing
the spectrally active groups. Therefore, infrared spectra is used extensively
to classify species and subgroup by chemical type, like aliphatic vs aromatic hydrocarbons etc. As for example, the 3.4 m emission feature seen

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Fig. 3.4 The vibrational frequency ranges of various molecular groups (Allamandola,
L.J. 1984. In Galactic and Extragalactic Infrared Spectroscopy, Eds. M.F. Kessler and
J.P. Phillips, D. Reidel Publishing Company, p. 5: with kind permission of Springer
Science and Business Media).

from astronomical sources is generally attributed to C-H stretching modes

of -CH2 - and -CH3 groups in aliphatic hydrocarbons. This feature will be
seen in all biological molecules.
3.6.

Isotopic Effect

The diatomic molecules which have the same atomic number but have
slightly different masses can give rise to a separation of the lines. This
is known as isotopic shift. The difference in the emitted frequencies between the two isotopic molecules arises through the difference in the reduced
masses of the two molecules. The spectroscopic constants of the isotopic
molecules (i) and the ordinary molecule are related by the following rela-

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tions.
we (i) = we
we xe (i) = 2 we xe
and
we ye (i) = 3 we ye

(3.15)

where


=
(i)

 12

Here denotes the reduced mass of the molecule. The amount of the shift
depends upon the ratio of the masses and on the value of the vibrational
quantum number v. In the case when only the first term in the energy term
included, the isotopic shift is given by



 
1
1
0
0
00
shift = (1 ) v +
e v +
e00
(3.16)
2
2
Therefore, the isotopic shift is a function of the value of (1 ). The larger
the deviation from unity, the greater will be the shift of the lines. The sign
of (1 ) indicates the type of shift expected. The negative sign implies a
shift towards shorter wavelengths. For example, the (1,0) band of the blue
degraded Swan v = +1 sequence occurs around 4737
A while that of
12
C 13 C occurs around 4745
A.
The isotopic mass difference also has an effect on the rotational constant
B which in turn changes the rotational levels as
F i (J) = 2 BJ(J + 1).

(3.17)

Therefore, the isotopic effect could also be seen in the rotational spectra of
the molecules.
3.7.

Franck-Condon Factors

The electronic transitions in a molecule give rise to several types of intensity patterns depending on the type of the molecule. For example, for some
molecules (0, 0) transitions is the strongest, while for others the strongest
line may be for a different value (v 0 , v 00 ). The observed variations in the
intensity distributions can be understood in terms of the Franck-Condon
principle. The basic idea is the following. The electron jump takes place

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from one electronic state to another preferentially at the turning points

of any vibrational level. This is due to the fact that the time of passage
between these two turning points is much shorter than the time spent at
the turning points. Therefore, the relative position and velocity after the
transition is the same as before the transition. Hence, if a transition takes
place from a given value of v 0 of the upper state, the quantum number of the
jumped lower state depends on the location and shape of the two potential
curves. Figure 3.5 shows the expected results for two cases. In one case

Fig. 3.5 Understanding of the expected intensity distribution in emission according to

the Franck-Condon principle (see text). The minimum of the curve corresponds to the
equilibrium position.

the minimum of the potential curves is nearly one above the other, while in
the second case, one is shifted for higher values of r. Based on the FranckCondon principle the (0, 0) transition should be the strongest for case 1.
For case 2, the strongest lines will be arising from the higher values of v 0 .
For emission lines, there will be two values of v 00 , corresponding to points
B and D in Fig. 3.5 for which the intensity will be maximum. The locus of
the strongest bands is a parabola called the Condon parabola. The Condon
parabola can be calculated theoretically provided the potential curves are
known. The Franck-Condon factors give a measure of the relative band
intensities for an electronic transition.

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3.8.

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61

Intensity of Emitted Lines

The intensity of a spectral line in emission, defined in ergs/sec, is given

by
I21 = N2 A21 h21 .

(3.18)

Here N2 is the number of the species in state 2 and 21 is the frequency of

the emitted radiation from state 2 to state 1. A21 is the Einstein coefficient
which gives the probability for a spontaneous transition from state 2 to
state 1, even without any external influence. The Einstein coefficient may
be expressed in terms of a parameter called the strength S21 of a line as
3
64 4 21
S21
(3.19)
3
3hc
where g2 is the statistical weight or the degeneracy of the upper level. Other
quantities have their usual meanings. The mean life of state 2 is

g2 A21 =

2 =

1
.
A21

(3.20)

It is instructive to see the order of value of for various types of transitions.

For electronic transitions 108 sec (A = 108 sec1 ). For vibrational
transitions 103 sec(A = 103 sec1 ) and for rotational transitions
1 sec (A = 1 sec1 ). The Einstein values B12 and B21 represent the
probability for the absorption and induced emission processes and is given
by
8 3
S21 .
(3.21)
3h2
The total line strength S21 of the molecular line is the product of electronic,
vibrational and rotational components. Therefore
g2 B21 = g1 B12 =

S21 = Se1 Svib Srot .

(3.22)

In general the probability of a transition between two states of eigenfunctions 0 and 00 is given by the equation
Z
R = 0 00 dr
(3.23)
where is the dipole moment. R2 is proportional to the transition probability. Usually Sel and Svib are combined together as
2
Z


vib
(3.24)
(Se1 Svib ) Se1
=  v0 Re v00 dr

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Here Re is called the electronic transition moment. v0 and v00 are the
eigenfunctions for the vibrational states v 0 and v 00 . Re itself is defined by
the expression
Z
Re = e0 e e00 de
(3.25)
where e s are the electronic wavefunctions and e refers to the electric
dipole moment for the electrons. In general the electron wavefunction e
also depends to some extent on the internuclear distance r. Hence Re
should also depend on r. However, since the variation of Re with r is slow,
this variation is often neglected and Re is replaced by an average value of
Re . Therefore Eq. (3.24) becomes
2
Z


vib
(3.26)
Sel
= Re2 (rv0 v00 ) v0 v00 dr
where rv0 v00 is called the r- centroid and it is a characteristic internuclear
separation which can be associated with a given band (v 0 , v 00 ) and is given
by
R
v0 rv00 dr
rvv00 = R
.
(3.27)
v0 v00 dr
The integral over the products of the vibrational wavefunctions of the two
states of Eq. (3.26) is known as the overlap integral and is generally called
the Franck-Condon factors of the (v 0 , v 00 ) band. Therefore, Eq. (3.26) can
be written as
vib
Sel
= Re2 (rv0 v00 )qv0 v00

(3.28)

where
2
Z


qv0 v00 =  v0 v00 dr .
Hence Eq. (3.22) becomes
S21 = Re2 (rv0 v00 )qv0 v00 Srot .

(3.29)

Hence the electronic transition moment Re2 refers to r-centroid rv0 v00 and
Srot is usually known as H
oln-London factors. Equation (3.29) shows that
the total strength of a molecular line is essentially given by the product of
the three-strength factors, namely the electronic transition, Franck-Condon
factors and the H
oln-London factors.
The values of the electronic transition moment for any band basically
has to come from the laboratory measurements of the intensity of the lines,
as theoretical calculations are very difficult. Enormous amount of work has

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been carried out in various laboratories over the world to extract this basic
data from the line intensity measurements of various bands. But the data
is still very meagre. So for most of the cases, one ends up using either the
mean value or an approximate value for the electronic transition moment.
The Franck-Condon factors can be calculated from a knowledge of the
wavefunction of the vibrational levels, which comes out of the solution of
the Schr
odinger equation. For this, the potential function U (r) has to be
expressed in a convenient and mathematical form. There are various representations of the potential curve. The well-known function is that of Morse
and is generally called Morse function. This has been extensively used in
the literature as it is quite simple and convenient. However it does not
represent the potential curves for all the cases exactly. So other expressions for the potential have been suggested. The one that is commonly
used in recent years is known as the RKR potential referring to the authors
Rydberg, Klein and Rees, who proposed it. In this method, the potential
curve is constructed point by point from the laboratory measured values
of the vibrational and rotational levels. The potential curves obtained in
this way are much superior in many cases compared to Morse potential
representation. The advantage of this method is the fact that it uses experimentally determined values of the quantities. However, the disadvantage
is that the experimental values are often not of good quality and, in additon, this method is quite cumbersome. Many people have written computer
programs to evaluate qv0 v00 and r -centroids for given values of input parameters. For many molecules of astrophysical interest, the values of qv0 v00
have been published in the literature.
On the other hand, the rotational strength factors have to be calculated
from the theory. They depend upon the structure of the molecule, type
of coupling, type of transition involved, etc. Until recently there existed
a lot of confusion in the definition and normalization of Holn-London factors. This has been clarified by several workers. The expression for the
H
oln-London factors has been evaluated for various cases of interest and is
available in the literature. Computer programs have also been written to
compute these factors.
It is also possible to get an estimate of the Einstein A value or the
oscillator strength f , directly from the laboratory measurements of the
intensity of lines. Various techniques and methods have been employed to
measure these quantities. The measurements are however hard to make and
so there are not many measurements available at the present time. Even if
they are available, the values by different methods or by different observers

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often disagree. Therefore, one has to make use of laboratory measured

values along with the calculated quantities in any particular situation.
3.9.

Boltzmann Distribution

The calculation of the intensities of lines involves a knowledge of the

relative population of atoms or molecules in different excited states. In
a thermal equilibrium in which every process is balanced by its inverse,
the population distribution among various levels is described according
to Boltzmann formula. The population distribution between two discrete
states 1 and 2 with an energy separation 12 = E2 E1 is given by the
expression
g2
n2
= e12 /kT
(3.30)
n1
g1
where g1 and g2 are the statistical weights of the two levels and for an atom
it is equal to
g(J) = 2J + 1
where J is the total angular momentum quantum number. The expression
can be used to calculate the population distribution in different levels for a
given temperature. Conversely, with a knowledge of the population in two
or more levels, the excitation temperature can be determined.
3.10.

-Doubling

The assumption that the interaction between the angular momentum

due to rotation of the molecule as a whole and the electron orbital angular
momentum can be neglected is valid only for the case of = 0. This
corresponds to the case of states. However, for the electronic states
, , , for which 6= 0, this interaction splits the rotational energy
levels. This is called -doubling. The splitting of the levels is generally
very small and is of the order of 1cm1 or less. Therefore the transitions
between these levels will give rise to lines which lie in the radio frequency
region. For transitions of the type (1 1 ) there is no -doubling. But
for others like (2 2 ), the effect of -doubling can be seen. -doubling
is the characteristic feature of molecules like OH,CH, etc., which have large
rotational constants. The OH radical has been studied more extensively
than any other radical. The energy level diagram of the hydroxyl radical,

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with only a few vibrational levels is shown in Fig. 3.6. The strong (0,0) band

Fig. 3.6

Energy level diagram of the OH molecule and the associated -doubling.

which is generally seen in emission in comets arises from the transitions as

shown in Fig. 3.6. The lowest rotational level, corresponding to v 00 = 0
and J 00 = 3/2 is further expanded in Fig. 3.6 to show the -splitting. The
two -doubling states are further split by the hyperfine interaction with the
hydrogen nucleus. Therefore in all there are a total of four lines (Table 3.1).
All these lines have been seen from many astronomical sources.
Table 3.1

3.11.

Radio lines of the OH molecule.

Frequency (MHz)

Relative Intensities
of lines

Transition
probability (sec1 )

1612.23
1665.40
1667.36
1720.53

1
5
9
1

4.50
2.47
2.66
3.24

(-12)
(-11)
(-11)
(-12)

Photochemistry of Water

Extensive studies pertaining to photochemistry of water has been carried out through laboratory and theoretical studies. All these studies have
shown that there are a large number of channels through which water can
go through depending upon the impinging energy of the photon. The resulting fragments can further divide in several ways. All these possible

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pathways are given in Table 3.2.

Table 3.2

Water photodissociation products.

Reaction

Threshold
wavelength (
A)

(a)

H2 O + h

OH+ H
OH(A2 + ) + H
H2 + O(1 D)
H2 + O(1 S)
H + H + O(3 P)
H2 O+ + e
H + OH+ + e
H2 + O + + e
OH + H+ + e

2424.6
1357.1
1770
1450
1304
984
684.4
664.4
662.3

(b)

OH + h

O+H
OH+ + e
H+H
H+
2 + e
H + H+ + e
O+ + e
H+ + e

2823.0
928
844.79
803.67
685.8
910.44
911.75

H2 + h

O + h
H + h

(a) Main pathways. (b) Fragment pathways. Adapted from

Feldman, P.D., Cochran, A.L. and Combi, M.R. 2005, In
Comets II, Eds. M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and H.A. Weaver,
Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 425.

In the first reaction the product OH(A2 + ) is produced in the highly

excited state which decays giving rise to prompt emission lines. In the
third reaction, the product is in the metastable levels O(1 D) and O(1 S)
which give rise to forbidden lines.
These results are of direct relevance to comets as water is the dominant
molecular specie in the coma of comets at heliocentric distances of around
1AU. In fact most of the products as mentioned in Table 3.2 have been
observed in comets through spectroscopic means.
Among all the photo-dissociation fragments of H2 O, the velocity distribution of H in the reaction producing the products of H and OH is
completely dominated by non-thermal component. This arises due to the
fact that there is excess energy available over and above the energy required
to overcome the chemical bond energy. This excess energy is imparted to
the H atoms which result in the velocity of 17.8 km/sec. OH radical has

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an excess velocity 1.05 km/sec.

3.12.

Silicate

There are various types of silicates. They differ in their chemical composition and mineral structure. The basic building block of silicate material
is SiO4 . They are tetrahedral in shape. In the tetrahedron, the four oxygen atoms of SiO4 are located one at each corner, while Si atom is at its
centre. The two main forms of silicate material of intererst are Olivine
and Pyroxene (Fig. 3.7). Olivines can be considered as solid solutions of

Fig. 3.7 Different forms of Olivines and Pyroxenes and their structure (Henning, Th.
1999, In Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars, Eds. T. Le Bertre, A. Lebre and C. Waelkens,
IAU Symposium 191, ASP Conference Publications, p. 221:By the kind permission of
the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series).

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Mg2 SiO4 and Fe2 SiO4 , while Pyroxenes of MgSiO3 and FeSiO3 . They can
be represented by a general formula as Mg2x Fe22x SiO4 for olivine and Mgx
Fe1x SiO3 for pyroxenes. The value of x can take values between 1 and 0.
The end members of olivine class are Forsterite (x = 1, Mg2 SiO4 ) and Fayalite (x = 0, Fe2 SiO4 ). The corresponding ones for pyroxene are Enstatite
(x = 1, MgSiO3 ) and Ferrosilite (x = 0, FeSiO3 ). Pyroxene has chain-like
structure while olivine has island-like structure. In the case of amorphous
silicate, long range order is absent due to blending of structures and only
short-range order exists. The two crystalline silicates exhibit both shortrange and long-range order. The degree of long-range order (amorphous
to crystalline) has a considerable effect on the spectroscopic properties of
the material. For example, amorphous silicate exhibit broad smooth spectral features, while crystalline silicates show sharp and distinct features.
Amorphous and crystalline silicates are present in cometary dust.

3.13.

Annealing

Amorphous silicate is the most common form present in astronomical objects. In fact the dominant component of silicate in the interstellar
medium is amorphous silicate. Since crystalline silicate is present in comets,
it is important to understand how amorphous silicate can be transformed
to crystalline silicate.
The transformation of amorphous to crystalline state is possible by the
process of annealing in which the ordered arrangement of silicate tetrahedra is brought about by atomic diffusion. In this process, thermal diffusion
brings about rearrangement of the structural units (tetrahedra) which results in long-range order. Diffusion in solids is a result of activation of
lattice defects. Therefore the poorly ordered state of the amorphous material slowly drifts towards more energetically favourable positions leading
to macro-crystalline structure.
Several experiments have been carried out to see the actual change over
from the amorphous state to crystalline state. Magnesium silicate which
showed a broad feature at 9.3 m to start with showed two features at 9.8
and 11.0 m after annealing at 1027 K. These features and the spectral
feature at 20 m showed the formation of olivine. The change over from
amorphous to crystalline can take anywhere between a few hours to a day
or so. In the change over process the band length or angle within the SiO4
tetrahedron is not altered but simply leads to ordered arrangement of the

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SiO4 units. As an example the annealing of CaMgSi2 O6 smoke is shown in

Fig. 3.8.

Fig. 3.8 Annealing of CaMgSi2 O6 smoke at 1050K and for times from 1 to 40 hours.
The development of structures in the curve can clearly be seen. The curves for 1 to 40
hours are shifted vertically for clarity (Colangeli, L., Henning, Th., Brucato, J.R. et al.
2003. Astron. Astrophys, Rev., 11, 97).

3.14.

Carbon

Carbon can exist both in crystalline and amorphous form. Some of the
forms of carbon are graphite, diamond and amorphous carbon. Amorphous
carbon does not exhibit a long-range order in their arrangement. There are
serveral classes of materials of this category which depend mostly on their
appearance, for example, glassy carbon or soot. Aliphatic molecules have
open structures, while aromatic molecules have ring structures, like benzene, C6 H6 . Benzene is the building block for a wide range of hydrocarbon
molecules. Molecules with several aromatic rings are called Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are the most thermodynamically stable
hydrocarbon compounds that exist in the gaseous form. PAHs can exist in
neutral and ionized states. The size of PAHs could be around 25 to 100
carbon atoms. Therefore wide variety of PAHs can exist under astrophysical conditions including comets. PAHs possesses rich spectra with specific

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spectral signature, a high photo-stability and also contain abundant carbon.

The mid infrared region (2 to 25 m) is where the fundamental vibrational
modes of PAHs and their overtones are active. The C - H out-of-plane
bending feature occurs at around 11 m, C-C stretching around 6 m and
C-H in-plane bending around 8.7 m. A series of emission lines at 3.3, 6.2,
7.7, 8.6 and 11.3 m seen in astronomical objects is generally attributed to
PAHs. However no specific molecule has been identified.

3.15.

Solar Radiation

The subject of the study of the total amount of energy as well as the
spectral distribution in the solar spectrum is an old one. It is of great
intererst in various fields. It has therefore been studied extensively in the
entire range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The detailed and extensive
measurements are carried out in the case of the Sun because of its proximity,
it being a typical main sequence star and also because of its effects on the
Earths environment. It also turns out that most of the phenomena that one
observes from a comet is associated directly or indirectly with the radiation
field of the Sun.
The surface temperature of the Sun is about 6000 K. According to
Plancks distribution law [Eq. (3.1)] most of the energy is concentrated
in the visible region of the spectrum. Therefore the amount of energy measured from the Earth corrected for the atmospheric transmission gives a
good estimate of the total energy of radiation. Of course, one should try
to allow for the UV and IR radiation which is cut off by the Earths atmosphere. The intensity of the solar radiation as seen from the Earths
atmosphere at the Earths mean distance from the Sun is called the solar
constant. To get the solar constant value, extensive ground based measurements have been carried out. The average value for the solar constant is
found to be 1.95 cal/cm2 /min.
The spectral energy distribution in the visible region is quite smooth
and can be represented well by a black body of temperataure 6000 K. Superposed on it are the absorption lines of the gases of the solar atmosphere.
For measuring the solar emission in the UV region, it is necessary to go
above the Earths atmosphere. Such observations have been carried out using rockets and satellites. The solar flux decreases very rapidly to shorter
wavelength. As one goes towards the UV spectral region, the number of
emission lines arising out of different ionization levels of the various ele-

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ments increases. In fact below around 1500

A, the major portion of the
energy is in emission lines rather than in the continuum (Fig. 3.9). As one

Fig. 3.9 A representative spectral distribution of the quiet Sun between 1150 to 1400
A
(Dupree, A.K. and Reeves, E.M. 1971. Ap. J. 165, 599).

goes towards shorter and shorter wavelength, one is essentially seeing the
higher and higher temperature regions, namely the chromosphere and the
corona of the Sun, from where the emission lines arise. Therefore the shape
of the continuum radiation in the UV and far UV regions depend to certain
extent on the resolution of the instrument. The higher the resolution of
the instrument the more the number of weak lines can be resolved. The
intense lines in the UV region are the Lyman and Lyman occuring at
1215.7
A and 1025.7
A, respectively. They have fluxes of about 31011 and

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2 109 photons/cm2 /sec at the top of the atmosphere as compared to the

continuum level in the same region of about 108 photons/cm2 /sec. Lyman
and Lyman emission lines are quite important as they can dissociate,
ionize or excite the species. There could be some uncertainty in the data in
the UV region. In addition, the emission could vary with the solar conditions as for example, whether the Sun is quiet or flares are present and so
on. The solar UV flux also varies considerably with 27 day solar rotation
period. It also varies with 11 year solar activity cycle which can cause the
solar flux to vary by a factor of 2 to 4 at wavelength shorter of 1000
A.
It will become clear later on that the emission and absorption lines,
strong as well as weak present in the solar spectrum, as well as their variations play a crucial role in the formation of spectral line in a cometary
atmosphere.

3.16.

Solar Wind

The solar plasma from the corona that flows out continuously into the
interplanetary medium is called the solar wind. The possible existence of
such plasma flows came from the pioneering investigations of Biermann
based on the study of plasma tail of comets. The theoretical work of
Parker in the 1950s based on the hydrodynamic expansion of the solar
corona predicted the expected nature of the solar wind. The theory also
showed that the magnetic field originating in the photosphere and dragged
into the interplanetary medium takes the form of an Archimedean spiral
structure. The observations carried out with satellites later on confirmed
Parkers theory of the solar wind. The actual interplanetary magnetic field
measurements have established the Archimedean spiral structure for the
magentic field. The mean values obtained from observations for some of
the physical paramters of interest for the solar wind near the Earth are
the following: number density of electrons or protons, Ne Np 5/cm3 ;
velocity 450 km/sec; electron temperature 1.5 105 K; magnetic field
2.5 where = 105 gauss. However, it is well known that the Sun is not
quiet all the time and lot of activities of violent nature do take place on the
surface of the Sun, like flares, bursts, etc. These have a great effect on many
of the geomagnetic activities. In fact there is an almost one-to-one relation
between the disturbance occuring on the Sun and the effect observed on
the terrestrial atmosphere. The existence of such a correlation has been
known since early times. These effects arise basically due to the fact that a

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disturbance on the surface of the Sun releases suddenly a large amount of

plasma which is coupled through interplanetary magnetic field. Therefore,
the average physical properties of the solar wind change with the solar conditions. During disturbed periods the solar wind velocity and the density
at 1 AU could vary by a factor of two or so. The magnitude as well as the
direction of the magnetic field also change. The extensive measurements
made with satellites have given an enormous amount of information with
regard to the variation of physical quantities with heliocentric distance for
quiet as well as for disturbed solar conditions. These measurements have
also shown the presence of magnetic sector boundaries in the magnetic field
which have opposite polarity. These regions are separated by null surfaces
where the magnetic field is zero. Since the plasma tail of a comet and
the solar wind are coupled to each other through interplanetary magnetic
fields (Chap. 10), the interpretation of the observed cometary features requires a knowledge of the exact conditions of the solar wind at the time of
observation.

Problems
1. Derive Eq. (3.1) in frequency units.
2. Calculate the wavelength of vibrational bands of the Swan system (d3
- a3 ) for the C2 molecule and (B X) transitions of the H2 molecule
for v 00 =0,1,2 and v 0 =0,1. This will help in understanding the meaning
of band sequence. What instrumental resolution is required to resolve
vibrational and rotational structure of the Swan bands.
3. Derive the expression for the isotopic shift for the vibrational and rotational transitions including second order terms.
4. Calculate the isotopic shift between 12 C12 C and 12 C13 C for the (1,0)
band of the Swan system.
5. Calculate the frequency and wavelength of the line arising out of the
transition between n = 109 to 108 in hydrogen and carbon atoms.
Discuss its significance.
6. Is there a Doppler effect when the observer or the source moves at
right angles to the line joining them? How can the Doppler effect be
determined when the motion has a component at right angles to the
line?
7. Make an estimate of the temperature of the Sun from the fact that it
can be seen.

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8. Explain why the spectrum of the Sun at wavelengths less than 1500
A
consists entirely of emission lines.
9. What evidence do we have, direct and indirect, of the existence and
properties of solar wind?
10. What is the probable mechanism responsible for the generation of the
solar wind?
11. Suns radiation striking the Earth has an intensity of 1400
watts/meter2 . Assuming the Earth is a flat disk at right angles to
the Suns rays and that the incident energy is completely absorbed,
calculate the radiation force acting on the earth. Compare it with the
force due to the Suns gravitational attraction.
12. Calculate the Einstein A-value for the rotational transitions 2 to 1 in the
ground electronic state and compare it with the value for the electronic
transitions between A and X levels for the CO molecule.

References
1. Herzberg, G. 1950. Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure 1. Spectra of Diatomic Molecules, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company.

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CHAPTER 4

Spectra

The main goals of the study of spectra are to identify the species responsible for the observed lines and to obtain information about their
abundances and the physical conditions present in the source. It is no
exaggeration to say that our present understanding about various aspects
of cometary phenomena has come directly or indirectly from the study of
their spectra.
The first photographic observations in the visible region was carried
out in 1864. This was gradually superceded by photoelectric detectors of
various kinds followed by charged coupled devices (CCDs). Therefore it
is possible to make high spectral resolution observations with the existing
large size optical telescopes.
The observations in the UV spectral region below 3000
A was carried out
first with rockets and then by Orbiting Astronomical observatory (OAO-2)
in 1970. This was followed by the launching of International Ultraviolet
Explorer (IUE) in 1978, Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in 1990 and Far
Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) in 1999. These satellites made
it possible to explore the spectral region from around 3000
A down to

about 900 A. The observations carried out with Rontgen Satellite (ROSAT),
Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) and Chandra X-ray observatory have
extended the wavelength limit to X-ray region of around 1
A.
In the near infrared region, observations have been carried out with
balloons and with the Keck telescope, Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF),
Subaru telescope etc. at Mauna Kea in Hawai with sensitive detectors.
Kuiper Airborne observatory (KAO) was very helpful in making observations in the infrared. Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) made it possible
to study farinfrared spectral region with high resolving power. This has
been followed by Spitzer Space Observatory (SSO) which has opened up
75

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new avenue for making infrared observations.

The availability of large size radio telescopes has made it possible to
study molecules in the millimetre and radio wavelength regions.

4.1.

Main Characteristics

The identification of the spectra of comets is one of the active areas of

study. This is due to the combination of many factors such as better instruments, availability of space vehicles, computation techniques, etc. The
identification of the lines in the spectra of a comet is quite a complex and
difficult task. The usual procedure is to look for the coincidences between
the laboratory wavelength of lines and the observed wavelenghts in the spectra of a comet which have been corrected for the velocity effect (Chap. 3).
With this method many of the wellknown atoms and molecules which are
seen in other astronomical objects have been identified in the spectra of
comets. With better resolution as well as going into new spectral regions,
many more new species have been identified.
The extensive spectral observations carried out on Comet Halley which
have been compiled in the Atlas of Cometary Spectra, show the vast extent
of the lines which could not be identified. There are also large number of
unindentified lines in the high dispersion (/ = 60,000) visible spectrum
of Comet 122P/de Vico. Therefore much work remains to be done in the
area of identification of lines. It is appropriate at this point to mention
the fact that the problem of identification of lines is intimately connected
with the availability of spectroscopic data pertaining to various atoms and
molecules. In addition, the astrophysical environment is vastly different
from those of laboratory conditions. Therefore many of the lines that may
be present in the astronomical spectra cannot be produced under laboratory conditions. Hence laboratory data is not available for each and every
transition for all the atoms and molecules. Therefore, there could always
be lines in the astronomical spectra which cannot be identified. It is interesting to note that several transitions were observed first in the cometary
spectra before being studied in the laboratory. The wellknown case is
the bands of the ion CO+ , generally called the CometTail System. Other
examples are the bands of C3 and H2 O+ .
The observations carried out in the visual spectral region of around
3000 to 8000
A have been the main source of information for the study
of spectra of cometary atmosphere for the last several decades. These

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studies had limitations due to photographic techniques and also most of the
spectroscopic observations could be made only on bright comets at small
heliocentric distances. Early observations were also limited to spectra taken
at low spectral resolution. In recent years many of these limitations have
been overcome. Based on the spectra in the visual region, it is possible to
arrive at some general pattern regarding the main characteristic features of
the spectra of comets.
At large heliocentric distances, the comet appears as a point source.
This is due to the reflection of the solar radiation by the nucleus. For
heliocentric distances, r >
3 AU, the spectrum is mainly the continuum
radiation arising mostly due to the scattered solar radiation by the dust
particles present in the cometary atmosphere. The emission lines of the
various molecules appear roughly in a sequence as the comet approaches
the Sun. The molecular bands first to appear are those of CN at r 3
AU followed by the emission from C3 and NH2 (r 2 AU). Thereafter at
r 1.5 AU the emission from C2 (Swan bands), CH, OH and NH appear
in the spectrum. They are often strong enough to reveal their structure.
+
At r< 1.5 AU emission from CO+ , OH+ , N+
2 and CH appear. Emission
from Na appear around 0.8 AU. The relative intensity of emission bands
and continuum varies from comet to comet. In sun-grazing comets, say for
r 0.1 AU, numerous metallic emission lines crowd the spectrum.
The spectrum of a plasma tail shows mostly the presence of ionized
species and generally at r< 2 AU. The notable exceptions include the Comet
Humason (1962 VIII) where CO+ was seen even at r> 6 AU. Among the
observed ions in the plasma tail of a comet, the emission from CO+ dominate.
As a typical case, Fig. 4.1 shows the spectra of Comet Encke in the
visual region taken at a resolution (full width at half maximum intensity)
of = 7
A. The Swan band sequences corresponding to v = 1, 0
and +1 of the C2 molecule (d3 II - a3 II), whose wavelengths lie around
5635, 5165 and 4737
A respectively, are the strongest in the spectra. The
vibrational structure could be resolved with better resolution spectra. The
resolution of the rotational structure requires still higher resolution. In fact
it has been possible to resolve completely the rotational structure.
The spectra of Comet Halley taken at a spectral resolution of 0.07
A
beautifully shows the rotational structure of the (0, 0) Swan band of the
C2 molecule(Fig. 5.17). The spectra taken in recent times by instruments
with very high resolving power, / 60,000, shows in great detail, the
rotational structure of individual bands. Since the Swan bands of the C2

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Fig. 4.1 Typical scanner spectrum of Comet Encke using the 3m Lick Observatory
Telescope in the visual region. Courtesy of Spinrad.

molecule dominate the spectrum in the visual region, to a first approximation, it also determines the visual diameter of the head of the comet. It
may also be noted that the wavelength of v = +1 band sequence of the
isotopic molecule 12 C13 C (4745
A), is shifted by about 7
A with respect
12 12

to that of C C (4737 A) and it has been seen in the spectra of many

comets. Unfortunately this isotopic feature is blended strongly with the
2 B1 ) system). Other bands of
emission from the NH2 molecule ((A2 A1 X
NH2 can also be seen. Several other isotopic lines have been seen.
The emission due to C3 molecule has a broad feature extending roughly
from 3950 to 4140
A, with a strong peak around 4050
A. The identification
of C3 feature in comets was difficult as the laboratory analysis was not
available. Laboratory studies have confirmed the observed lines as due to
C3 molecule and it has a complex spectra. Until its indentification, this
broad feature was simply known as 4050
A Group. Various transitions
of the CN molecule, both the red ( 7800
A 1 m) and the violet
( 3600 4200
A) systems corresponding to transitions (A2 X2 + )
and (B2 + X2 + ) have been identified. The violet system of CN is one of
the prominent feature in the spectra of comets. The rotational structure of
CN(0, 0) band is wellresolved (Fig. 5.1). High spectral resolution observations of the violet system of CN molecule resolve completely the isotopic
feature which has been used to derive 12 C/13 C ratio. For CH molecule, both
the systems (A2 X2 ) and (B2 X2 ) have been seen. The wavelengh
of (0, 0) band of (A X) is at 4314
A and that of (B X) is at 3886
A. The
(AX) band is weaker than the (BX) band. The (0, 0) band of (AX)
transitions has been observed at high resolution.

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The lines of (0, 0) band of the NH molecule arising out of (A3 i X3 )

transitions lie in the region of 3345 and 3375
A. The (0, 0) and (1, 1) bands
corresponding to (A2 + X2 ) of OH at 3090
A and 3140
A, which is close
to the atmospheric cutoff were detected from groundbased observations.
The rotational structure was partially resolved. Numerous lines belonging
to (A3 X3 ) system of OH+ ( 3500
A) have been identified. The lines
of H2 O+ ( 5500 7500
A) were identified for the first time in Comet
Kohoutek. The bands of (A2 X2 ) of CO+ around (34006300
A)
has been seen. The lines of CH+ seen in a cometary spectra is the (0, 0)
1 +
band at 4230
A belonging to (A1 X1 ) transitions. The (B2 +
u X g )
+

(0, 0) band of N2 at 3914A has been seen(See Sec. 6.2.7).

The lines arising out of metals, K, Ca, Fe, V, Cr, Mn, Ni and Cu have
been seen in the sun-grazing Comet IkeyaSeki. The sodium D lines at
5890 and 5896
A also show up for r <
1.4 AU.
The very first lines emitted by OH following the dissociation of H2 O
called Prompt emission lines have been seen in UV ( 3100
A) (Sec. 5.1.5)
and infrared ( 3 m) regions (see Sec. 6.2.2.)
The use of rockets and satellites has made it possible to extend the
observations into the ultraviolet region. This is the region of the spectrum
say from 1000 to 4000
A where the abundant atomic and molecular species
have their resonance transitions. In fact the spectra of comets taken in
the ultraviolet region has clearly demonstrated the richness of molecular
emissions in this spectral region. Comet West in 1976 provided a good
opportunity to secure high quality spectra in the UV region as the comet
was quite bright. For illustration, the rocket spectra of this comet covering
the wavelength region from 1600 to 4000
A is shown in Fig. 4.2. Many
+
molecules like CS, CN and others were identified for the first time based
on the spectra of Fig. 4.2 and others. The wavelength of the (0, 0) band of
CS arising out of the electronic transition (A1 X 1 + ) is at 2576
A. The
wavelength of the (0, 0) band of CN+ arising out of (1 1 ) transition is
at 3185
A. The (0, 0) transition, (AX) of OH at 3090
A which was weak
when observed from the ground is found to be very strong when observed
outside the Earths atmosphere. The rotational structure of OH bands has
also been resolved completely.
The strong emission (A1 X1 + ) bands of CO commonly referred to
as the Fourth Positive system occuring around 1500
A region were also
identified for the first time in Comet West. Figure 4.3 shows the spectrum
covering this spectral range. The Cameron band system near 2050
A arising
3
out of dipole forbidden triplet and singlet electronic states (a X1 + ) of

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Fig. 4.2 Rocket spectrum of Comet West in the 1600 to 4000

A spectral region. The
richness of molecular emissions can be seen. Courtesy of Andy Smith.

Fig. 4.3 Low resolution spectrum of Comet West taken from an Aerobee rocket in the
wavelength region 1300 to 1700
A which shows bands of CO molecule (Feldman, P.D.
and Brune, W.H. 1976. Ap. J, 209, L45).

CO was observed with HST for the first time in 1991 in Comet Hartley 2
(1991 XV). After its detection, it was also shown to be present in the earlier
data acquired with IUE in several others comets. Several other bands of
CO belonging to HopfieldBirge system (B1 + X1 + ), (C1 + X1 + )

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and (E1 X1 + ), have been seen in the spectral region 1075 and 1155
A
obtained with FUSE (See Fig. 4.6). The presence of CO+
ion
in
comets
2
2 ) system in the region
came from the detection of the bands of (A2 X
2 X
2 ) double band system whose wavelength
33003900
A. The (B
occurs around 2890
A has also been identified. In the region of 2000 to
2600
A the First Negative bands (B2 + X2 + ) of CO+ are generally very
strong. The Mulliken System of the C2 molecule corresponding to v = 0
has a wavelength around 2300
A. This feature is present in Fig. 4.2. The
relevant spectra of Comet Bradfield is shown in Fig. 4.4. Several strong

Fig. 4.4 The ultraviolet spectrum of Comet Bradfield 1979 X obtained from the International Ultraviolet Explorer (Weaver, H.A., Feldman, P.D., Festou, M.C. and AHearn,
M. F. 1981. Ap. J, 251, 809).

emission bands of (B3 u X3 g ) of the S2 molecule have been identified

in the wavelength region of 28003100
A based on the beautiful spectra of
the Comet IRASArakiAlcock (1983VII) as shown in Fig. 4.5. The P1
lines of H2 Lyman system (B1 + X1 +
g ) were detected for the first time
in Comet C/2001A2 (LINEAR) with FUSE as shown in Fig. 4.6.
The earlier reported detection of lines of N+
2 in the low resolution spectra
of comets are not seen in the high spectral resolution observations of some
recent comets (See Sec. 6.2.7).
The dissociation of the molecular species should finally lead to their
constituent atoms such as H, O, C, N and S. These lines lie in the UV
region. Shortward of 1800
A, the spectrum is dominated by multiplets of

CI at 1561 A, 1657 A, OI at 1304

A and CII at 1335
A. Many weak CI

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Fig. 4.5 The spectrum of Comet IRASArakiAlcock in the wavelength region 2500
to 3200 A obtained with the International Ultraviolet Explorer Spacecraft. The image
No. LWR 15908 was taken on May 11, 1983 with the nucleus centred, when the comet
was 0.032 AU from the Earth. The new features corresponding to (BX) system of S2
are identified (AHearn, M.F., Feldman, P.D. and Schleicher, D.G. 1983. Ap. J., 274,
L99).

features are also present. The lines of SI multiplet at 1807, 1820 and 1826
A
were detected for the first time in Comet West. (Figs. 4.2 and 4.4). Two
other multiplets of S are sometimes seen at 1429 and 1479
A.
Some of the molecules detected through their spectral characteristics
are given in Table 4.1.
The observations made with the orbiting astronomical observatory
(OAO2) satellite in 1970 on Comet Kohoutek and on other comets in
the light of the hydrogen Lyman line at 1216
A led to the discovery of a
hydrogen halo around the visible coma (Fig. 1.13). This important observation also led to the realization that the mass loss rates from comets are
much higher than previous estimates which were based on observations in
the visual spectral region.
The first Xray detection from a comet was from Comet Hyakutake in
1996 (Fig. 10.15). The Xray spectra obtained on Comet LINEAR from
Chandra Xray observatory in the energy range 0.2 to 0.8 KeV showed that

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Fig. 4.6 The lines of H2 seen in the FUSE spectrum of Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR)
on July 12, 2001. (Feldman, P.D., Weaver, H.A. and Burgh, E.B. 2002. AP.J., 576,
L91, Reproduced by Permission of the AAS).

the spectra was dominated by the emission arising out of highly charged
ions of C, N and O (Sec. 10.7).
The extension of observations into the infrared region is important as
this spectral region is characterized by vibrationrotation transitions of
many molecules. Some of the bands of the CN red system (A2 X2 )
occurring around 8000
A were first seen in the Comet Mrkos (1957 V)
based on photographic spectra. This has later been observed from many
comets. Several other bands of CN can also be seen. Many weak features
of NH2 and the Phillips bands of C2 are present. High resolution spectra
has resolved the rotational structure.
At wavelengths larger than 1 m, lines of several molecules have been
detected. In particular the first and direct detection of H2 O in Comet
Halley came from the high resolution observation of 3 vibrational band at
2.7 m with the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (Fig. 4.7). In the spectral
region around 2.9 m multiple nonresonant fluorescent lines of H2 O called
hot bands have been seen.

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Table 4.1 Some of the observed spectroscopic
features of molecules.
Molecule

Transition

Wavelength
(
A) (0,0) band

OH
CN

A 2 + X 2 i
B 2 + X 2 +
A 2 X 2 +
d3 g a 3 u
A 1 u X 1 +
g
1 +
D1 +
u X g
A1 u X 1 +
g
A 2 X 2
B 2 X 2
A 1 X 1 +
A 1 u X1 +
a 3 r X 1 +
B 1 + X1 +
C 1 + X 1 +
E 1 X 1 +
A 3 i X3
A2 A1 X2 B1
B 1 1 X 1 +
g
B3 u X3 g
A1 X 1 +
A3 X 3
A2 X 2 +
B 2 + X 2 +
B2 + X2 +
A2 A1 X2 B1
A2 u X 2 g
B2 u X2 g

3085
3883
7873a
5165
7715b
2313
3950-4140
4314
3886
2576
1300-1800
1900-2200
1150.5
1087.9
1076.1
3360
4500-7350
1071.6,1166.8c
2800-3050
4230
3565
4273a
2190
3914
4270-7540
2800-5000
2890

C2

C3
CH
CS
CO

NH
NH2
H2
S2
CH+
OH+
CO+
N+
2
H2 O +
CO+
2

*Range of wavelength.
a. (2,0), b. (3,0), c. (6,1) and (6,3)
Feldman, P.D. et al. 2002, Ap. J., 576, L91.
Weaver, H. 1998, Comets, In The Scientific Impact of the Goddard High Resolution spectrograph, eds. J.C. Brandt et al. ASP Conf. series No. 143, p. 213.
Feldman et al. 2005, In Comets, eds. M.C.
Festou, H.U.Keller and H.A. Weaver, Univ.
Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 425.

In the 3 m region strong emissions from hydrocarbons are present.

This is shown in Fig. 4.8 where the emissions from CH4 (Methane), C2 H2
(Acetylene) and C2 H6 (Ethane) can clearly be seen. A broad emission
feature around 3.4 m observed from ground and in situ measurements

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Fig. 4.7 High resolution infrared spectroscopic observations of the 3 band (2.7 m) of
H2 O in Comet Halley taken from NASAs Kuiper Airborne Observatory on December 24,
1985. The lines originating from Ortho (O) and Para (P) H2 O are resolved completely.
The spectra of the Moon is also shown for comparison (Mumma, M.J., Weaver, H.A.,
Larson, H.P., Davis, D.S. and Williams, M. 1986. Science 232, 1523).

of Comet Halley and subsequently in other comets, is attributed to CH

stretch vibrations of organics (Fig. 4.9). Most of the observed features are
attributed to methanol (CH3 OH).
Since the molecule CO2 has no allowed radio transitions, it does not
fluoresce in the UV or optical regions. It can only be observed in the
infrared region. Although 3 band of CO2 at 4.25 m is very strong, but
cannot be observed from the ground because of strong absorption from
terrestrial CO2 . It has been detected by Vega spacecraft in Comet Halley
and later on in other comets with ISO. The infrared lines of CO at 4.7 m
arising out of V(1, 0) IR band was clearly detected in Comet Hyakutake
(C/1996 B2).
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon molecules (PAHs) are commonly seen
from interstellar medium near 3.28, 7.6 and 11.9 m. Some of these features
have been seen in Comet 9P/Tempel 1 from the observations carried out
with Spitzer Space Observatory (Sec. 9.5.2).

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Fig. 4.8 High dispersion spectra in the 3 m region of Comet C/1999 H1 (Lee) which
shows the lines of various hydrocarbons. The spectra was obtained on August 21, 1999.
(Adapted from Mumma, M.J. et al. 2001. Ap. J., 546, 1183, Reproduced by permission
of the AAS).

The infrared observations in the region 1 to 30 m of many comets

have shown the presence of two strong broad emission feataures around 10
and 20 m. These features are generally attributed to silicate materials
(Sec. 9.5).
Most of the polyatomic and complex molecules have rotational transitions whose wavelengths lie in the millimetre and centimetre region, i.e.
radio frequency regions. Studies based on interstellar matter showed that
interstellar clouds are dominated by molecules of simple, complex as well
as of biological importance. It was immediately felt that many of these
molecules may also be present in the cometary material. If found, it will

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Fig. 4.9 The infrared spectrum of Comet Halley taken on March 31, 1986 (r = 1.17 AU)
shows the presence of a broad emission feature around 3.4 m. The dashed line refers to
the continuum for a black body of 350 K and the scattered sunlight (Wickramasinghe,
D.T. and Allen, D.A. 1986. Nature 323, 44).

have a great implication with regard to the origin of comets. They could also
possibly be the parent molecules (Chap. 6) of cometary radicals. Therefore
searches for many of these molecules have been carried out on many comets
in the frequency range 80460 GHz from ground based radio telescopes.
Large number of molecules have been identified. A typical observed spectra
from Comet HaleBopp (C/1995O1) is shown in Fig. 4.10 which exhibit
lines of CH3 OH, SO and HC3 N.
Glycine (NH2 CH2 COOH), an amino acid has been detected for the first
time in the dust particles of Comet Wild 2.
With regard to the spectra of diatomic molecules, the doubling of
OH around 18 cm was first detected in Comet Kohoutek in 1974. Since
then these lines have been monitored regularly in almost all the comets.
The possible presence of noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe) whose
lines lie in the far UV spectral region ( <
A) has been looked for, but
1200
not detected. The detection of noble gases which are highly volatile and
chemically inactive should provide clues with regard to the thermal history
of the nucleus of a comet.

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Fig. 4.10 Radio spectrum of Comet Hale-Bopp Showing the lines of molecules CH3 OH
(twelve J3 - J2 A lines), SO (56 -45 line) and HC3 N(J(28-27)line) (Lis, D.C. et al. 1999.
Earth, Moon and Planets, 78, 13).

The studies carried out on several comets has shown the presence of various kinds of molecules of varying complexity ( 50), but smaller than those
detected from the interstellar medium (150). Many of these molecules are
likely to be parent molecules sublimated from the cometary ices. Many of
the molecules present in the interstellar medium but not seen from comets
does not mean that they are not present in comets. This could be due to
the fact that the detection of a line depend upon various factors, such as
column density of the specie, timing of the observation, possible destruction
etc.
There are large number of unindentified features that are present in
the spectra of comets in the UV, visible and radio regions. Many of these
unindentified features could be due to some already known species (atoms,
radicals, ions, simple molecules, complex molecules). Therefore the identification of these features require further laboratory studies as well as theoretical investigations.
The detection of continuum emission at 3.71 cm from Comet Kohoutek
in 1974 has not been detected in other comets even with more sensitive
instruments. However continuum at millimetre wavelengths have been detected from Comets Halley, Hyakutake and HaleBopp.
The in situ mass spectrometer studies of Comet Halley has given lot of
new information about the species present in the coma. They have given
rise to the identification of a large number of new species, which is difficult
to detect through traditional spectroscopic means.
A compilation of some of the observed atomic and molecular species

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in comets is given in Table 4.2. It should, however, be pointed out that

the cometary coma must contain many more molecules than observed so
far. The following interesting points may be noted regarding species of
Table 4.2.
Table 4.2
Neutrals :

Some of the observed species in comets.

H, C, O, S, Na, K, Ca, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu

C2 , CH, CN, CO, CS, OH, NH, S2 , SO, H2
C3 , NH2 , H2 O, HCN, H2 S, CO2 , HNC, OCS, SO2 , CS2
H2 CO, NH3 , HNCO, H2 CS, CH4 , C2 H2 , C2 H6
HCOOH, HC3 N, CH3 CN, CH3 OH,
CH3 CHO, NH2 CHO, HCOOCH3 , HOCH2 CH2 OH,NH2 CH2 COOH

Ions:

C+ , CO+ , CH+ , CN+ , H2 O+ , HCO+ , H3 O+ , CO+

2

Dust:

Silicate
CHON

1. H2 has been detected.

2. PAHs have been detected.
3. The very first emission lines emitted by OH after the dissociation of
H2 O called Prompt Emission lines have been seen.
4. The molecules detected are composed of the most abundant elements
in the universe, namely H,C, O and N.
5. Most of the elements detected comes from sun-grazing comets, presumably arising from the vapourization of refractory grains.
6. Most of the species detected are organic, indicating the importance of
carbon, similar to the case of interstellar molecules.
7. Highly Complex organic molecules belonging to homologous series,
Alkanes, Alcohols, Aldehydes, Carboxylic acids and Cyanopolyynes
have been detected.
8. NH, NH2 and NH3 have all been seen.
9. Hydrocarbon such as CH4 , C2 H2 and C2 H6 are present.
10. One important element missing from the list is nitrogen. This is due to
the fact that the resonance transition of nitrogen, which is at 1200
A,

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11.
12.

13.

14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.

Physics of Comets

is very close to the strong hydrogen Lyman line. Hence, it is very

hard to detect this line. But nitrogen can be inferred from the strong
CN emission lines.
N2 has not been detected.
Most of the observed species are radicals or ions which are physically
stable, but chemically highly reactive. This means that they cannot
exist as such in the nucleus. So the general belief is that these radicals
are the byproducts of the breakup of some complex molecules. This
has led to what is generally termed as parentdaughter hypothesis
for the observed species. Several possible parent molecules have been
detected.
The predominance of radicals implies low densities in the coma which
in turn means that the collisions may not be very important. However,
very close to the nucleus they have to be considered.
Most of the products of water photodissociation have been observed.
There is a wide variation in the chemical composition of comets.
Ethylene glycol (HOCH2 CH2 OH) is the most abundant organic
molecule inspite of its complexity.
Detection of amino acid Glycine (NH2 CH2 COOH) in cometory dust
indicate that building blocks of life are prevalent in space.
Grains mostly made up of C,H,N and O called CHON particles are
present in comets. These grains contain highly complex molecules.
The observed anomalous isotopic ratio of elements indicate the presence
of presolar grains.
Silicate dust mineralogy is highly complex.
Dust contain both high and low temperature condensates indicating
that large scale mixing of material must have taken place in the solar
nebula.

4.2.

Forbidden Transitions

So far we have been discussing the spectra arising out of the allowed
dipole transitions which have a mean lifetime of 108 sec.
Many forbidden lines arising out of several atoms have been seen from
various types of astronomical objects, including comets. The mean lifetime
for magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole transitions are 103 and 1
sec respectively.
The wellknown auroral red lines of 6300.23
A and 6363.87
A, the green

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line of 5577.35
A of neutral oxygen atom have been seen in many comets.
The red lines originate from the 1 D upper level while the green lines arise
from the 1 S level as can be seen from the energy level diagram of neutral
oxygen atom (Fig. 4.11). In the beginning there was some confusion as to

Fig. 4.11

Energy level diagram of oxygen atom showing various transitions.

whether these lines were due to the Earths atmosphere or were intrinsic to
the comet. This was finally resolved based on high dispersion spectra. The
red lines observed in the spectra of a comet should be Doppler shifted in a
manner similar to other cometary molecular emissions, if they are intrinsic
to the comet, while that of atmospheric origin should not be shifted. Based
on such arguments it was conclusively shown that [OI] lines are of cometary
origin. In fact the observations carried out with FabryPerot instrument
can separate the lines arising out of the earths atmosphere and from the
comet quite well. The life time of the 1 D state is about 130 sec and that of
1
S is less than 1 sec. The red doubled at 6300.34 and 6363.77
A (1 D 3 P)
1
1
and the green line at 5577.34
A ( S D) arise out of prompt emission,
as the photodissociation of H2 O lead directly oxygen atoms in 1 D and 1 S
states (Sec. 3.11). Oxygen atoms that are excited to the 1 S state decays to

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P state only 5% of the time and rest 95% to 1 D state. The line 2972
A has
also been detected. The intensity of the red doublet is quite strong as can
be seen from Fig. 4.1. The green line is weak compared to the red line. The
green line is also blended with the cometary C2 Swan band. Even so, the
green line has been detected. Since red doublet lines are strong in comets,
they have been observed regularly and studied extensively in comets.
As in the case of oxygen, the forbidden lines of carbon arising out of
1
D 3 P transition at 9823 and 9849
A has also been seen. The presence
1
of carbon atoms in the D state (lifetime of 4000 sec) comes from the
observation of the resonance scattered 1 P 1 D transitions at 1931
A.
3

4.3.

LinetoContinuum Ratio

Based on the spectra in the visual spectral region, one can classify the
observed spectra of comets into two categories: (1) strong continuum and
(2) strong molecular line emissions. Although at present a large number of
observations exist on comets taken since early times they are however not
homogeneous. This is due to the fact that the spectra have been taken with
different instruments as well as at different heliocentric distances. Also all
the available spectra are not of a very good quality. This is particularly
so for earlier spectral observations. Therefore, it is hard to make any real
meaningful ratio of continuum to line emission in comets. Nonetheless
several attempts have been made to use the available observations in order
to see any trend in the line to continuum ratios. One such study was based
on a homogeneous set of observations of about 85 comets. A statistical
study of these comets showed a wide variation in the line to continuum
ratios among these comets (Sec. 9.1.4).
It may be noted that the spectra of comets is entering a new era due
to the availability of sensitive instruments and detectors which can provide
high spatial, spectral and temporal observations. It is also possible to get
2dimensional images. In addition, the Earths atmosphere is no more a
hindrance for making observations in various spectral regions due to the
use of rockets and satellites.
As can be seen from the general discussion of cometary spectra presented
so far, comets are very rich in emissions arising out of various kinds of
molecules. The next logical step is to extract the physical conditions of the
gaseous material present in the coma from a study of these lines, which will
be discussed in the following chapter.

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Problems
1. Describe the spectra of a Comet at far of distance from the Sun and
very close to the Sun. Why is there a difference?
2. Cometary spectra show only the emission lines. Explain.
3. Suppose one were to observe an absorption line in the spectra and the
optical depth required is 0.1. Calculate the column density of sodium
atoms for the D1 line.
4. What are the various criteria that may be used for a firm identification
of an unknown line in a cometary spectrum.
5. What is meant by forbidden line? Describe the conditions under which
forbidden lines occur. Mention some specific examples and discuss what
we can learn from them.

References
A good account of the spectra of comets can be found in the following:
1. Arpigny, C. 1965. Ann. Rev. Astr. Ap. 3, 351.
2. Swings, P. and Haser. L., 1956. Atlas of Representative Cometary
Spectra Liege: The Institute of Astrophysique.
3. Arpigny, C., Rahe. J., Donn. B., Dossin, B. and Wyckoff, S. 1997.
Atlas of Cometary Spectra, Kluwer, Dordrecht, Netherlands.
4. Cochran, A.L. and Cochran, W.D. 2002. Icarus, 157, 297.
A discussion of the observations in the Ultraviolet (5), Visible (5,6), Infrared (7,8) and Radio (8,9) region can be found in
5. Feldman, P.D., Cochran, A. and Combi, M.R., 2005. In Comets II,
eds, M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and H.A. Weaver, University of Arizona
Press, Tucson, p.425.
6. AHearn, M.F. 1982. In Comets, ed. L.L. Wilkening, Univ. Arizona
Press, Tucson p. 433.
7. Hanner, M.S. and Tokunaga, A.T. 1991. In Comets in the Post Halley Era. eds. R.C. Newburn, M. Neugebauer and J. Rahe. Kluwer
Academic Publishers p. 93.
8. BockeleeMorvan, D., Crovisier, D., Mumma, M.J., and Weaver, H.A.
2005. In Comets II, eds, M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and H.A. Weaver,
Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, P.391.
9. Crovisier, J. and Schloerb, F.P. 1991. In Comets in the Post Halley
Era. eds. R.C. Newburn, M. Neugebauer and J. Rahe. Kluwer Aca-

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demic Publishers, p. 149.

The first observational results for Comet Kohoutek using FabryPerot instrument is given in
10. Huppler, D., Reynolds, R.J., Roesler, F.L., Scherb, F. and Tranger, J.
1975. Ap.J, 202, 276.
The detection of amino acid Glycine is reported in the following paper
11. Elsila, J.E., Glavin, D.P. and Dworkin, J.P. 2009. Meteorites and Planetary Science, 44, 1323.
The reference for the study of gas to dust ratio is the following
12. AHearn, M.F. et al. 1995. Icarus, 118, 223.

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CHAPTER 5

Spectra of Coma

In the last chapter, we discussed the general characteristics of the spectra of comets. As was pointed out, the analysis of these spectral lines can
give information about the temperature, pressure and the physical processes responsible for producing the lines, in addition to the abundances
of the species. Here we would like to discuss in some detail a few of these
aspects, with special reference to the cometary spectra.

5.1.

Fluorescence Process

In order to analyse cometary spectra it is necessary to know the mechanism responsible for the excitation of cometary emissions. The absorption
of solar radiation in their resonance transitions which then trickle down to
give the radiation is called the resonance fluorescence process. Whether
the mechanism of excitation is due to the collision process with atoms,
molecules or ions, or due to the resonance fluorescence process is governed
by the relative time scales for the two processes. The collision time scale is
given by
1
coll
(5.1)
nv
where n, and v denote the number density, the collision crosssection and
the velocity of the species respectively. Using for the collision cross-section
with neutral atoms or ions, a typical value 1016 - 1017 cm2 and
v 1 km/sec, n 105 /cm3 , the characteristic collision time scale turns
out to be
coll 107 sec .
(5.2)
This time scale is much larger than the typical time scale for absorption of
solar radiation in the visible region of say C2 and CN at a distance of 1 AU,
95

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which is about 10 to 100 sec. Therefore for typical cometary conditions the
absorption of solar radiation is the main excitation process. Another observation which also supports the above conclusion is that the line emissions
seen in a cometary spectra arise mostly from the ground electronic state of
the molecule and this involves a lot of energy. It can therefore be brought
about only by the absorption of the solar radiation. However, the striking
success for the process came from the work of Swings. He noticed that
the relative intensity of rotational lines of the CN (0, 0) band seemed to
have peculiar minimum and maximum intensities at certain locations. The
pattern also changed with the Sun-Comet distance, as can be seen from
Fig. 5.1, which shows a marked difference between the two spectra taken
about 10 days apart. Comparing the position of the observed lines with the
solar spectrum, it was found that the position of minimum intensity corresponded to the regions of less flux in the solar radiation field as compared
to that of maximum intensity positions. This in turn was related to the
presence or absence of absorption lines called Fraunhofer lines. In other
words, there existed a definite correlation between the absorbed solar radiation by the molecule and the corresponding emission intensity. Since the
comet has a variable velocity around its orbit, the frequency of the radiation that the molecule in the comet absorbs depends upon this velocity due
to the Doppler shift effect. Therefore the observed intensity pattern should
change depending upon whether the Fraunhofer lines come in the way of
absorption or not. These are also consistent with the observed intensity
patterns. This effect is generally called the Swings effect.
Let us further examine the validity of the resonance fluorescence excitation process from a detailed analysis of the rotational and vibrational
spectra of molecules. The calculation of intensities of lines or a synthetic
spectrum requires the knowledge of the population distribution in different
energy levels of the molecule. This is a complicated problem as it is necessary to simultaneously consider the different electronic, vibrational and
rotational levels of the molecule in the level population calculation. The
nature of the energy levels depends upon the type and structure of the
molecule. Just as an example to show the complexity of the energy level
diagram of the molecules, Fig. 5.2 shows the various energy levels and the
transitions that have to be considered for the OH molecule. Therefore it
is rather difficult to give a general set of equations for the calculation of
the population distribution of molecules. Instead, one has to consider each
molecule on a more or less individual basis depending on its energy level
structure. However, there are some simple diatomic molecules for which the

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Fig. 5.1 The microdensitometer tracings in the spectral region of CN violet band of
Comet Ikeya 1963 1.(a) and (b) refer to the spectra taken on the 3rd and 13th of March
1963 respectively. The variations in the band structure between the two spectra can be
seen. (Taken from Whipple, F.L. 1978. In Cosmic Dust. ed. J.A.M. McDonnell, New
York; John Wiley and Sons. p. 1).

energy levels are such that it is a good approximation to consider vibrational and rotational transitions separately. Therefore it is appropriate to
outline the method for the cases of vibrational and rotational levels treated
separately. The formalism can easily be adapted to take into account the
complexities of the molecule of interest. Earlier studies indicated that the
C2 molecule appears to deviate from the general behaviour of all other
molecules. Therefore, the case of C2 molecule will be considered separately.

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Fig. 5.2 The energy level diagram of OH molecule showing electronic, vibrational and
rotational structure and the various transitions between them (Schleicher, D.G. and
AHearn, M.F., 1988. Ap.J. 331, 1058).

5.1.1.

Rotational structure

Consider the case of rotational structure for a given vibrational band of

a diatomic molecule. The intensity of a line depends, among other things,
on the fraction of the species in different rotational levels. The Boltzmanns
law for the distribution of population in different rotational levels for an
assumed temperature is not a good approximation due to the fact that the
presence of Fraunhofer lines in the solar spectrum tends to make the population distribution in various rotational levels irregular. In addition, the
collisions which tend to produce the Boltzmann distribution, are rather infrequent due to low densities present in a cometary atmosphere. Therefore,
it becomes necessary to determine the resulting population distribution
from the solution of the statistical equilibrium equations which take into
account the absorption and the emission processes. For the pure radiative

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case, the number of molecules in an upper rotational state Nj is determined

by the balance between the number of molecules entering and leaving this
particular state. This can be written as
X
X
dNj
Aji
(5.3)
Ni Bij ij Nj
=
dt
P,Q,R

P,Q,R

where Ni is the number of molecules in the lower rotational state i, such

that i < j. The summation is over P, Q and R branches. The A0 s and B 0 s
are the Einstein coefficients and is the radiation density corresponding
to the wavelength of the transition. has to be corrected for the radial
velocity (Chap. 3) of the comet through the relation

v
exc = lab 1
(5.4)
c
where v is the radial velocity of the comet with respect to the Sun which
can be calculated as the orbit is known.
The detailed energy distribution of the solar radiation field with the
Fraunhofer lines present has also to be used in the calculation of . This
requires a very high dispersion scan of the solar spectrum in the region of
interest. Sometimes for simplicity and to a first approximation, blocking
coefficients ( ) are used, which give a measure of the degree of absorption
in a given range of wavelengths. Therefore multiplying the mean radiation field with the blocking coefficients, takes into account the effect of
Fraunhofer lines in an approximate manner. However, the detailed energy
distribution should be used as far as possible.
Since the physical conditions do not change drastically within the time
of observation, one can use (dNj /dt) = 0 which implies a steady state
condition. Therefore, Eq. (5.3) reduces to
X
X
Ni Bij ij = Nj
Aji .
(5.5)
P,Q,R

P,Q,R

A similar expression can be written for the transitions in the lower rotational state as

X
X

(5.5a)
Bij ij + Arot
Nj Aji + Ni+1 Arot
i
i+1 = Ni
P,Q,R

P,Q,R

where Arot represents the transition rate for pure rotational transitions
in the lower electronic state, which should be included for a heteronuclear
molecule. The total number of equations involved depends upon the number
of rotational levels in the upper and lower states. A simultaneous solution of

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these equations with the added condition that the sum total of populations
in all the levels is equal to unity, i.e.
i+j
X

Nt = 1

(5.6)

t=1

gives the relative populations in various rotational levels. For illustrative

purposes, Fig. 5.3 shows the relative populations of the rotational levels
of (0, 0) band of B2 + X2 + transition of the CN molecule for various
heliocentric distances. It shows clearly that with decrease in distance lot
more rotational levels are populated.

Fig. 5.3 The figure gives the relative population distribution of rotational levels for the
ground state of CN in comets for different heliocentric distances. (Arpigny, C. 1964.
Ann. dAp. 27, 393).

In general the excitation by solar radiation of pure rotational levels

is negligible due to weakness of solar flux at the wavelength of rotational
transitions. However at large heliocentric distances the rotational excitation
from the 2.7 K cosmic background radiation may become important and
has to be considered in the fluorescence calculations.

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101

Vibrational structure

Let us now consider the vibrational bands of diatomic molecules. The

relative populations in different vibrational levels have to be obtained from
the solution of the statistical equilibrium equations written for each vibrational level. Since many electronic transitions can arise from the same
ground state, it is necessary to take into account all these electronic transitions in addition to the vibrational transitions. The statistical equilibrium
of any vibrational level is determined as before, by a balance between the
transitions into and out of that particular level. The equations for the lower
and upper electronic states i and j respectively for a homonuclear molecule
can be written as follows. For the vibrational levels of the lower electronic
state
Ni

p
X

Bik ik =

k=m

p
X

Nk (Bki ki + Aki ), i = 1, 2, (m 1)

(5.7)

k=m

and for the vibrational levels of the upper electronic state

Nj

m1
X

(Bjl jl + Ajl ) =

l=1

m1
X

Nl Blj lj , j = m, p.

(5.8)

l=1

Here N is the fraction of molecules in different vibrational levels, such that

pt=1 Nt = 1. The A0 s and B 0 s are the Einstein coefficients, is the energy
density of the solar radiation.
For heteronuclear molecules, the vibrational transitions within the
ground electronic state of the molecule are permitted. This term has to
be included in the above equations. For upper electronic states, these transitions are not important as the probability for electronic transitions is
much greater than that of vibrational transitions. The Einstein A value for
the vibrational transitions v v 0 is given by the expression
Avib
vv 0 =

64 4 3
|Rvv0 |2 .
3hc3

(5.9)

Here |Rvv0 |2 represent the vibrational matrix elements. These could be

calculated from quantum mechanics provided the variation of the dipole
moment function is known. However for most of the molecules the variation of the dipole moment function is not known. For such cases, one can
approximate |Rvv0 |2 as
0
2
|Rvv0 |2 = 21 |Rvv
0|

(5.10)

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where 1 is the coefficient of the linear term in the dipole moment expansion
and

0
Rv+p,v

(v + p)!
r2 B
= e xp1
e e
p2 v!


1/2
(5.11)

where p = v 0 v and the other parameters are the usual spectroscopic

constants of the molecule. This expression is a good approximation if (v +
v 0 )xe <
1. This condition is generally satisfied for most of the molecules of
astrophysical interest.

5.1.3.

Comparison with observations

The intensities or the synthetic profile of the bands can easily be calculated from the knowledge of the population distribution in different rotational or vibrational levels. The calculated profiles can then be convolved
with the Gaussian profile of instrumental resolution corresponding to the
observations. The results of such calculations for the rotational profile of
the (0, 0) band of B2 + X2 + transition of the CN molecule for various
cases is compared with the observed profile for Comet Mrkos in Fig. 5.4.
They clearly indicate that the observed profile agrees well with the expected
profile when the effects of Fraunhofer lines are taken into account.
A more detailed and sophisticated synthetic spectrum of the same band
has been calculated. The calculated profile agrees very well with the observed profile of several comets (Fig. 5.5). Such comparisons for the (0,
0) band or bands arising from A1 X1 + transitions for several other
molecules such as CO, CS and OH have also been carried out for various
comets. They also show good agreement.
In a similar way, the expected intensities of various vibrational bands
of the molecules CO, CO+ , CS, CN, CN+ etc. can be calculated based
on the resonance fluorescence process. As a typical case, Table 5.1 shows
a comparison of the expected and the observed intensities of lines for the
molecules CO+ and CS. The results for several other molecules also show
a similar agreement.
It is interesting to note that the total excitation rate to A1 state of
CO by the absorption of solar radiation in the 1500
A region leading to
resonance fluorescence in the CO(AX) system is around 1 to 2 106 s1
at 1 AU. This is much smaller than the excitation rate by solar radiation

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Fig. 5.4 Comparison of the expected and the observed (solid curve) intensity distribution in the R-branch of the violet (0, 0) band of CN system for Comet Mrkos. The
continuous curve refers to results based on Boltzmann distribution for 500 K. The dotted
and dashed curves refer to results based on statistical equilibrium calculations without
and with Fraunhofer lines taken into account, (Arpigny, C 1964, loc. cit.).

of the CO v(1, 0) band at 4.7 m, which is around 2.6 104 s1 at

1 AU. This indicates that the populations of the ground state rotational
levels are controlled mainly by vibrational excitation with solar radiation.
The extension of cometary spectra into the ultraviolet region has made it
possible to look for some of the transitions which lie in the ultraviolet region.
In some cases there could be some disagreement between the calculated and
the observed intensities. This could arise due to the fact that there may be
disagreement in the observations and also there could be uncertainties in

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Fig. 5.5 Comparison of the observed R-branch lines of (0,0) band of (B2 + X2 + )
system of CN from Comet Austin with the calculated spectrum based on resonance
fluorescence process. The calculated spectrum is shifted by 0.25
A for easier comparison
(Wyckoff et al. 2000. Ap.J., 535, 991).

Table 5.1

(AX) Bands of CO+ and CS.

Band (CO+ )

Computed

Observeda

Band (CS)

Computed+

Observed

(0,0)
(1,0)
(2,0)
(3,0)
(4,0)
(5,0)

0.11
0.63
1.00
1.20
0.67
0.28

0.12
0.60
1.00
1.16
0.64
0.40

(0,0)
(1,0)
(0,1)
(1,1)
(0,2)
(1,2)

1.0
0.03
0.13
0.07
0.01
0.03

1.0b 1.0c
0.05
0.12 0.11
0.08
0.01
0.012

a. Comet Humason (1961e) (Arpigny, C. 1964. Ann.dAp.27, 406)

b. Comet West (Smith, A.M., Stecher, T.P. and Casswell, L. 1980. Ap. J. 242, 402)
c. Comet Bradfield (Feldman, P.D. et al. 1980, Nature 286, 132)
*(Krishna Swamy, K.S. 1979, Ap. J. 227, 1082; Magnani, L. and AHearn, M.F.
1986, Ap. J. 302, 477).
+(Krishna Swamy, K.S. 1981. Astr. Ap. 97, 110; Sanzovo, G.C., Singh, P.D. and
Huebner, W.F. 1993. AJ. 106, 1237).

the oscillator strengths, variation of electronic transition moment with the

r-centroid and other parameter which enter into the model calculation.
For those molecules for which the oscillator strengths are not available,
it may be possible to reverse the problem and get an estimate for the
oscillator strength of the transitions from a comparison of the expected

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and the observed intensities of lines.

From the discussion so far, it is clear that the resonance fluorescence
process is very successful in explaining the observed band spectra of various
molecules in comets. So far, only the effect of the radial component of the
velocity of the comet in its orbit leading to Doppler shift of lines has been
considered. This is the well known Swings-effect. In addition, it is necessary
to consider the velocity of the gas in the coma. As the gas comes out of
the nucleus, it expands outwards in all directions. Therefore, the resultant
Doppler shift of the solar radiation depends upon these two components.
The resultant velocity will be different at different locations in the comet
and hence the relative intensities of the same feature should vary with
position in the coma. Such an effect was first noticed by Greenstein in the
Comet Mrkos. This is generally called Greenstein effect. This can be seen
clearly from Fig. 5.6 where the relative intensities of CN(0, 0) lines at three
different locations in the Comet Seki are shown. To take care of the effect
of internal motions in the solution of statistical equilibrium equations, it is
necessary to know the distribution of velocities of the species as a function
of the distance from the nucleus. This has to be derived on the basis of a
simple physical model. One such model could be that the gaseous material
is flowing out of the nucleus with a uniform velocity. The model could be
made more complicated by including the resistance force due to the solar
wind and so on. In addition to the orderly motion discussed so far, there
may also be motions present purely of random character. It is even harder to
consider this type of velocity in the model calculation. Therefore the subject
of the various kinds of gaseous motions in comets is quite complicated and it
is hard to disentangle one from the other. In principle, if one has a very high
dispersion spectrum, it is possible to construct a detailed model including
the effect of all the velocities, which can reproduce the observations well.
There are also other complications that have to be taken into account.
In the above treatment it is assumed that the coma is optically thin. For
reasonable value for the absorption cross section, 1017 1018 cm2
for molecules, the optical depth effect ( = N >
1) has to be considered for
the molecules with a large column density N , which imply large production
rates of the molecules. Since for most of the cometary species the optical
depth <
1, the optically thin assumption is a very good approximation
for most of the lines. But for some resonance lines such as Lyman line
of hydrogen at 1216
A and the rotational lines of the H2 O molecule, the
optical depth could be significant and therefore could affect the molecular excitation through radiative trapping. Another complication arises for

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Fig. 5.6 Top section shows the rotational lines of (0.0) band of the violet CN system
in Comet Seki-Lines. The lower portion represents the tracings of the spectra in the
regions a, b and c. (Arpigny, C. 1965. Mem. Acad. Roy. Belg. Cl 8 , Vol. 35, No. 5).

molecules with short lifetimes. It is possible that such molecules may decay
even before the fluorescence equilibrium is reached, which require several
cycles of excitation and de-excitation. These have to be treated based on
time dependent calculations.
In addition to the radiative process collisional excitation and de-

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excitation could also be important. Since the density to a first approximation varies with distance from the nucleus as r2 , the collisions can be
an important excitation process close to the nucleus, a few thousand kilometers for molecules with production rates 1029 /sec. In the inner coma,
the molecules will be more in thermodynamic equilibrium rather than fluorescence equilibirum. As one moves outwards there will be a region where
both thermodynamic and fluorescence equilibria will be operating. Finally
at large distances, fluorescence equilibrium takes over. Since the observed
intensities or profile of emission lines are an average over the line of sight
in the coma, it is necessary to integrate over the whole volume, including
both collision and radiative processes. For collision effects, one generally
considers the collision of the molecule with H2 O as it is the most abundant
molecule in the coma. However, other species might have to be considered
if they turn out to be important. For example, the production rate of CO
is much larger than that of H2 O in comets at large heliocentric distances
and therefore collisional excitation is due to that of CO.
The collision de-excitation rate is given by
Ccoll = nH2 O coll v

(5.12)

where coll is the collision cross section for rotational transitions of the
molecules produced by collisions with H2 O, nH2 O is the number density of
H2 O molecules and v is the mean relative velocity between H2 O and the
molecule and is given by


1
1
8kT
.
(5.13)
+
v=

mH2 O
mmol
Here T is the temperature of the gas, mH2 O and mmol are the masses of
the two molecules. The excitation cross sections can be obtained from the
de-excitation crosssections from the detailed balance condition


gu
Eu El
(l u) = (u l) exp
(5.14)
gl
kTkin
where u and l refer to upper and lower levels and Tkin the temperature that
characterises the colliding particles.
The modelling of the collision process in the coma is rather uncertain
due to uncertainties in the collision cross sections between the molecular
species and the H2 O molecule and the temperature of the coma gas. However the best available data is generally made use of in such calculations.
The variation of the H2 O density with distance from the nucleus is also
required and is generally calculated based on Hasers model (Sec. 6.1.2).

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The time evolution of the profiles, until it attains the equilibrium state, can
be investigated based on the time dependent population distribution. As
an example, the results for the case of AX(0, 0) band of CS is shown in
Fig. 5.7 for different initial population distributions. Such calculations are
important when comparing with observations made closer to the nucleus.

Fig. 5.7 Time evolution of the synthetic profile of P, Q and R branches of the (0, 0) band
of CS molecule for the case when the initial population (t = 0) is distributed over the
rotational levels in the lower level J 00 =10 to 19 (a) or upper levels J 0 = 10 to 19 (b) at 4000
km from the nucleus. The time for each curve is marked. The curves are for a spectral
resolution of 0.8 A corresponding to Halleys data (r=1.1 au, Q (H2 O)=3.01029 s1 ,
T = 300 K; Krishna Swamy, K.S. and Tarafdar, S.P. 1993. Astr. Ap. 271, 326).

5.1.4.

Case of C2 molecule

One exception to the general behaviour of the resonance fluorescence

excitation process appeared to be the case of the C2 molecule. This was noticed as early as 1953 and showed that the calculated relative band strengths
did not agree with the observed relative strengths. There was a discrepancy
of nearly a factor of two between the expected and the observed intensities. Early investigators had expressed this discrepancy in terms of the

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vibrational temperature of the C2 molecule. Therefore it is also called the

problem of low vibrational temperature of C2 . The observed difference was
also found to be dependent upon the heliocentric distance of the comet.
The excitation mechanism which populates the upper energy states also
determine the vibrational level population in the lowest electronic state.
The initial population distribution produced at the time of formation of
the molecule is masked by the excitation and decays, finally leading to the
equilibrium population distribution. The resulting population distribution
in the bottom triplet state should therefore be close to the Boltzmann distribution corresponding to the colour temperature of the Sun in the Swan band
region. However the observed distribution gives a lower value 3500 K.
This discrepancy was rather disturbing in view of the fact that the C2
Swan bands are the strongest in the visual region of a cometary spectrum
and this had questioned the basic fluorescence excitation mechanism itself.
The problem of low vibrational temperature of C2 has finally been resolved
based on a new physical effect which seems to operate very effectively in the
case of the C2 molecule as can be understood from the energy level diagram
of the C2 molecule shown in Fig. 5.8. The Swan bands which are strong
in the cometary spectra arise from the triplet state, which lies about 714
cm1 higher than the ground singlet state. This had given rise to another
interesting problem which also eluded a reasonable explanation. i.e. why
is it that Swan bands are strong in a cometary spectrum even though they
do not arise from the ground state of the molecule, contrary to the normal
situation. It was therefore not clear whether this reflected the preferential
formation of the triplet state at the time of formation of the C2 molecule
or the fact that only the weak lines of the singlet series are expected in
the spectra. In Fig. 5.8 the vibrational levels of the electronic states a3 u
and b3
g of the triplet states are also shown. It shows that the vibrational
levels of the ground triplet electronic state, for v 00 > 4, lies at a higher energy level compared to those of the b 3
g state. Therefore the transitions
from higher vibrational levels of the a 3 u electronic state can decay to
lower lying vibrational levels through the vibrational levels of the b 3
g
electronic state. The result of such transitions is to depopulate the higher
vibrational levels of the a 3 u state giving rise to more concentration in the
lower vibrational levels which implies a non-Boltzmann type of population
distribution (Fig. 5.9). This effect is in a sense equivalent in principle to
vibrational transitions in the ground state of the molecule. Therefore even
though C2 is a homonuclear molecule wherein transitions between the lowest lying vibrational levels are forbidden, there is a physical mechanism by

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Fig. 5.8 Energy level diagram for the C2 molecule. The electronic structure is shown on
the left-hand side. The singlet electronic state is the ground state of the molecule. Various transitions are shown. BR indicates the BallikRamsay bands. The vibrational
levels of three lowest electronic states are shown on the right-hand side.

which the population from higher levels cascade radiatively to lower vibrational levels in the ground electronic state of the molecule. This increases
the concentration in the lower levels thereby simulating a lower excitation
temperature. Since the rate of spontaneous downward transitions would
be fixed, this process would become relatively more important in the lower
radiation field at greater heliocentric distances, so that the vibrational tem-

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Fig. 5.9 The expected vibrational population distribution in the a3 u state is shown
for the cases when Fox-Herzberg, Ballik-Ramsay and Swan bands (referred as All bands)
or only Swan bands are included in the calculations. (Krishna Swamy, K.S. and ODell,
C.R. 1977. Ap. J., 216, 158). The deviation occurs due to new depopulation mechanism
discussed in the text.

perature would be expected to drop with increasing heliocentric distance.

In order to calculate the expected intensities of Swan and Phillips systems, the modelling of the C2 molecule has to be carried out taking into
account simultaneously both the singlet and triplet states. The model developed includes a total of ten electronic states with several vibrational
levels in each of the electronic state. The forbidden singlettriplet ground
state transitions is the link between the singlet and triplet states for which
the electronic transition moment is taken as a variable parameter.
The solution of the statistical equilibrium equations of such a system
gives the population distribution in various levels. The resulting population
distribution in the ground state as shown in Fig. 5.9 clearly shows the
importance of the depopulation mechanism discussed earlier.
The expected band sequence flux ratios can be calculated from a knowledge of the steady state relative populations in different vibrational levels. The total energy emitted in a band sequence for a given value of

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v = (v 0 v 00 ) can be written as
X
X
F (v)
nV 00
BV 00 v 0 V 00v0 Pv0v00 vv0,v00 .
V 00

(5.15)

Here nV 00 is the level population and Pv0 v00 is the probability that when an
absorption takes place from the state v 00 to v 0 state, it will come back to
state v 00 . The above expression can be written as
X
F (v)
nV 00 P R(V 00 , )
(5.16)
V 00
00

where P R(V , ) denotes the production rate. The production rates can
be calculated from a knowledge of the molecular parameters and are given
in Table 5.2.
Table 5.2
quences.

Production rates for Swan band seP R(v 00 ,v)

P R(v 00 =0,v=0)

v00
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

v = 1

v = 0

v = +1

0.2745
0.3167
0.3255
0.3109
0.2813
0.2438
0.2030
0.1643
0.1299
0.1004
0.0747
0.0531
0.0383
0.0277

1.000
0.6333
0.4153
0.2450
0.1351
0.0700
0.0368
0.0249
0.0265
0.0371
0.0523
0.0669
0.0673
0.0564

0.0813
0.3484
0.5335
0.6509
0.7168
0.7449
0.7454
0.7328
0.7182
0.7108
0.7151
0.7180
0.6402
0.0517

This table shows that for the band sequence v = 0 the contribution
comes mostly from the lowest states, while for v = +1, higher states
also contribute appreciably. Figure 5.10 shows a comparison of the expected v = +1 Swan band sequence flux ratios for several values of the
electronic transition moment, |Re|2 for the ground state singlet-triplet transitions, with observations of Comet Halley. The expected variation from
the model for transition moment 2.5 106 gives a good fit to the observed variation. The calculated intensities can also explain the observed

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Fig. 5.10 A comparison of the expected and the observed Swan band flux ratios plotted
as a function of the heliocentric distance. The continuous lines are the model based
dependence shown for several values of transition moment for the lowest singlet triplet
transitions. The filled circles show the observed dependence for Comet Halley (ODell,
C.R., Robinson, R.R., Krishna Swamy, K.S. MeCarthy, P.J. and Spinrad, H. 1988. Ap.
J. 334, 476).

flux ratios for the Mulliken system of the C2 molecule. The results of these
calculations also explain the observed result that the intensities of the Swan
bands are stronger compared to those of the Phillips bands. These investigations also show that the forbidden singlet-triplet transitions are quite
important. The wavelength of these transitions lies in the infrared spectral
region.
The molecule CO has a structure very similar to that of the C2 molecule
containing both singlet and triplet electronic states. The singlet electronic
state is the ground state of the molecule. However, the strong bands of
CO seen in a cometary spectra arise out of singlet states (A1 X1 + ) in
contrast to the case of the C2 molecule which arise from the triplet states
(d3 g - a3 u ). It is therefore of interest to know the physical reason for
the inversion in intensities of the singlet and triplet series for the case of
the C2 molecule. This arises basically due to the difference in the energy
level structures of the two molecules as can be seen below.

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Consider the simple case of two levels with population n1 and n2 corresponding to the lowest singlet and triplet states of the molecule with energy
separation E. The resulting population in the upper and lower levels, n2
and n1 depend essentially on the rate of the absorption and emission processes and this can be written as


B
n2

.
(5.17)
n1
A
Here A and B are the Einstein coefficients and is the energy density of
the solar radiation. The ratio of the change in population for two values of
E is given by

 5



F (1 )
Triplet
1
Triplet
/
=
.
(5.18)
Singlet E1
Singlet E2
2
F (2 )
Here F () represents the solar flux. The above equation shows a strong
dependence on the wavelength. Therefore the relative intensities of singletsinglet to triplet-triplet transitions of a molecule depend strongly on the
energy separation between the lowest singlet and triplet states which are
the 714cm1 for C2 and 49000 cm1 for CO.
Let us now consider the rotational structure of C2 molecule. The Swan
bands of the C2 system arise out of 30 , 31 and 32 states. The relative
population in different rotational levels of each of these substates for a
given vibrational transition can be obtained from the solution of statistical
equilibrium equations of lower and upper states. For vibrational population
distribution, the values based on statistical equilibrium equations can be
used. The synthetic profile resulting out of the superposition of many lines
arising out of the various bands and corrected for the instrumental effect is
compared with the observed profile in Fig. 5.11.
5.1.5.

Prompt emission lines of OH

Laboratory studies have demonstrated that the photodissociation of water creates a fraction of OH in the highly excited rotational levels (upto J0
22 of v0 = 0 and upto J0 17 of v0 = 1) of the electronic state A2 + (see
also Sec. 6.2.2). Since the lifetime of OH formed in the electronic state
A2 + is much shorter than the collision time, the OH formed in the electronic state A2 + quickly trickles down to ground electronic state X2 by
spontaneous emission giving rise to emission lines in the UV region, (AX)
bands. This type of transition lines are called prompt emission lines as the
dissociation fragment emit promptly after its production. The wavelength

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Fig. 5.11 Comparison of the calculated (continuous) and observed (dashed) spectra of
v = +1 sequence of the C2 Swan system for Comet West. (Observations are from Lambert, D.L. and Danks, A.C. 1983. Ap. J. 268 428; spectral resolution (FWHM)=0.3
A).

of these emission lines comprising P and Q doublets of the (0, 0) band

lie in the wavelength region of 3100 to 3250
A. The prompt emission lines
of OH are much weaker than the solar resonance fluorescence lines of OH
arising from the ground electronic state X2 .
These studies are of direct relevance to comets as the photodissociation
of H2 O by solar Lyman photons in the coma should lead to OH in highly
excited rotational states of A2 + giving rise to prompt emission lines of
(AX) transitions in the UV region. For detecting these lines in a comet,
observations have to be carried out very close to the nucleus where OH
molecules will still be in the excited electronic state A2 + produced after
the photodissociation of H2 O.
Comet Hyakutake gave the first opportunity to look for these lines, as
the comet came close to the earth, =0.11 AU, that made it possible to
make spectral observations very close to the nucleus. The observations were
carried out with Kitt Peak 4 m Mayall Telescope on 26 March 1996 when
the comet was at r = 1.02 AU. All the expected lines (as per Laboratory
studies) of P - and Q lines of OH upto rotational quantum number 22 of
the (0, 0) band are detected for the first time in the spectra covering the
wavelength region from 3100 to 3250
A. This is shown in Figs. 5.12 and 5.13.
The intensities of the lines decrease downwords from the rotational quantum

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Fig. 5.12 The Prompt Emission lines of P and Q doublet of OH arising from the highly
excited rotational levels of A2 state ((A X) transition) was observed for the first
time in Comet Hyakutake on 26 March 1996 (r = 1.02 AU and = 0.11 AU) in the
wavelength region 3100 to 3250
A. The above figures cover the wavelength region from
3100 to 3200
A. Many of the lines marked as A and B in the spectra are the prompt
emission lines of OH. These are compared with the computed spectra (lower panels)
which is summed over resonance fluorescence and prompt emission lines. (Meier, R. et
al. 1998. Icarus, 136, 268; AHearn, M.F., Krishna Swamy, K.S. and Wellnitz, D.D.
2007. Bull. Am. Astro. Soc., 39, 507).

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Fig. 5.13 The Prompt Emission lines of P and Q doublet of OH arising from the highly
excited rotational levels of A2 state ((A X) transition) was observed for the first
time in Comet Hyakutake on 26 March 1996 (r = 1.02 AU and = 0.11 AU) in the
wavelength region 3100 to 3250
A. The above figures cover the wavelength region from
3200 to 3250
A. Many of the lines marked B in the spectra are the prompt emission lines
of OH. These are compared with the computed spectra (lower panels) which is summed
over resonance fluorescence and prompt emission lines. The expected intensities of P, Q
and R lines are also shown. (Meier, R. et al. 1998, Icarus, 136, 268; AHearn, M.F.,
Krishna Swamy, K.S. and Wellnitz, D.D. 2007. Bull. Am. Astro. Soc., 39, 507).

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number 22 in conformity with laboratory studies. The observed spectra

is compared with the computed spectra which is summed over resonance
fluorescence and prompt emission lines. The two are in good agreement.
The weak features present alongwith P- and Q branches of (0, 0) band are
due to prompt emission lines arising out of (1, 1) transitions. The strong
features present in the calculated spectra are due to resonance fluorescence
process. The expected intensity distribution of all the P,Q and R branch
prompt emission lines are also shown in Fig. 5.13.
The importance of the detection of prompt emission lines of OH is that
it can help in a better understanding of the cometary coma very close
to the nucleus. In addition it can also help in the understanding of the
photodissociation of H2 O process.
5.1.6.

Molecules other than diatomic

The analysis of polyatomic molecules is more complicated than that of

diatomic molecules. Therefore, their studies are limited in extent. The
work done on molecules like H2 O, NH2 , CO+
2 , NH3 , etc., indicate that the
resonance fluorescence process is the major excitation mechanism for these
molecules as well.
5.1.7.

OH radio lines

The hydroxyl radical gives rise to lines in the radio region due to splitting of the levels (Table 3.1). The line at 1667 MHz which occurs at
a wavelength of 18 cm was first detected in Comet Kohoutek in 1974. The
most studied lines in comets are the 1665 and 1667 MHz lines. The intensity of the lines are found to be variable. Curiously, one finds that these
lines have been seen in the emission as well as in the absorption which
depend on the heliocentric distance of the comet. These observations can
be explained by the fluorescence excitation process. Since the transitions
between the -doublet levels are highly forbidden, in the absence of any
other excitation mechanism, the levels should be populated according to
their statistical weights at the coma temperature. The deviation from this
equilibrium value is generally referred to as inversion or anti-inversion. The
cosmic microwave background radiation of 2.7 K and the galactic sources
can induce transitions. The line may be seen in absorption if the population
is anti-inverted or in emission if the population is inverted due to stimulated
emission. The -doublet levels are actually populated through the process

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of UV solar absorption lines from the ground state 2 3/2 (v 00 = 0, J = 3/2)

to the state 2 + , v = 0 and v = 1 levels and then cascade back to the
ground level. Since the UV absorption lines or the UV fluorescence efficiencies depend upon the comet heliocentric velocity (Swings effect, Fig. 5.14),
the resulting relative population distributions in the four levels also depends critically on the heliocentric velocity of the comet and hence on the
heliocentric distance. This can result in the lines of OH to be produced

Fig. 5.14 The g-factor or the Fluorescence efficiency factor for the (0,0) band of OH is
shown as a function of the heliocentric radial velocity. The variation in the value can
clearly be seen arising due to Swings effect (Schleicher, D.G. and AHearn, M.F., 1988.
Ap.J. 331, 1058).

either in absorption or in emission. Such an effect can clearly be seen from

the observation of Comet Kohoutek which is shown in Fig. 5.15. The
upper section of the curve shows the observed peak antenna temperature
of 1667 MHz line as a function of time. The lower section shows the expected inversion based on the ultraviolet pumping model and is given by
[(nu nl )/(nu + nl )]. Here nu and nl represent the projected densities of
the upper and lower levels of the doublet. There is a one-to-one relation between the two curves. This mechanism has been verified for a large
number of radial velocities as well as observations based on several comets.
This explanation is generally accepted and is used in interpreting the 18 cm

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Fig. 5.15 The radio OH data for Comet Kohoutek. The top portion denotes the observed peak antenna temperature of the 1667 MHz line as a function of time. The lower
portion denotes population inversion predicted by the ultraviolet pumping model as a
function of time (Adapted from Biraud, F. Bourgois, G., Crovisier, J. Fillif, R., Gerard,
E. and Kazes, I, 1974. Astr. Ap. 34, 163).

observations. Therefore, the ultraviolet pumping of the OH radio lines is

the dominant excitation mechanism. However, the collisions can also be
quite effective as the doublet transitions are forbidden and the radiation field is weak. It is found that collisions with ions and electrons can
be more important than even neutrals. This could have a severe effect in
influencing the inversion in the inner coma of comets with high production
rates. This is recognized as an important process in the calculation of radio
emission from comets.

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Oxygen lines

Allowed transitions. The triplet lines of oxygen at =1304

A (1302.17
A)
are very strong in the UV region of the cometary spectra (Fig. 4.4). Of
particular interest are the Comets Kohoutek and West in which these lines
have been seen and these comets had heliocentric velocities in the range
of about 44 to 55 km/sec. To see whether the excitation process of these
lines is through resonance fluorescence process, a high dispersion spectrum
of the solar line at 1302.2
A is shown in Fig. 5.16. The line width of
40 km/sec corresponds to a Doppler shift of about 0.17
A. For r > 40
km/sec, the cometary absorption wavelength will be completely shifted
from the solar line. Therefore, for comets with heliocentric velocity r <
30
km/sec, the emission is produced by the resonance scattering of the solar
lines. For higher velocities, either the line should be very weak which is not
the case or there should be some other excitation mechanism. From the
energy level diagram of the oxygen atom (Fig. 4.11) it can be seen that
the line 1025.77
A is very close to the solar Lyman line of hydrogen of

1025.72 A. Therefore excitation is produced mainly through chance coincidence with solar HI Lyman and hence absorption takes place. It then
goes through cascading process through intermediate levels leading finally
to the emission line at 1304
A. This mechanism is well known in planetary
nebulae as Bowen mechanism. The intensity of OI 1304
A multiplet produced by resonance scattering of the solar lines is much stronger than those
produced by the Lyman fluorescence. Therefore the intensity of the emission line 1304
A depends critically on the radial velocity (Swings effect),
the width of the solar emission line and the width of cometary absorption
line.

5.1.9.

Forbidden transitions

The identification of the red oxygen doublet lines at 6300 and 6364 A
in comets immediately raises the question of the excitation mechanism of
these lines as they are electric dipole forbidden transitions. First of all, it
is interesting to investigate whether the fluorescence process can or cannot
explain these lines. The direct method to test this hypothesis is to compare the fluorescence efficiency rate for the red oxygen lines with those of
ultraviolet resonance lines which is given in Table 5.3.

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Fig. 5.16 High resolution profile 1302.2

A line of OI in the Sun (Solid curve). The
dashed curve represents the g-factor for fluorescence excited by solar Ly as a function
of heliocentric velocity (Feldman, P.D., Opel. C.B., Meier, R.R. and Nicolas, K.R. 1976.
The Study of Comets, eds. B. Donn et al. NASA SP-393, Washington, D.C. p. 773).

The values show that the excitation to 1 S0 level (2972

A) is negligible
(Fig. 4.11). Also the expected intensities of the line 6300
A can be calculated based on the observed intensities of the 1304 line and the g-factors
of Table 5.3. The expected intensities of red lines are very much smaller
than those of the observed values. Therefore, the resonance fluorescence
process cannot be responsible for the excitation of forbidden oxygen lines.
The collisional excitation is also inadequate for explaining the observed
emission.

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Table 5.3 Fluorescence efficiency factors at 1 AU for oxygen.

Line(
A)

g-factor
(photons/sec/atom)

989
1027
1304

1.6
0.4
0.6
1.1

2972
5577
6300
6364

3.1 (-15)
6.21(-14)
4.2 (-10)
1.3 (-10)

(-8)
to 1.5 (-6)
to 1.5 (-5)a
to 3.9 (-7)b

* See Chap. 6.
Number in the bracket refers to
power of 10 (a) for solar absorption; (b) Lyman induced
fluorescence; (Festou, M.C. and
Feldman, P.D. 1981, Astr. Ap.
103, 154).

Therefore it is generally assumed that the photo dissociation of some

molecules leave oxygen atoms in the excited 1 D state which then decay to 3 P
ground state giving rise to 6300
A emission. 1 D state can be generated from
the photodissociation of molecules H2 O, OH, CO2 and CO (Sec. 6.2.9).
However, the contributions from the photodissociation reactions of CO2
and CO are much smaller than that of H2 O.
5.1.10.

Molecular band polarization

The resonance fluorescence excitation process which is responsible for

the observed emission lines in comets leads to two other important effects.
The first being that even though the incident radiation is a natural one, the
fluorescence lines should be linearly polarized. Secondly the total intensity
of emission is not isotropic but depends upon the phase angle.
The linear polarization of emission bands in comets was first observed in
Comet Cunningham 1941 I from the study of C2 and CN bands. This was
followed by observations of other comets. The polarization of C2 (5140), C3
(4060), CN (3871) and OH (3090) bands have been measured in Comets
Halley and Hartley - Good 1985 XVII. The polarization of the bands of
CO+ (4260) and H2 O+ (7000) has also been measured in Comet Halley.

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The measured linear polarization in percentage for Comet Halley at a phase

angle 50 is around 3.9, 4.0, 3.8 and 1.8 for the molecules CN, C2 , C3
and OH respectively.
There exists several studies pertaining to the polarization of fluorescence lines, both from experimental and theoretical points of view. The
theoretical studies are based on the application of the principle of Zeeman
splitting in a magnetic field. Therefore, the important parameter in determining the polarization in a molecular band u l (u is the upper level
and l is the lower level) is the Larmor frequency L of the molecule. In the
case of a strong magnetic field, 2L > Aul where Aul is the Einstein
coefficient for the transition, the molecule will precess strongly in the upper state before deexcitation takes place and therefore it essentially looses
memory of its unidirectional excitation process. The resultant effect being
that the fluorescence emission line will be isotropic and unpolarized. For
the other case of a weak magnetic field, 2L < glu , where glu is the excitation rate of the band, the fluorescence cycle will lead to alignment of the
molecule with respect to the direction of the excitation field. The typical
values for a cometary molecular band is, Aul 106 /sec and glu 103
to 101 /sec. The general value of the magnetic field as measured by spacecrafts in Comet Halley is of the order of a few 10 nT. This corresponds to
L 102 /sec. These values show that
glu < 2L < Aul .
The resultant effect being that the molecules will precess in the lower state
between the fluorescence cycles, but not in the upper state. This therefore
preserves the polarization for the case of anisotropic excitation.
The excitation by unidirectional natural radiation leading to linear polarization of an emission line has maximum polarization for a phase angle
of 90o (i.e. observed perpendicular to the exciting radiation). The expected
variation of polarization with phase angle is given by the expression

P () =

Pmax sin2
1 + Pmax cos2

(5.19)

and the total intensity should vary as

Itotal =

Pmax cos2 + 1
.
1
3 Pmax + 1

(5.20)

Here Pmax represents the maximum polarization corresponding to = 90 .

The value of Pmax depends upon different rotational quantum number J for

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the P, Q and R branches of the band. Theoretical calculations are available

for some of the transitions at the present time.
The value of Pmax for various molecular bands can be determined from
the observed polarization and phase angle corresponding to the time of
observation. The derived value of Pmax from observations for the C2 and
CN molecules is in agreement with the expected theoretical value of Pmax
of 7.7%. The observed polarization variation also established the validity of
the theoretical dependence given by Eq. (5.19). The Pmax values derived
from observations for the C3 molecule 6% which is similar to that of
C2 and CN, but smaller than the expected value of 19%. During the 2003
apparition of Comet 2P/Encke the observed polarization of C2 and CN were
in good agreement with the theoretical calculations. However for C3 the
observed polarization was close to the value of CN and C2 ( 7%) except
on one day when the observed polarization was 16.4% which is close to the
expected value of 19%. The derived Pmax value for H2 O+ and CO+ is quite
high 20%.

5.2.

Excitation Temperature

The population distribution under thermal equilibrium is given by the

Boltzmann law. Even though it does not represent a real situation, it can
be used to a first approximation for estimating the excitation temperature.
This excitation temperature is found to be not much different from the
temperature obtained based on a detailed analysis of the level population
in many cases.
5.2.1.

Rotational temperature

The temperature determined from the application of the Boltzmann

law to rotational lines is generally called the rotational temperature. For
rotational levels, the exponential factor eE/kT is given by eBJ(J+1)hc/kT
where B is the rotational constant of the molecule (Chap. 3). In addition,
for each level there are (2J + 1) states. The number of molecules in any
rotational level J in terms of the total number N can be expressed as
N
(2J + 1)eBJ(J+1)hc/kT .
(5.21)
NJ =
Qrot
Here Qrot is the rotational partition function and is given by
X
Qrot =
(2J + 1)eBJ(J+1)hc/kT .
(5.22)

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The rotational population NJ , goes through a maximum and then decreases

with an increase in J. For a given temperature, the maximum value of J
for which the population is maximum can be evaluated from the above
equation and is given by
r
1
kT
.
(5.23)
Jmax =
2Bhc 2
The intensity of a rotational line in the emission can be written as (Chap. 3)
Iem = C 4 SJ eBJ(J+1)hc/kT .

(5.24)

Here C is a constant and SJ is the Holn-London factor. T is the rotational

temperature. A plot of log (Iem /SJ ) as a function of J(J + 1) results in a
straight line. From the slope of the line the rotational temperature can be
evaluated.
The above method has been applied to the case of cometary spectra
to obtain the rotational temperature of various molecules. One can get a
better estimate of the rotational temperature if the rotational levels are
populated to high quantum numbers. In addition one requires the spectra
of high dispersion for the lines to be resolved. Studies have been carried
out for molecules like CH, CN, OH, C2 , etc. Except for the C2 molecule,
the rotational temperatures for all other molecules have values in the range
of about 200 to 400 K. The rotational temperature for the C2 molecule
based on the profile analysis of well-resolved lines of Swan bands gives the
temperature values in the range of about 3000 to 4000 K (Fig. 5.11). The
vast difference in the rotational temperature between the C2 and other
molecules arises due to the fact that for heteronuclear molecules like CH,
CN, etc., the transitions in the ground state of the molecule are possible;
these radiate away the energy. This makes the temperature low. But for
the homonuclear molecule C2 , such types of transitions are forbidden and
hence give higher temperatures.
The (0, 0) band spectra of Swan system for Comet Halley taken at a
high resolution of 0.060.08 A (FWHM) resolved all the rotational lines of
the R branch. The observed intensities of these rotational lines indicated
the existence of two vastly different well defined Boltzmann temperature
population distributions corresponding to those of lower and higher rotational levels. In particular, the low rotational levels with J 0 <
15 gave a
rotational temperature, Trot 600 700 K, while the higher levels gave
a rotational temperature, Trot 3200 K. The synthetic spectra based on

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time-dependent rotational population distribution with resonance fluorescence excitation process show that a reasonably good fit over the whole
wavelength region of the observed spectra, 51625132
A, can be obtained
for a time interval of around 2 103 sec as shown in Fig. 5.17. This time

Fig. 5.17 Comparison of the calculated time dependent spectra (Solid line) with the
observed spectra (dashed line) for the (0, 0) Swan band in the wavelength region 5166
lto 5154
A of Comet Halley. The calculated curves are for a time interval of 2 103
secs and FWHM=0.06
A. The short line with filled circles show the location of the NH2
features. Several of the P, Q and R lines are also marked (Krishna Swamy, K.S. 1991.
Ap. J, 373, 266).

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scale is consistent with the time 2.7 103 sec taken by the C2 molecules
with a velocity 1 km/sec, to cross the equivalent radius of the projected
area on to the sky. This indicates that the observations have picked up only
molecules with the time interval 2 103 sec from the time of formation
indicating that the level populations does not appear to have reached the
steady state values.
5.2.2.

Vibrational temperature

A mean vibrational excitation temperature may be defined from the

Boltzmann law representing the population distribution in various vibrational levels. An expression for vibrational temperature can be written in
an analogous manner to that of rotational temperature as
Nv =

N G(v)hc/kT
e
Qvib

(5.25)

where Qvib = eG(v)hc/kT is called the vibrational partition function. G(v)

represents the energy of the vibrational level v. The emission intensity of
a vibrational band can be written as (Chap. 3).
Iem = Cqv0 v00 eG(v)hc/kT

(5.26)

where qv0 v00 is the Franck-Condon factor for the band (v 0 , v 00 ) and C is a
constant. A plot of log (Iem /qv0 v00 ) versus G(v) gives a straight line from
which the vibrational temperature can be determined.
Several attempts have been made to get an estimate of the vibrational
temperature of molecules. However, one difficulty with this method is that
it is hard to get many bands where the contamination from other bands or
from other lines is negligible. So one usually uses the ratio of intensities
of two bands or more bands if available. For the case of C2 molecule, the
band sequence flux ratios corresponding to v = 0 and +1 is generally
used. The vibrational temperature vibrational temperature obtained for
C2 molecule is around 3000 to 5000 K. This is of the same order as the
rotational temperature.
5.3.

Abundances of Heavy Elements

The emission lines of heavy elements are seen only for the heliocentric
distance ' 0.15AU. Comets passing through such small perihelion distances
are very rare. One such comet was the Sun grazing Comet Ikeya-Seki in

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1965 which had a perihelion distance 0.005 AU. This comet provided the
opportunity for observing emission lines of various elements like Na, K, Ca,
Ca+ , Fe, Ni, Mn and so on in the visible region. This made it possible to
make an abundance analysis of these elements. These elements are believed
to come from the vapourization of the refractory grains.
In a steady state, the relative populations in the upper levels are governed by the Boltzmanns formula reduced by the dilution factor W , which
is a measure of the deviation of the energy density of radiation from the
equilibrium value i.e. u W 5 10 . Therefore the intensity of an
emission line is given by
 2 2 
8 e h N gf
I=
10
(5.26a)
m
u3
where is the excitation potential of the line and = (5040/T ). T is
the excitation temperature corresponding to the colour temperature of the
exciting solar radiation. The term represented by the power of 10 corresponds to the exponential factor in the Boltzmann distribution function. N
is the total number of atoms/cm2 in the line of sight and u is the partition
function of the line. The other quantities have their usual meanings. The
above equation can be written as
 3 
I
= + constant.
(5.27)
log
gf
Therefore, a plot of log (3 I/gf ) against the excitation potential for all
the observed lines will result in a straight line whose slope gives the value
of . Figure 5.18 shows one such typical plot for FeI lines. The straight
line drawn through the points is for = 1.0. Knowing the excitation
temperature, the total number of atoms can be calculated easily from
log N = constant + log(3 I) log(gf )
+ log u +
The procedure can be repeated for all the observed lines. The value of
= 1.0 also fitted the other lines. Therefore the number of atoms of
various kinds can be determined. The calculated relative abundances of
various elements relative to iron is similar to that of the solar value.
The in situ measurements of Comet Halley, made with impact ionization
mass spectrometer on board the Vega spacecraft, have given the elemental
compostion of dust. The contribution from the gaseous component has to
be added to the dust component, to get an estimate of the total elemental
abundances. Using a mean value for the dust to gas ratio of 0.8, the derived

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Fig. 5.18 A plot of log (3 I/gf ) as a function of the excitation potential of the line.
The straight line drawn through the points is for ex = (5040/Tex ) = 1.0 (Adapted
from Arpigny, C. 1977, Proceedings of the Robert A. Welch Foundation Conferences on
Chemical Research XXI, Cosmochemistry. Houston, p. 9; see also Preston, G.W. 1966.
Ap.J. 147, 718).

total abundance of gas and dust for Comet Halley is compared with the
Sun in Fig. 5.19. It shows that the elemental abundances in Comet Halley
are very similar to the solar values except for hydrogen.
5.4.

Isotopic Abundances

The study of the isotopic abundances in comets has attracted considerable attention as it has significant amount of information in it as to the
conditions which prevailed at the time of formation of these objects. Fortunately, the most abundant elements, namely, H, C, N and O do have
many stable isotopes. Therefore a comparison of the isotopic ratios of

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Fig. 5.19 A comparison of the elemented abundances in Comet Halley and in the Sun
showing that they are similar. The abundances refer to log N(H) = 12.0 (Delsemme,
A.H. 1991. In Comets in the Post-Halley Era, eds. R.L. Newburn, Jr. et al., Kluwer
Academic Publishers, p. 377).

these elements in different kinds of objects will reveal the history of the
whole evolutionary process. The detection of several complex molecules in
comets has given the general feeling that the cometary material and the
interstellar material could be very similar in nature. The isotopic ratios
could help in clarifying this problem as well.
For a diatomic molecule,

 vibrational

and rotational isotopic shifts
q the

are proportional to 1 i and 1 i respectively, where and i

are the reduced masses of the normal and the isotopic molecule. This shows
that the expected isotopic shifts from molecules are quite small. Therefore,
in order to study the isotopic molecule, it will be a great advantage if the
abundance of the isotopic molecule is large, the isotopic line is well separated from the line of the normal isotope and also lie in the less crowded
region of the spectrum. This introduces severe constraints on the selection
of the molecules. In addition, the spectra should be of higher resolution
to separate the isotopic line from the normal line. These restrictions automatically limit the study to bright comets. Due to the difficulties involved

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in the spectral and radio astronomical observations the studies have been
limited to only a few isotopic species. In principle, the isotopic ratios can
be determined better than the absolute abundances as they are not model
dependent.
The isotopic ratio 12 C/13 C has been determined for several comets based
on the analysis of the Swan band intensities of the C2 molecule. It is well
suited for the study as the (1, 0) band of the Swan system which occurs
at 4737
A is well separated from the 12 C/13 C band which occurs around
4745
A.
A typical medium resolution scan in the region of interest for the Comet
Kohoutek is shown in Fig. 5.20. From a comparison of the observed intensity ratios of these two bands, it is possible to get an estimate for the
isotopic ratio of 12 C/13 C. This method has been applied to many comets.
Unfortunately the isotopic line at 4745
A is strongly blended with the emission lines of NH2 molecule. The high resolution scan around 4745
A line
shows that the blending comes from 4 lines of NH2 . The blending problem
can be taken care with high spectral resolution observations and with better signal-to-noise ratio. To avoid the blending problem, the possibility of
using the (0, 0) band of the Swan system has been considered. With a high
resolution spectra of Comet West it was possible to resolve completely the
rotational structure of the (0, 0) band. However, the isotopic features are
rather weak, which makes the derived isotopic ratio uncertain.
The 3883
A (0, 0) band of B2 X2 system of CN has also been used for
the determination of carbon isotopic ratio in comets. However, the normal
lines of 12 C15 N, 13 C14 N, weak lines of (1, 1) band and P-branch lines of
the CN system also lie in this wavelength region (Fig. 5.21). All these lines
can be resolved in a high resolution spectra. Therefore the isotopic ratio
of carbon can be determined. The results of 12 C/13 C studies for various
comets are summarised in Table 5.4.
The deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio is of great interest as deuterium is
most likely to be synthesized in the early universe. The neutral mass spectrometer on board Giotto spacecraft made measurements of the compostion of neutral and ion species in Comet Halley with high mass resolution.
Therefore it is possible to get the isotopic ratio D/H. The derived ratio from
the study of HDO/H2 O is around 3 104 . Subsequently HDO was detected in Comets Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp from observations of 101 000
rotational line at 464.925 GHz. Following this, HDO was also detected from
211 212 transition at 241.562 GHz and 312 221 at 225.897 GHz in Comet
Hale Bopp.

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Fig. 5.20 Photoelectric scans of Comet Kohoutek in the region of 4737

A corresponding
to (1, 0) band of the Swan System. Resolution is 0.4
A. The 12 C/13 C feature is around
4745
A which is blended with NH2 , (Danks, A.C., Lambert, D.L. and Arpigny, C. 1974.
Ap. J. 194, 745).

The molecule DCN has been seen through their rotational transition
J(5-4) at 362.046 GHz. The derived D/H ratio is 2.3 103 . The rotational
transition of HC15 N, H13 CN and C 34 S has also been detected in Comet
Hale-Bopp leading to their isotopic ratios (Table 5.4). The line of J(3-2) of
H13 CN has been detected in Comet Hyakutake.
The fundamental ortho line of H18
2 O at 547.7 GHz has been seen in
16
Comet Ikeya-Zhang. The observed ratio of H18
2 O/H2 O is in agreement
with the ratio derived from mass spectroscopy from Comet Halley. The
results of the measured isotopic ratios are summarized in Table 5.4.

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Fig. 5.21 The high resolution spectrum of Comet Halley in the wavelength region from
3866 to 3874 A. The R-branch lines of 12 CN and 13 CN overlap in this region. The
features marked a to g and i belong to the (0, 0) band of the 13 CN molecule while those
marked with h and j to m are P-branch lines from the (1, 1) band of the 12 CN molecule
(Jaworski, W.A. and Tatum, J.B. 1991. Ap. J., 377, 306).

All the comets indicate D/H ratio in H2 O 3 104 . The cometary

material is enriched by a factor of around 10 as compared to the D/H
ratio in the primordial solar nebula ( 2.5 105 ) (Fig. 5.22). It is highly
likely that this enrichment is due to fractionation effect arising through
ion-molecule reactions or grain-surface processes in the solar nebula phase.
The lower value of D/H found in planets in comparison to comets appears
to be consistent with the idea that the giant planets formed around icy
cores with high cometary D/H ratio gathered a large amount of H2 from
the solar nebula with a low protosolar D/H at a later stage.
The other measured isotopic ratios of 12 C/13 C, 16 O/18 O and 32 S/34 S
are consistent with the solar system value of 89, 500 and 24 respectively.

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Table 5.4

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135

Observed isotopic ratios.

Ratio

Molecule

Comet

Value

D/H

H2 O

3.08 104
2.9 104
3.3 104
2.3 103

HCN

Halley
Hyakutake
Hale-Bopp
Hale-Bopp

12 C/13 C

C2
CN
CN
CN
CN
HCN
HCN

four Comets (a)

Halley
five Comets (b)
Hale-Bopp
C/2000 WM1
Hale-Bopp
Hale-Bopp

93 10
95 12
90 10
165 40
115 20
111 12
90 15

14 N/15 N

CN
CN
HCN
HCN

Hale-Bopp
C/2000 WM1
Hale-Bopp
Hale-Bopp

140 35
140 30
323 46
330 98

16 O/18 O

H2 O
H2 O

Halley
153P/2002C1

470 40
450 50

32 S/34 S

S+
CS
H2 S

Halley
Hale-Bopp
Hale-Bopp

23 6
27 3
17 4

(a) Ikeya, Tago-Sato-kosaka, Kohoutek, KobayashiBergar-Milon

(b) Halley, Levy, Austin, Okazaki-Levy-Rudenko, HaleBopp
Adapted from: Bockelee-Morvan, D.2005, In Comets II,
Eds. M.C. Festau, H.U. Keller and H.A. Weaver. Univ.
Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 391.

The results for 14 N/15 N is rather puzzling. The high spectral resolution
of CN observations for several comets give 14 N/15 N 150, while radio line
observation give 14 N/15 N 300 which is close to the terrestrial value of 270.
The lower ratio of 150 observed in Comets Hale-Bopp and WM1(LINEAR)
point to an additional source of CN other than HCN and heavily enriched
in 15 N which is still not identitifed.
The measured isotopic ratios given in Table 5.4 refer to the bulk compositions. However it is possible that departures from the mean value may be
present at the microscopic level. Such deviations to the extent of 12 C/13 C
ratios as high as 5000 has been found in the individual small grains in the
coma of Comet Halley. The variations in 12 C/13 C of around 2 to 7000 has
also been seen in primitive meteorites. The wide ranges in the observed

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Fig. 5.22 The deuterikm to hydrogen ratio in comets is compared with the values
observed in planets and solar nebula (photosolar) (Attwegg, K. and Bockelee-Morvan,
D. 2003. Space Sci. Rev., 106 139: Hersant, F., Gautier, D. and Hure, J.M. 2001.
Ap.J., 554, 301).

value of 12 C/13 C ratios indicate that these particles are preserved presolar grains that have survived from physical and chemical processes in the
interstellar and early solar system environments.
The measured isotopic ratio 12 C/13 C from the interstellar medium at
the present time seems to vary from 20 to 80. The former and latter values
corresponding to the galactic centre region and around solar neighbourhood
respectively. This is smalller compared to the cometary value of around 90.
The equilibrium value of 12 C/13 C based on the hydrogen burning in stars
(i.e. CNO cycle) is around 4. The general reduction in the ratio of 12 C/13 C
in interstellar matter compared to the solar system value is more likely to
be produced as a result of the addition of 13 C. This could be brought about
by the processing of 13 C by the CNO cycle in stars. On the basis of the
present picture, the processed material of the stars find their way finally
into the interstellar medium and thus enrich the medium with 13 C isotopes.
The observed isotopic ratio of 12 C/13 C between the solar system and the
interstellar value appears to be consistent to a first approximation with the
scenario of chemical evolution which has taken place for the last 4.6 Gyr.

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Lastly, mention may be made of the isotopic ratios of light elements like
Li, Be, B, etc., as these elements will be destroyed easily in stars even if
they were present in the original material. The detection in comets imply
that they ought to have been produced more recently by different physical
processes. However, the detection of light element isotopes in comets is a
difficult problem.
5.5.

Summary

The analysis of the spectra shows that the resonance fluorescence process is the excitation mechanism of the observed emission lines in comets.
The abundance of various elements obtained from the study of the spectra
of Comet Ikeya-Seki as well as in situ measurement of Comet Halley show
values very similar to those of solar abundances. In addition, the isotopic
ratio of 12 C/13 C in comets has a value of about 90, which is the same as
the solar system value. However 12 C/13 C as high as 5000 has been seen in
some of the individual dust grains in Comet Halley indicating that they are
presolar grains.
Other isotopic ratios such as 16 O/18 O and 32 S/34 S are found to be similar to the solar values except the D/H ratio. It appears that the abundance
of deuterium is enhanced compared to the solar values by a factor of 10 or
so. The likely mechanism of such an enhancement could be through the
ion-molecular reactions.
Problems
1. Consider the (BX) transitions of the molecular hydrogen. Write
down the equation between the upper and lower populations, N (v 0 )
and N (v 00 ), assuming only the absorption and spontaneous emission
terms are important. If the population in the lower vibrational levels is
determined by the Boltzmann distribution at temperature T = 2000 K,
calculate the population in the upper vibrational levels and the resulting emission.
2. Consider the ground electronic state (X 1 + ), the first singlet (A 1 II)
and the triplet (a 3 II) electronic states of the CO molecule. From the
statistical equilibrium equations, obtain an expression for the intensity
ratio of (a3 IIX1 + ) to (A1 IIX1 + ) transitions in terms of the
molecular parameters of the molecule and its numerical value. Assume

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B21 < A21 and B31 < A31 . This problem will give an idea of the expected intensities of forbidden transitions compared to those of allowed
transitions.
3. Calculate the wavelength of a solar photon of =5000
A at the comet
which is at r = 0.52 AU. The comet is moving in an elliptical orbit
with e = 0.8 and has a period of 5 years.
4. The relative intensities of the rotational lines of molecular spectra in
a comet will vary irregularly with rotational quantum number and the
intensity of an individual line will vary irregularly with the distance of
the comet from the Sun. Explain why these effects occur and describe
how in principle, you could compute the line intensities.
5. In terms of the spectral features observed in the coma of a comet, is it
possible to infer the abundances of molecules in the primordial nebula?
Explain.

References
The effect of Fraunhofer lines on cometary spectra was first pointed out in
1. Swings, P. 1941. Lick Obs. Bull. 19, 131.
The application of Resonance Fluorescence Process to molecules can be
found in
2. Arpigny, C. 1965. Mem. Acad. Roy. Belg, Cl. 8 , 35, 5.
For some later work, the following papers may be referred.
3. Krishna Swamy, K.S. 1981. Astr. Ap. 97, 110.
4. Weaver, H.A. and Mumma, M.J. 1984. Ap.J. 276, 782.
5. Kleine, M., Wyckoff, S., Wehinger, P.A. and Peterson, B.A. 1994. Ap.
J. 436, 885.
6. Magnani, L. and AHearn. M.F. 1986. Ap.J. 302, 477.
7. Schleicher D.G. and AHearn. M.F. 1988. Ap.J. 331, 1058.
8. Reyle, C. and Boice, D.C. 2003. Ap. J., 587, 464.
For the calculation of vibrational transition probabilities, the following book
may be referred to:
9. Penner, S.S. 1959. Molecular Spectroscopy and Gas Emissivities, Reading: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
The early work on C2 molecule is discussed in
10. Stockhausen, R.E. and Osterbrock, D.E. 1965. Ap.J., 141, 287.
For later work, the following papers may be referred:
11. Krishna Swamy K.S. and ODell. C.R. 1987. Ap. J. 317, 543.

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139

12. ODell, C.R., Robinson, R.R., Krishna Swamy, K.S., Spinrad, H. and
McCarthy, P.J. 1988. Ap.J. 334, 476.
13. Gredel, R., van Dishoeck, E.F. and Black, J.H. 1989. Ap. J. 338, 1047.
14. Combi, M.R. and Fink, U. 1997. Ap.J., 484, 879.
Papers pertaining to Prompt Emission lines.
The extensive Laboratory study carried out on H2 O is coverred in the following paper
15. Carrington, T. 1964. J. Chem. Phys., 41, 2012.
The following papers cover the application to Comets.
16. Bertaux, J.L. 1986. Astron. Astrophys., 160, L7.
17. Budzien, S.A. and Feldman, P.D. 1991. Icarus, 90, 308.
Comet Hyakutake spectral observations is in the following paper:
18. Meier, R. et al. 1998. Icarus, 136, 268.
The first detection of Prompt Emission lines in Comet Hyakutake is covered in the paper
19. AHearn, M.F., Krishna Swamy, K.S. and Wellnitz, D.D. 2007. Bull.
Am. Astro. Soc., 39, 507.
The following papers deal with polarization of molecular bands.
20. Ohman, Y. 1941. Stockholm Obs. Ann. 13, No. 11, p.1.
21. Le Borgne, J.F. and Crovisier, J. 1987. Proc. Symp. on Diversity and
Similarity of Comets. Brussels, Belgium.
22. Sen, A.K., Joshi, U.C. and Deshpande, M.R. 1989. Astr. Ap. 217,
307.
The following papers refers to isotopic studies:
23. Altwegg, K. and Bockelee-Morvan, D. 2003. Space Sci. Rev., 106, 139.
24. Bockelee-Morvan, D. 2005. In Comets II, Eds. M.C. Festou, H.U,.
Keller and H.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, P.391.

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CHAPTER 6

Gas Production Rates in Coma

The gaseous molecules vaporized from the nucleus are subjected to a variety of physical processes which could dissociate them step by step. Hence,
the species observed in the spectra of comets could comprise contributions
arising out of the dissociated products, as well as those released directly
by the nucleus or even by dust particles. Therefore, the physical quantity of interest is the production rate of the species and its variation with
the heliocentric distance. The production rate of a molecule can be determined either from the observation of the total luminosity or from the
surface brightness of a given spectral line, band or a band-sequence.
If the vapourization of H2 O is mainly due to the absorption of the solar
energy, then the production rate of H2 O should also have a r2 dependence with the heliocentric distance. Therefore, if the observations show
a deviation from the r2 dependence, it is of great significance and has
important information with regard to the mechanism of evaporation of the
material from the nucleus. It is also of interest to see whether the production rate of the molecules differs from comet to comet and whether it has
any correlation with the morphology, dust content, age, etc. of the comet.
From these results, one may be able to understand better the evaporation
of material from the nucleus as well as the source of the observed radicals
and molecules in comets and the structure of the nucleus. Some of these
aspects will be the subject of discussion in this chapter.

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6.1.
6.1.1.

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Theoretical Models
From the total luminosity

The total production rate of a particular species can be determined from

the measurement of the total flux of the radiation from the entire coma of
a given line or band. If the mean lifetime of the molecule is i then the
coma will contain Ni molecules of this type at any given time so that
Ni = Qi i ,

(6.1)

where Qi is the production rate of the species. Since the excitation of the
lines is due to the resonance fluorescence process, for an optically thin case,
the luminosity of any line or a band is proportional to the total number of
the species in the coma and to the fluorescence efficiency factor called the
g-factor. The g-factor actually represents the probability of scattering of
a solar photon per unit time per molecule. The luminosity at wavelength
i is therefore given by
Li = gi Ni = gi Qi i .

(6.2)

Since the observations include the whole extent of the coma, the flux received on the Earth Fi is given by
Li
.
(6.3)
Fi =
42
where is the geocentric distance. Therefore, the production rate is given
by
42 Fi
(6.4)
gi i
The production rate can therefore be calculated provided gi , i and Fi are
known. In general, the measurements covering only a given instrumental
field of view is available and not over the whole coma. For such cases the
total number of species in the field of view, Ni is given by the relation
Qi =

42 Fi
gi
and hence the column density can be calculated.
The g-factor represents the number of photons per second scattered by
a single atom or molecule exposed to the unattenuated sunlight. If the solar
photon flux is F per unit frequency in the neighbourhood of the line, the
g-factor for a strict resonance scattering is given by
Z
g = F d
(6.5)
Ni =

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where is the absorption cross-section. Therefore,

 2
e
f
g = F
mc
or
 2
e
g =
2 f (F ) photons/sec/molecule
mc2

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143

(6.6)

(6.7)

where f is the absorption oscillator strength and F the solar flux per
unit wavelength. For molecules, the relative transition probabilities for
downward transitions must be taken into account. Therefore, Eq. (6.7)
can be written as
 2
e
2 (F )f

(6.8)
g =
mc2
where
Av0 v00
.
v 00 Av 0 v 00

=P

Here the As are the Einstein coefficients. The g-factor depends upon the
oscillator strength and the solar flux. As pointed out in Chap. 3, the solar
radiation in the ultraviolet region is dominated by line emissions. Therefore,
the Doppler shift due to the comets heliocentric radial motion can produce
large changes in the g-factor as the comet moves in its orbit (see Fig. 5.14).
This has to be taken into account in the analysis of the observations. But
the average g-factor has been calculated for many molecules and is available
in the literature.
The calculation of the lifetime of the species involves a knowledge of the
photodissociation and photoionization rates, Jd and Ji respectively. These
can be calculated from the relation
Z 0
Ji,d =
()F ()d (sec/molecule)
(6.9)
c

where () is the photodestruction cross-section and F () is the incident

solar flux. c represents the threshold for the dissociation or ionization
process. For most of the species, the photodissociation lifetime is relevant
since the dissociation energies are smaller than those of ionization potentials. However, for the case of the CO molecule, the two are comparable
as the dissociation potential 11 eV and the ionization potential 14 eV.
The lifetime of the molecules is just the inverse of Eq. (6.9), i.e.,
i = J 1 sec .

(6.10)

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It should be noted that the dependence of the solar flux with heliocentric
distance (Eq. 6.9) also enters in the lifetime of the molecules. Usually,
the lifetime is referred to 1 AU. Since both gi and i depend directly on
the solar flux which varies as r2 , the product gi i [Eq. (6.4)] becomes
independent of r. Because of the presence of large uncertainties in the
value of cross-sections as well as the solar fluxes in the extreme ultraviolet
region, the calculated J values and in turn the lifetime of the species are
also uncertain. For example, the solar flux itself could vary by factors of 2 to
4 during the solar cycle. Therefore, the accurate calculation of the lifetime
of a species is one of the main problems at present. The uncertainty in the
lifetime of the molecules directly affects the calculated production rates.
6.1.2.

From surface brightness distribution

It is possible to get much more information than just the production

rates, if the variation of brightness of various emissions with radial distance
from the centre of the comet could be observed. It is a common practice
nowadays to make such observations using a diaphragm whose field of view
is much smaller than the projected size of the coma. A typical observed
brightness profile has a flat region near the centre and falls rather steeply
in the outer region (Fig. 6.1). If the average brightness of a molecule is
denoted as Bi at the projected distance as seen in the sky then
Bi () = N i ()gi ,

(6.11)

where N i () is the average column density of the molecule along the line
of sight. To get the total number of a species one has to integrate over the
model dependent variation of density as a function of the projected distance
from the nucleus. This is then to be convolved with the instrumental field
of view.
It is generally believed that the observed species are the dissociated or
the decayed products of the original complex molecules which were vapourized from the nucleus. Because of the finite lifetimes of these dissociated
products, they in turn break up further as they move out in the coma.
Therefore, the coma can be divided roughly into three zones: a productive
zone, an expansion zone and a destructive zone.
Let us start with the simplest model in which molecules are released by
the nucleus with a production rate
Q = 4R02 E

(6.12)

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Fig. 6.1 Theoretical surface brightness distributions based on Hasers model for different
ratios of the scale lengths of daughter and the parent molecule. (Adapted from DDell,
C.R. and Osterbrock, D.E. 1962. Ap. J., 136, 559).

where R0 is the radius of the nucleus and E is the evaporation rate

(/cm2 /sec). It then expands isotropically with a velocity v. For such a
case, the density falls off as R2 where R is the distance from the centre of
the coma and it is given by
Q 1
.
(6.13)
4v R2
At a projected distance as seen in the sky, the column density is obtained
n(R) =

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by integrating along the line of sight and is given by

N () =

Q 1
.
4v

(6.14)

The column density, therefore, varies as (1/). The above formalism is very
simple and gives only rough estimates.
As the molecules move outwards, they are generally dissociated by the
solar radiation. They have a mean lifetime . This corresponds to a distance
Rd = v , where v is the average velocity of the molecule. The density
distribution is now given by
Q
e(R/Rd ) ,
4vR2

n(R) =
=

C (R/Rd )
e
R2

(6.15)

where
Q
.
4v
A slightly more complicated model is based on the parent-daughter hypothesis in which the parent molecules released by the nucleus decay with a mean
lifetime 1 corresponding to a distance (called scale length) of R1 = v1 1 .
The daughter products then in turn decay with a lifetime 0 corresponding
to R0 = v0 0 . For such a two-component model, the number density takes
the form


C
n(R) = 2 e0 R e1 R .
(6.16)
R
Here 0 ( (0 v0 )1 ) denotes the reciprocal of the mean distances travelled
by or scale lengths of the observed molecules, 1 denotes the same by the
parent molecule before they are dissociated. The Eq. (6.16) can be written
as
C
(6.17)
n(R) = 2 f (R)
R
where f (R) is the function representing the quantity in brackets of
Eq. (6.16). If n(R1 ) denotes the density at the distance R at which f (R)
has its maximum value, then


1
0 1 (RR1 )
R12
0 (RR1 )
e

n(R) = n(R1 ) 2
e
.
(6.18)
R 1 0
1
C=

The integration of the above equation along the line of sight at the projected
distance from the nucleus gives the column density and hence the surface

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brightness at that point for an optically thin case. The resulting expression
is of the form
0 1 +0 R1 1
e
[B(0 ) B(1 )]
(6.19)
N () = 2n(R1 )R12
1 0
0
where
Z z

B(z) =
K0 (y)dy.
(6.19a)
2
0
Here K0 (y) is the modified Bessel function of the second kind of order zero.
The Eq. (6.19) can be written as



1 x
(constant)
(6.20)
B(x) B
N () = (constant)s(x) =
x
0
where x = 0 . The equation shows that the shape of the surface brightness
distribution s(x), depends essentially upon the relative values 1 and 0 .
The Fig. 6.1 shows a plot of brightness profiles predicted for various values
of the ratio 1 /0 . The curves become rather flat in the central region for
small values of 1 /0 , and this means that the two scale lengths do not
differ from each other very much. One can also see the deviation from the
simple model (constant outflow velocity with no creation or destruction) in
which the dependence is given by 1/.
The total number of molecules M () within a cylinder of radius centred on the nucleus can be obtained by the integration of Eq. (6.19) over
, i.e.,
Z
M () =
2N ()d
0

= 4 n(R1 )R12

1
e0 R1 0 [G(0 ) G(1 )]
0 (1 0 )

(6.21)

where
G(z) =

K0 (y)dy +
0

1
K1 (z).
z

Here K0 and K1 are the modified Bessel functions of the second kind
of order 0 and 1 respectively. The above expression can also be expressed
more conveniently in terms of the production rate as
Z x



1
1
Q
1
+ K1 (x) K1 (x)
(6.21a)
K0 (y)dy +
M () =
v
x

x
where x = 0 and = 1 /0 . The quantity occurring in bracket depends
only on the parameters and x which could be tabulated for various values
of x and .

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The above two-stage model usually known as Hasers model, can be

further extended to three stages in which the daughter products themselves
dissociate. Let 1 , 2 and 3 denote the lifetime of the parent, daughter and
the granddaughter species respectively. If the corresponding velocities are
v1 , v2 and v3 then i = (i vi ) with i = 1, 2 and 3. The densities of the
three corresponding species can be expressed conveniently in terms of the
production rate Q1 of the parent molecule as follows.
n1 (R) =

Q1
exp(1 R)
4v1 R2

(6.22)

1
Q1
[exp(1 R) exp(2 R)]
4v2 R2 (2 1 )

(6.23)

Q1
[A exp(1 R) + B exp(3 R) + C exp(2 R)]
4v3 R2

(6.24)

n2 (R) =
and
n3 (R) =
where

A=

1 2
,
(1 2 )(1 3 )

B=

A(1 3 )
(2 3 )

C=

B(1 2 )
.
(1 3 )

and

The corresponding column density of the species over the field of view of
linear radius is given by
N1 () =
Q1 2
N2 () =
4v2

Q1 2
B(1 ),
4v1

1
2 1

(6.25)


[B(1 ) B(2 )]

(6.26)

and
N3 () =

Q1 2
[AB(1 ) + BB(2 ) + CB(3 )]
4v3

(6.27)

where B(Z) is given by Eq. (6.19a). The above procedure can easily be
extended to cascade processes involving more than three species.

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149

From number densities

The relation between the emission coefficient j and the number density
n of the species for the resonance fluorescence excitation process is given
by
j
e2 f
=
(r)nP.
(6.28)
hem
habs m
Here em and abs are the emission and absorption frequencies, (r) the
solar radiation density at the heliocentric distance r and P is the probability
that a particular transition takes place in comparison with other decays. All
other constants have their usual meanings. The integration of Eq. (6.28)
along the line of sight through the comet and up to a projected radius
gives the relation
e2 f
L()
(r) P M ()
(6.29)
=
hem
habs m
where L() is the observed luminosity in the emission line and M () is the
total number of the species in the field of view. The above equation can be
written as


mL()
abs
(6.30)
M () =
em
e2 f (r)P
or
log M () = log C + log L() + 2 log r

(6.31)

where

C=

abs
em

m
.
e2 f (r)P

The last term in equation (6.31) arises as solar radiation varies as r2

where r is the heliocentric distance of the comet. The constant C depends
upon the transition of interest.
For C2 molecule, as one generally observes band sequence fluxes with
V = +1 or 0, it is necessary to include in the calculation of constant
C, the absorptions arising from various vibrational levels from the lower
electronic state through the term (f (r)/). In a similar manner the
population of vibrational levels in the upper electronic state enters through
the probability P . Therefore, a mean value for the above ratio has to be
used, i.e.,
  X
X
f
xv00
fv00 ,v (v00 ,v )/v00 ,v .
(6.32)
=

00
v

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Here v 00 represents the vibrational level in the lower electronic state and
v the various band sequences being considered. xv00 represents the weight
factors for the vibrational levels of the lower electronic state. Similarly the
transition probability P for the downward transition should also take into
account the population distribution in the upper vibrational levels. The
Eq. (6.31) gives the abundance of the species of interest within the field of
view of the comet as a function of r.
The comparison of the observed surface brightness distribution with the
expected distribution of Fig. 6.1, fixes the values of 0 and 1 as well as
R1 from its definition. These can then be used to compute M () from
Eq. (6.21) for comparing with the observed distribution [Eq. (6.31)]. This
fixes the value of n(R1 ) and hence the density distribution in the coma
through Eq. (6.18). The observed distribution of M () can also be used to
derive the production rate Q directly from Eq. (6.21a).
The radial outflow decay model has been used extensively in the literature with a high degree of success. Basically from a fit of the expected surface brightness distribution with the observed distribution, it is possible to
derive the production rates and the two scale lengths corresponding to the
parent and the dissociated product. From a knowledge of the scale lengths,
the lifetime of the species can be determined provided the velocity is known.
However, it is found that the scale lengths derived from the Hasers model
are generally smaller than the values calculated using the estimated outflow speed of the gas and the photodissociation lifetime computed from the
solar U V flux and the measured photoabsorption cross-sections. There are
some limitations of this model. First of all it is applicable only to photodestruction products. It does not allow for situations where they could
be produced through chemical reactions. Other effects like non-radial flow,
the effect of solar radiation pressure and the velocity distribution of the
species have to be taken into account in a more realistic model. Some attempts have been made in this direction. Mention may be made of the
method based on the vectorial formalism. In this method, the molecular
fragments of a dissociated parent molecule are ejected isotropically in a
reference frame attached to the parent molecule. Also, unlike in the case
of Hasers model, the effects of velocity and lifetimes are separated which
allow the study of velocity dependent phenomena. These are the two main
improvements over the Hasers model. Another formalism has been developed based on an average random walk model which is the Monte Carlo
approach. The calculations are done in 3-dimensions centred on the comet
nucleus. The results are then reduced to 2-dimensional maps for compar-

comets

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ing with the observation of molecules. It allows the asymmetric ejection of

the parent molecules from the molecules such as jets etc. It can also take
into account the acceleration due to solar radiation pressure. It includes
several dissociation steps for each specie. More physical effects could be
incorporated into the model. These two approaches are more complicated
than Hasers model. However, these models yield the surface distributions
which resemble rather closely with those of Hasers model.
6.1.4.

Semi-empirical photometric theory

The gas production rate can, in principle, be determined from the knowledge of the observed light curve. The light curve of a comet basically gives
the variation of apparent brightness as a function of the heliocentric distance. In general, the observed brightness in the visual region is mainly due
to the continuum and the Swan bands of the C2 molecule. The continuum
is made up of scattering by the dust particles in the coma as well as the
reflection from the nucleus. Therefore, a simple photometric equation can
be written relating the observed light to the light contributed by the dust
grains and the nucleus in the same visual band pass. It can be written as
An () + Bf1 (r) + Cd ()f2 (r) = r2 100.4[m m1 (r)5 log ] .

(6.33)

The three terms on the left hand side of the above equation represent the
contribution from the nucleus, gas and dust respectively. Here m1 (r) is
the apparent visual magnitude of the comet, m the apparent magnitude
of the Sun, n () and d () are the phase functions of the nucleus and
the dust, at phase angle , f1 (r) and f2 (r) are the functional behavior of
the gas and dust production with r. The equation (6.33) can be simplified
with the assumption that the cometary activity is basically given by the
production rate of hydrogen QH . This is a reasonable assumption as H2 O
is the most abundant molecule in a comet and H is the dissociated product
of H2 O. If the gas and dust are well mixed and remain almost the same
with several apparitions, then one can write
Cf2 (r) ' C(r)QH (r).

(6.34)

The observed production rate of C2 of several comets appears to vary

roughly as a quadratic function of QH . Therefore, one can write to a
first approximation,
Bf1 (r) B(r)Q2H (r).

(6.35)

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Physics of Comets

Therefore, Eq. (6.33) can be written in the form

Pn Rn2 n () + B(r)Q2H (r) + C(r)QH (r)d () = r2 100.4[m m1 (r)5 log ]
(6.36)
where Rn and Pn represent the radius of the nucleus and geometric albedo
respectively. The Eq. (6.36) can be solved as a quadratic equation in QH (r).
For further simplification one can write the ratio of the dust scatter to that
of the gas in the same band pass as
=

C(r)QH (r)d ()
.
B(r)Q2H (r)

(6.37)

The term B(r) should be proportional to the local lifetime of the molecule
and so it can be written as
B(r) = Rc2 (r/r0 )2

(6.38)

with the C2 lifetime referring to r = r0 = 1AU. Here R refers to the

resonance fluorescence efficiency. The Eq. (6.36) can be written as
Pn Rn2 n () + (1 + )Rc2 Q2H (r) = r2 100.4[m m1 (r)+5 log ] .
This gives the solution for the hydrogen production rate as
1/2
 2 0.4(m m1 (r)+5 log )
r 10
Pn Rn2 n ()
.
QH (r) =
(1 + ) Rc2

(6.39)

(6.40)

If the second term involving Pn Rn2 is smaller than the first term, which is
the case at shorter distances, it is easier to calculate QH from the observed
light curve.
6.2.
6.2.1.

Results
OH and H

Extensive observations of the Lyman of hydrogen as well as of OH

emission at 3090
A have been carried out for various comets using rockets
and satellites. These observations have been used to extract the production rate of OH and H. If OH and H arise from the dissociation of H2 O,
the ratio is Q(H)/Q(OH) 2. The analysis of the brightness measurements for the Comet Bennett showed that the dependence of the production rates of H and OH with heliocentric distance had almost the same
variation as r2.3 (Fig. 6.2). This implies that both H and OH must have
come out of the same parent molecule, which presumably is water. The

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Fig. 6.2 A plot of the production rates of OH and H as a function of heliocentric

distance for Comet Bennett (Keller, H.U. and Lillie, C.F. 1974. Astr. Ap., 34, 187).

derived production rates for OH and H at 1 AU were (2.0 0.8) 1029

molecules/sec and (5.4 2.7) 1029 atoms/sec respectively. This gives a
ratio of Q(H)/Q(OH) 2.7. The International Ultraviolet Explorer Satellite (IUE) was well suited for this study as it covers the wavelength region
from 1150 to 3400
A wherein the emissions from H and OH lie (Fig. 4.4).
Therefore, it was possible to make simultaneous brightness measurements
of these decay products as a function of the radial distance from the nucleus. Such spectra covering a wide range of heliocentric distances give a
homogeneous set of observations. From a fit with the expected brightness
distribution with those of observations, the production rate of H2 O can
be determined for various heliocentric distances. The results for Comet
Bradfield indicate the dependence of the production rate with heliocentric
distance as r3.8 to r4.4 . For Comet Austin (1990 V) the variation is
around r1.8 to r2.8 . The ranges in the power of r for a given comet come
about due to the fact whether the effect of solar activity is included or not
in the model calculations. The derived production rates of water in Comet
Bradfield can also explain reasonably well the observed brightness distri-

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Physics of Comets

bution of hydrogen and oxygen atoms with two velocity distributions for H
atoms of 8 and 20 km/sec (Sec 6.3.1). Therefore, the observed brightness of
OH, H and O are consistent with a common source of all the three species,
which most probably is H2 O. The heliocentric variation of the production
rate of OH for Comet Stephan-Oterma is found to have a dependence, as
r4.80.6 for the pre-perihelion distance. The heliocentric variation of OH
production rate in Comet Hale-Bopp for pre-perihelion observations is initially steeper (r3.7 ), then flatter (r1.8 ) and finally much steeper (r6.8 ).
The typical number densities of H2 O and OH at a distance of 104 km from
the nucleus are of the order of 2 105 /cm3 and 4 104 /cm3 respectively.
Comet Halley was observed extensively from IUE satellite for Ly of
H emission (1216
A) and OH emission (3085
A). The observations of Ly
were analysed based on Monte Carlo models in combination with radiative
transfer models. The derived production rate of water from the nucleus
centred observations is compared with that derived from OH observations
in Table 6.1. The agreement in the production rate of H2 O derived from H
and OH observations is good.

Table 6.1 Comparison of H2 O production rates

for Comet Halley .

(r AU)

Log Q(H2 O)
(from OH, 3085
A)

Log Q(H2 O)
(from Ly , H)

1.45
1.13
1.02
0.84
0.98
1.32
1.85
0.84a

28.987
29.582
29.555
29.818
29.642
29.367
29.340
29.36

28.978
29.509
29.452
29.734
29.691
29.343
29.406
29.45a

*IUE observations.
Adapted from Combi, M.R. and Feldman, P.D.
1993. Icarus, 105, 557.
a. For Comet Hyakutake: Combi, M.R. et al.
1998. AP.J., 494, 816.

The study of the 18 cm line of OH in the radio region should also

give information about the production rates and the velocity fields in the
coma. This should supplement the information obtained from the study

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of the lines in the ultraviolet region. A large amount of work has been
carried out on various comets based on the radio frequency lines of the OH
radical. Since the radio frequency lines are very narrow and since it is also
possible to make high resolution radio observations, it is possible to study
the velocity distribution of OH molecule in the coma. In fact, the precision
of the velocity field is limited only by the quality of the data. The observed
profile is generally asymmetric about the centre. In addition, there is an
asymmetry in the spatial brightness distribution in the East-West of the
comets centre. These asymmetries arise due to the fact that the velocities
of the OH molecules in the coma are not uniform throughout, i.e., the
differential velocity effect is present. The observed asymmetry implies that
the OH radicals are not isotropically distributed around the nucleus.
The calculation of the total number of OH molecules from the observed
emission is not so simple as the lines arise due to the excitation by ultraviolet radiation where Swings effect is very effective. The expression relating
the total flux density emitted by the entire comet to the total number of
OH molecules in the ground state is given by
Aul ikTBG 2Fu + 1
NOH
(6.41)
42
8
where TBG is the background emission, Fu is the total angular momentum
quantum number of the upper state of the transition, i is the inversion
of the lambda doublet (Fig. 5.14) and is the geocentric distance of the
comet.
The OH production rate can be calculated from the relation QP =
NOH /OH where OH is the lifetime of the OH molecules. In general, for a
better estimate it is necessary to take into account the collisional quenching
as well as the distribution of molecules and the molecular outflow velocities in the coma in the interpretation of the observed flux in terms of the
total number of molecules and hence the production rate. To specify the
distribution of OH in the coma requires a model for the production of OH
from H2 O and the destruction of OH due to photodissociation and photoionization. The Hasers model is most commonly used for the analysis of
OH observations, i.e.,


lOH
QP
r/lOH
r/lP
e

e
(6.42)
n(OH) =
4r2 vOH lOH lP
F =

where n(OH) is the density of the OH molecule. lOH and lP are the scale
lengths (same as 1 of Sec. 6.1.2) for OH and the parent molecule respectively. vOH is the radial velocity of the OH molecule. Figure 6.3 shows

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Fig. 6.3 Shows the production of OH as a function of the total visual brightness reduced
to r = = 1 AU for various comets. The dashed line drawn is for logQp =30.33 - 0.28
m1 (Despois, D., Gerard, E., Crovisier, J. and I. Kazes, I. 1981. Astr. Ap., 99, 320).

a plot of the OH-parent production rate as a function of the total visual

brightness for a number of comets, both referred to r = = 1 AU. The
dashed line represents the relation
log QP = 30.33 0.28m1 .

(6.43)

It is of interest to compare the production rates of OH obtained from both

the radio and the ultraviolet observations for the same comet, to see whether
there is any discrepancy between the two determinations. It is found that
the ultraviolet production rates are systematically higher compared to those
of radio values.
There are several causes for this observed discrepancy. First of all the
two measurements are fundamentally different and hence comparison relies
on extensive modelling. It requires the knowledge of lifetime of OH and the
velocity distribution. The model also depends upon the heliocentric distance, radial velocity, anisotropic out-gassing and the solar cycle. Owing
to all these factors, the problem is a complex one. Therefore, the discrepancy appears to be associated with the use of different model parameters
which enter in the interpretation of the UV and radio observations. For

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example, the lifetime of OH used in the two cases are different. In addition, -doublet OH population is sensitive to collisions in the inner coma
and so it has to be taken into account. Therefore, the derived production
rate of OH from radio observations depends upon the beam width of the
radio telescope and so on. Basically, the physics of the problem is complicated and it involves the specification of too many parameters. So far
a comparison of the production rate of OH from UV and radio methods
were carried out for different dates of observations, radio telescopes and
so on. Therefore, in order to understand better this discrepancy, if it is
real, is to use simultaneous UV and radio observations so that the physical
characteristics of the coma are roughly the same. Through this procedure
it may be possible to put tight constraints on the model parameters. Such
an exercise was carried out for Comet Halley observations of 1985-86. The
OH observations from IUE satellite and 18 cm radio observations of Comet
Halley taken around the same time have been used for the study. The 18 cm
data has been analysed with sophisticated models. The derived production
rate of OH from OH observations and 18 cm radio observations are given in
Table 6.2. The agreement between the radio and UV OH production rates
is good.

Table 6.2 OH production rates

from UV and radio observations of
Comet Halley.
Date
(1985)

Method

Q(OH)
(1029 /cm2 )

2.5 Dec
3.2 Dec
15.5 Dec
5.12 Dec
10-12 Dec

UV
UV
UV
Radio
Radio

1.4
1.0
1.7
1.4
1.2

OH UV (0, 0 band of (AX)

3085
A), Radio (18 cm)
Adapted from Gerard, E. 1990. Astron. Astrophys., 230, 489.

The study of 18 cm line of OH has been carried out routinely on comets.

The results for Comet Halley showed a variation of the production rate with
the heliocentric distance as r2 for r < 2 AU.

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The production rate of H2 O can also be determined independently of

the study of [OI] 6300
A and H (6565
A) observations of comets. This will
provide an independent check on the consistency of O and H arising out of
H2 O. Table 6.6 shows the derived values for the production rate of H2 O for
Comet Halley, by these two methods based on the observations carried out
on the same night and with the same instrument.The agreement between
the two is good. Therefore, the production rates of H2 O derived from the
H brightness measurements are consistent with the H2 O production rates
derived from the O[1 D] measurements, both of which are based on the coma
containing OH, H and O arising out of the dissociation of H2 O. Therefore,
at the present time, it is an excellent approximation that H2 O is the source
of observed species OH, H and O in comets.
The heliocentric variation of the production rate of H2 O is of particular
interest. As already mentioned, if the evaporation of the gases from the
nuclei is due to the absorption of the total solar energy, the variation of
the production rate of H2 O should also behave as r2 . The results presented earlier showed that for some comets it is in reasonable accord with
this dependence. However, for some other comets the variation is vastly
different. This is related to the evaporation of the gaseous material from
the nucleus which is dependent upon the nature and the composition of the
nucleus. Therefore, more complicated models might have to be considered
for explaining the observations.

6.2.2.

H2 O, H2

H2 O
2.7 m band
Before the direct detection of H2 O in Comet Halley, the presence of H2 O
in comets was inferred indirectly from observations such as the presence of
OH, H, O and H2 O+ in comets. The fundamental bands of vibration, especially the 3 near 2.7 m cannot be observed from ground due to strong
absorption by the Earths atmosphere. The first direct detection of 3 band
at 2.7 m of H2 O came from the observations carried out with KAO on
Comet Halley at r = 1.13 AU (Fig. 4.7). It was also detected by VEGA
spacecraft. This detection provided direct evidence that H2 O is the dominant volatile component of comets. The total column density of H2 O can be
estimated from the measured band brightness and with the use of Hasers

comets

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model. It is then possible to calculate the production rate of H2 O. The

calculated production rate of H2 O 4 1028 /sec. The 2.7 m band of
H2 O has been observed in other comets like Wilson, Hale-Bopp, Hartley
etc.
Radio lines
The pure rotational transitions between low rotational states of water are predicted to be quite strong. These lines lie in the submillimetre
wavelength region and can only be observed from space. The line at 557
GHz arising out of 110 101 transition in H2 O was detected in Comet Lee
(r 1.2 AU) using Submillimetre Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS). The
estimated production rate of H2 O from the observed intensity and use of
Hasers model 8 1028 /sec.
Prompt emission lines
The photolysis of water produces OH mostly in the excited states of the
ground electronic state X 2 as shown by laboratory studies. The wavelength of vibrational rotational transitions of (1, 0) band arising out of the
ground electronic state X2 lie in the infrared region ( 3 m). The transitions from v 00 = 1 to v 00 = 0 occurs within 10ms. This type of emission
is called prompt emission lines which is similar to the ones discussed earlier
which lie in the UV region (Sec. 5.1.5).
The prompt emission lines arising from the vibrational rotational transitions of (1, 0) band in the ground electronic state X2 is shown in Fig. 6.4.
The four lines in the region 3042 cm1 to 3048 cm1 are conspicuous.
Many of the nonresonant fluorescent bands of H2 O called hot bands
which lie in the wavelength region of around 2.9 m can be observed from
the ground. Therefore with the same instrument it is possible to make
simultaneous measurements of the parent (H2 O, hot bands) and its dissociation product (OH, prompt emission lines) in the infrared region.
If H2 O is the parent molecule of OH prompt emission lines, the spatial
distribution of their intensities should be similar, peaking at the centre in
contrast to quiescent OH which should exhibit a much flatter distribution.
Figure 6.5 shows the observed intensities of H2 O and OH as a function of
distance from the nucleus in Comet Lee. They are in good agreement with
each other. This type of agreement has been seen from several comets.
The production rate of H2 O can be calculated from the observed inten-

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Fig. 6.4 High dispersion spectra of Comets Lee and LINEAR showing quodruplet lines
of OH near 3046 cm1 (Bonev, B.P., et al. 2004. Ap.J., 615, 1048, Reproduced by
permission of the AAS).

sity of its nonresonant fluorescence lines (hot bands) from the relation


F(H2 O)
(GF)
(6.43a)
Q(H2 O) = P
g(hc)
Where F(H2 O) is the line flux and g is the fluorescene emission factor. P is
a parameter which depends upon geocentric distance, the photodissociation
lifetime of H2 O and the fraction of H2 O molecules expected in the sample
region of the coma. The quantity (GF) represent the growth factor that
accounts for the loss of flux near the nucleus.
The equivalent g-factor geq for OH prompt emission lines which equal
the observed production rate of H2 O represented as Q can be calculated
from an expression similar to equation (6.43a) as
Q =

F(OH )
(GF)
geq (hc)

Here all the parameters are similar to those of equation (6.43a), but refer
to OH prompt emission lines. These geq factors can be used to derive the
production rate of H2 O in any other comet from the measured fluxes of

comets

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Fig. 6.5 Observed Spatial distribution of H2 O and OH in Comet Lee (Bonev, B.P. et
al. 2004. Ap. J., 615, 1048, Reproduced by permission of the AAS).

OH prompt emission lines. This is a simpler way of getting the production

rate of H2 O in comets as it is easier to observe OH prompt emission lines
from the ground. Therefore OH prompt emission lines provide a proxy for
water.
The distribution of OH prompt emission lines seen in X 2 , v 0 = 1 state
in comets also refer to the conditions which is vastly different from those
carried out under laboratory conditions. Therefore cometary observations
of OH prompt emission lines could provide deeper insight into the dissociation dynamics of H2 O.
Total water production
The production rate of H2 O for Comet Halley has been measured by
various methods over a wide range of heliocentric distances covering before
and after perihelion passage. Integration of the observed production rate
of water with time gives an estimate of the total amount of water sublimated from the nucleus during the entire apparition, which comes out to be

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1.31011 kg. For Comet Borrelly, the estimated total amount of water sublimated from the nucleus obtained from integrating the water production
rate throughout an apparition is around 1.1 1010 kg.
H2
The strong lines of the hydrogen molecule should appear in the spectral
region around 1600
A. But its identification is not definite. Shorter than
around 1170
A, three H2 Lyman P1 lines of the (6, v 00 ) bands have been
detected in Comet LINEAR with FUSE (Fig. 4.6). These lines are normally
not excited but arises due to accidental coincidence of the wavelength of
1 +
solar Lyman line with the wavelength P1 line of (B 1 +
u X g ) (6,
13
0) band. The derived column density of H2 of (3.0 0.6) 10 /cm2 is
found to be consistent with the H2 O dissociation models. i.e. H2 O H2
+ O(1 D). It is possible that some of it could be produced directly from
the nucleus or by solar wind sputtering of dirty ice grains.

6.2.3.

CN, C2 , C3 , NH

It is easier to study the spectral lines of the molecules like C2 , CN, etc in
comets using the standard techniques as their lines lie in the visual region.
Generally filters are used which can isolate their emission bands. It is also
possible to get a homogeneous set of data on many comets covering a large
range of heliocentric distances which are of prime importance for investigating the possible physical correlations like the composition variations or
the similarities among the comets of various types.
The method based on Eq. (6.31) is particularly suitable for the study
of molecules like C2 , CN, etc., as the total flux of a band or a band sequence in a certain field of view can easily be measured using the standard
methods. The total number of the molecules can then be calculated from
Eq. (6.31) as the constant can be evaluated using the spectroscopic data
for the molecules of interest. The production rate can be calculated from
Eq. (6.21a) from molecular column densities knowing the scale length of
the two species and for an assumed outflow velocity, 1 km/sec. The
production rates can easily be scaled for any other value of the outflow velocity. The generally used scale lengths for some of the molecules are given
in Table 6.3. The results for the heliocentric variation of the production
rates of C2 , CN and C3 for Comet Bradfield show a dependence as r3.2
compared to r1.70.3 for CN observed for Comet West. For the dusty

comets

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Comet Steph
an-Oterma, the production rate of CN and C2 varied approximately as r4.20.3 and r5.60.4 respectively. Therefore the heliocentric
variation of the production rate of molecules vary among comets.

Table 6.3

Scale length of molecules at 1 AU.

Molecule

Parent(km)

OH(0,0)
NH(0,0)
CN(v = 0)
C3 (4050A)
C2 (v = 0)

2.4
5.0
1.3
2.8
2.2

104
104
104
103
104

Daughter(km)
1.6
1.5
2.1
2.7
6.6

105
105
105
105
104

Daughter
life time (sec)
1.6
1.5
2.1
2.7
6.6

105
105
105
104
104

Schleicher, D.G. and Farnham, T.L. 2005, In Comets II, eds.

M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and H.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona
Press, Tucson, p. 449.

Several studies have been carried out in a systematic manner on a large

number of comets by various groups. One such study contains 85 comets. A
statistical study of the variation of the production rates of several molecules
has been studied.
Comet Halley was observed extensively during its apparition in 198586. Therefore extensive good quality data exists on this comet covering a
wide range of heliocentric distances, before and after perihelion passage.
The results for the heliocentric variation of the production rates of several
molecules is shown in Fig. 6.6. The dependence of production rate with
heliocentric distance for the molecules C2 ,C3 and CN are quite similar. The
slope of NH is also quite similar to those of carbon bearing species. Another
feature of Fig. 6.6 is the presence of asymmetry about perihelion in the
production rates of these species.
The curve of OH varies gradually with heliocentric distance and also has
slight asymmetry about perihelion. The possible difference in the variation
in the production rates with heliocentric distance between the minor species
and water, the major constituent, has also been seen in several other comets.
This appears to indicate decoupling of carbon-bearing species from that of
water.
It is of interest to look at the relative abundances of the species among
comets. The average relative molecular production rates of several species
for Comet Halley is given in Table 6.4. The mean values and the range

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Fig. 6.6 Observed production rates of molecules OH, NH, CN, C2 and C3 and A()f
plotted as a function of the heliocentric distance for Comet Halley. Filled symbols refer
to preperihelion observations while open symbols refer to postperihelion observations.
Solid lines and dotted curves are for linear and quadratic fit to the data. (Schleicher,
D.G, Millis, R.L. and Birch, P.V. 1998. Icarus, 132, 397).

among all the comets studied in a homogeneous group of 85 comets is also

given in Table 6.4. The observed ratios for Comet Halley fall within the
typical range of values.
Observations for Comet Borrelly are available over several apparitions.
The derived gas production rates of carbon-bearing molecules are larger
before perihelion compared to that after perihelion for the same distance.
The dependence of production rate with heliocentric distance is similar for
CN, C2 and C3 ( 8.1) while OH has a dependence 8.9. The values
are quite similar over different apparitions. The relative abundances of the
species for some comets is given in Table 6.4. There are several other comets
which have either strong asymmetric or steep heliocentric production rate

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Table 6.4

165

Abundance ratios in comets.

Species

Wild2e

Halleyb

Borrellyd

Wirtenc

Meana

Rangea

NH/OH
CN/OH
C2 /OH
C3 /OH
UV Cont.
Blue Cont.
Green Cont.
C2 /CN

-2.35 .34
-2.60.14
-2.97.23
-3.40.20
-25.53.32
-25.40.13
-25.28.24

-1.86
-2.32
-2.21
-3.20

-2.28.34
-2.62.09
-2.91.12
-3.55.19
-25.53.31
-25.53.36
-25.40.31

-2.36.03
-2.50.12
-2.49.12
-3.49.12

-2.37.23
-2.50.18
-2.44.20
-3.59.27

-2.77
-2.83
-2.90
-4.26

+0.06.0

-0.09 to +.29

-25.0
+0.11

to
to
to
to

-1.80
-2.17
-2.10
-3.09

Continuum is in A()f/Q(OH).
(a) A Hearn, M.F. et al. 1995. Icarus, 118, 223.
(b) Schleicher, D.G., Millis, R.L. and Birch, P.V. 1998. Icarus, 132, 397.
(c) Farnam, T.L. and Schleicher, D.G. 1998. Astron. Astrophys., 335, L50.
(d) Schleicher, D.G., Woodney, L.M. and Mills, R.L. 2003. Icarus, 162, 415.
(e) Farnam, J.L. and Schleicher, D.G. 2005. Icarus, 173, 533.

dependence such as, Arend Rigaux, Charyumov - Gerasimenko, Giocobini

- Zinner, Kopff and Tempel 2. There are also some comets in which the
behaviour of production rates of species remain roughly the same with
different apparitions and in other comets it changes from one apparition to
another. So there is a wide variation among comets.
On the other hand, Comet Wild 2 shows no asymmetry in their production rates between pre - and post perihelion passages and heliocentric
distance. This indicates that C2 /CN production rate remained the same
with apparition. So Comet Wilds composition remained constant over time
and heliocentric distance.
The different properties seen from comets such as asymmetry in the gas
production around perihelion and its variation with heliocentric distance
etc. could arise due to seasonal effect of sources from a complex rotating
comet nuclei which depends upon pole orientation, its stability, direction
of rotation etc.
CN from dust
The detection of CN jets for the first time in Comet Halley indicated
the presence of an extended source of CN arising from the grains. This
conclusion is based on the fact that the radical CN profiles should be peaked
at some distance from the nucleus in contrast to the parent molecule which
should be peaked at or near the nucleus. This is similar to the extended
source of CO and H2 CO observed from Comet Halley. The statistical study

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of 85 comets showed a good correlation between dust to gas ratio with CN

to gas ratio in several comets. It also indicated that comets with high dust
showed a better correlation supporting the suggestion that dust could be
the dominant source of CN in dusty comets. The observed production rate
also indicated that this effect is quite weak for C2 and C3 and hence their
contribution from grains must be small. The variation of dust production
rate with CN production rate shows a good correlation between the two
indicating that CN originates largely from volatile grains in the coma.
The typical production rates at 1AU for CN, C2 , H, OH and H2 O expressed in the unit of Q(H2 O)=1 are roughly the following:
Q(H2 O) Q(OH) 1;
Q(H) 2;
Q(C2 ), Q(CN) 0.01
These values indicate that the production rates of C2 and CN and other
species seen in the visual spectral region are less by a factor of about 100 or
so compared to that of H2 O or H. Thus, even though the lines of C2 , CN,
etc., dominate the visual spectral region, they are only minor constituents of
the cometary material. Therefore, the total amount of gas ejected from the
nucleus can be represented to a very good approximation by the production
rate of H2 O.

6.2.4.

CH, NH2

The column density of CH for the Comet Kohoutek at r = 0.5 AU is

about 41010 /cm2 averaged over 5104 km. Similarly the column density
of NH2 at r=1 AU is about 6 1010 /cm2 which is the average value over
3104 km. These two molecules have also been observed in the Comet West
for the heliocentric distances from 0.60 to 1.58 AU and only the relative
values with respect to C2 are known.The mean relative value of CH and
NH2 with respect to C2 integrated over the whole coma is determined to
be 0.013 0.003 and 0.030 0.013 respectively for distances r <
1 AU.
These values show that the abundance of CH is approximately 1 to 2% of
C2 and that of NH2 about 3% of C2 . The derived production rate of CH
and NH2 for Comet Halley at r = 0.89 AU is (4.1 1.2) 1027 /sec and
(1.60.3)1027 /sec respectively. This gives a ratio for the production rate
of CH and NH2 with respect to H2 O of about 0.007 and 0.003 respectively.

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6.2.5.

comets

167

CO, CO2

CO
The ultraviolet observations made on the Comet West at the heliocentric
distance of 0.385 AU showed the strong bands of (A-X) transitions (near
1500
A) of the CO molecule. The deduced production rate of CO from this
observation based on Eq. (6.4) with (at 1 AU) = 1.4 106 sec comes out
to be
Q(CO) = 2.6 1029 / sec .
Since then the above bands of CO has been seen from all bright comets
observed with IUE, HST etc.
The derived production rate of CO relative to H2 O in Comet West was
around 0.3 and in Comet Bradfield the ratio was about 0.02. Comet Levy
gave a ratio of 0.11 0.02. Comet Halley gave a ratio of 0.17. For several
comets belonging to Oort cloud comets, the total abundance of CO varied
from 1% to 24% relative to water.
Extended source of CO
The presence of an extended source of CO in Comet Halley came from
the in situ observations carried out with Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS)
on board the Giotto spacecraft. This result came from a comparison of the
observed distribution of molecules of m/q = 28(CO) with m/q = 18(H2 O).
The observed radial density distribution of H2 O and CO derived from NMS
data is shown in Fig. 6.7. The two molecules show entirely different variations. The linear decrease of H2 O is due to the photo-destruction of H2 O.
For CO, the initial linear increase is due to the extended source of CO
which is likely to arise from CHON dust particles containing H2 CO which
photodissociates. The nearly constant variation at large distances is due to
the long life of CO against photodestruction.
CO2
The presence of CO+
2 ion in comets implied the presence of CO2 . But
CO2 was observed for the first time in Comet Halley from the infrared spectrometer on board the Vega spacecraft which detected 3 fundamental band
at 4.26 m. Although the band is strong, it cannot be observed from ground
due to the absorption of CO2 in the earths atmosphere. Subsequently it
has been observed in several other comets such as Hale-Bopp, Hartley etc.

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Fig. 6.7 Radical density profiles for H2 O and CO derived from gas mass spectra with
NMS on Giotto spacecraft for Comet Halley. The solid line corresponds to a least square
fit to the data and corresponds to a photodestruction rate of kH2 O 1.7 105 s1 .
The dashed lines refer to photodestruction rate for 10%. (Eberhardt, P. 1999. Space
Sci. Rev., 90, 45).

by ISO. The presence of mass peak at 44 in the Giotto NMS mass spectra
also showed the presence of CO2 in Comet Halley. The derived abundance
ratio of CO2 /H2 O is around 34% for Comet Halley and 810% for Comet
Hartley 2. The derived production ratio of CO2 to water in comets varies
around 310%. However for Comet Hale-Bopp the estimated production
ratio of CO2 to water at r > 2.9 AU was > 20%. Therefore CO2 is also a
trace constituent of the nucleus.

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Prompt emission
The Cameron band system of CO seen in comets arises between triplet
and singlet electronic states (a3 X 1 ). These transitions are forbidden
dipole ones. Therefore they cannot be excited by resonance fluorescence
process. They are most likely to arise from the formation of CO molecules
in the a 3 state during the photodissociation of CO2 . The molecules in the
a3 state then decay to the ground state in a time scale of 7 103 sec
producing prompt emission lines. Therefore the Cameron band emission
is directly proportional to the production rate of CO2 and can be used to
trace the abundance of CO2 .
Two dominant mechanisms for the observed Cameron emission are the
photodissociation of CO2 by solar radiation and the electron impact excitation of CO. The two processes can be distinguished observationally as
the rotational temperature of CO molecules produced in the photodissociation of CO2 is around five times larger than produced by electron impact
excitation.
6.2.6.

CS, S2

The other minor species whose production rates are of interest are the
sulphur containing molecules, CS and S2 . The (0, 0) band of CS at 2576
A
has been observed in many comets mainly with the IUE satellite. It has also
been observed in the radio wavelength region. If the observed CS comes
from CS2 , then CS2 /H2 O CS/H2 O 0.4%. Therefore, CS2 is also a
trace constituent of the nucleus.
The molecule S2 was discovered in IRAS-Araki-Alcock from the observations of several bands of (BX) system near 2900
A. The molecule S2 has
a short lifetime few hundred seconds at 1 AU. So it is present very close
to the nucleus. The derived production rate of S2 for the Comet IRASAraki-Alcock observed at =0.032 AU is about 2 1025 / sec. It has also
been seen in several other comets. The derived abundance ratio of S2 /H2 O
0.001.
6.2.7.

Ions

The plasma tail is dominated by molecular ions of various kinds. The

most dominant among them are the ions CO+ and H2 O+ whose lines lie in
the near blue and in the visible regions respectively. The early estimates
for the column densities of CH+ and CO+ ions were made based on the

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observations of Comets Kohoutek and Bradfield for a projected distance of

about 104 km from the nucleus and for r = 0.5 AU. The deduced column
density (/cm2 ) of CH+ , and CO+ for Comet Kohoutek are of the order of
1010.91.1 and 1012.60.9 respectively.
H2 O+ was first identified in Comet Kohoutek in 1974. An analysis
of the surface brightness profiles of H2 O+ in Comet Bennett and CO+
in Comet West has been investigated. The calculated production rate
of CO+ for r = 0.440 and 0.842 AU is Q(CO+ ) = 2.4 1028 / sec and
0.22 1028 / sec respectively with the heliocentric distance variation of
r4.61.0 . The estimated production rate of H2 O+ for Comet Bennett is
about Q(H2 O+ ) = 2 1026 /sec at r = 0.841 AU. This value may be compared with the early estimates of Q(H2 O+ ) = 3.7 1024 / sec for Comet
Kohoutek at r = 0.9 AU and Q(H2 O+ ) = 2 1023 /sec for Comet Bradfield
at r = 0.6 AU.
The production rate of H2 O+ can also be determined from the Doppler
shifted emission lines of H2 O+ 6159
A and 6147
A emission doublets in the
(0, 8, 0) band based on the Fabry Perot technique. The observed ratio of
Q(H2 O+ )/Q(H2 O) for Comet Halley is 1.2 103 and for Comet Austin is
2.6 103 . The model based on magnetohydrodynamics and chemistry of
cometary coma indicate that for comets, upto 11% of water molecules are
finally ionized.
N+
2
+
2 +
The reported identification of (B2 +
u X g ) system of N2 ion near
3910
A has been existing in the literature for the last few decades. The
presence of this band in Comet Halley was also reported in 1986. However
recent observation based on high spectral resolution and high signal to noise
ratio of several comets such as de Vico, Hale-Bopp and Ikeya-Zhang does

not seem to show the lines of N+

2 at 3910 A. These observations have cast
doubt on the earlier detection of N+
in
comets,
which was mostly based on
2
low-resolution spectra wherein the blending problem is severe arising out of
+
molecules CO+ , CO+
2 , CH and CH . The derived upper limit from these
+ <
+
5
observations for N2 /CO 10 104 which is a very low value. The
above study has great implication with regard to the presence of molecule
N2 in comets.
The molecule N2 is the least reactive among all species containing nitrogen. It is also believed to be the dominant equilibrium species in the
early solar nebula. Unfortunately, it is the most difficult molecule to make

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171

any observation. It is difficult to observe from the ground because of the

presence of N2 in the earths atmosphere. The interpretation of the Giotto
Mass Spectral data is also difficult as N2 and CO have the same mass,
28. Therefore the presence of N2 in comets is inferred indirectly from the
presence of N+
2 in comets. The method that is generally used to study N2
in cometary ices is through the study of its ion (N+
2 (B X)(0, 0) band at
+

3910 A). Hence N2 has been used as a proxy for N2 . However, non detection of N+
2 in some of the recent comets as discussed earlier and with
5
4
an upper limit to the abundance ratio of N2 /CO <
10 10 has raised
several important issues. Some of them are whether comets have varying
amount of N2 or did the depletion took place at a later time or is it related
to the place of formation in the solar nebula. May be the general view that
neutral N2 and CO should have been present in the early solar nebula is
questionable.
6.2.8.

Complex molecules

Expected line intensities

The observations in the radio frequency region referring to source intensity are generally expressed in terms of equivalent brightness temperature,
TB . This is related to the line optical depth through the relation, which
can be derived from the radiative transfer, as

TB = (1 e )

h
k

1
eh/kTex 1

1
eh/kTbg 1


.

(6.44)

Here Tex is the excitation temperature, Tbg is the background brightness

temperature which can be taken to be 2.7 K and is the line frequency.
The optical depth at the line centre is given by
=

hNJ i
c2 2J + 3
AJ+1J
[1 exp(h/kTex )]
8 2 2J + 1

(6.45)

where is the line width in frequency units and hNJ i is the mean volume
density within the observed field in the rotational state J. For most of the
molecules, the lines are optically thin and therefore (1 e ) in Eq.
(6.44). The average excitation temperature Tex can be calculated from the

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relation


hNJ+1 i
2J + 3
h
.
(6.46)
=
exp
hNJ i
2J + 1
kTex
In order to proceed ahead, the excitation mechanism of the molecules
in a cometary atmosphere is required. To model the radio emission from a
molecule, it is necessary to consider the excitation scheme of the molecules
by taking into account the rotational, the vibrational and the electronic
states of the molecule. However, for most of the molecules in the coma,
the main excitation process is the pumping of the fundamental bands of
vibration by the solar infrared radiation field and the thermal excitation
by collisions in the inner coma. Such species do not have a significant
electronic excitation because they are generally predissociative and also
they lead to destruction rather than fluorescence. For the case of the stable
CO molecule the excitation rate of the ground state X1 + vibrational levels
by solar infrared radiation field at 1 AU is about 2.6 104 / sec for v 00 = 0
to 1 and 3 106 / sec for v 00 = 0 to 2. The rate is 106 to 109 / sec
for excitation from the ground level to higher electronic states. Hence,the
excitation rates are too low to populate electronic states as well as v 00 = 1
level. Therefore, it is a very good approximation to consider the excitation
starting from the v 00 = 0 ground vibrational state. Rotational excitation
by solar radiation is also negligible due to lesser fluxes at the wavelength
of rotational transitions.
To a very good approximation, the radiative excitation is dominated by
one or two vibrational bands. The balance between the infrared excitation
and spontaneous decay completely determines the rotational distribution
at fluorescence equilibrium. The fluorescence equilibrium can be evaluated
without much difficulty as it depends on the molecular constants and the
solar radiation field. However, the collisional excitation due to collisions
with H2 O molecules is more complicated. One assumes spherical symmetry and a reasonable value for collision cross-section between the molecule
and H2 O and the coma temperature and velocity distribution derived from
hydrodynamic models. The molecular mean column densities can then be
derived by volume integration within the instrument beam. The excitation temperature, Tex can therefore be estimated from Eq. (6.46). The
expected rotational line intensities can be calculated for reasonable values
of the relevant parameters in Eq. (6.44).
As an example the relative population distribution of linear molecules
CO and HCN is shown in Fig. 6.8. For such molecules, the rotational

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Fig. 6.8 The rotational population distribution under resonance fluorescence equilibrium for CO and HCN is shown as a function of rotational quantum number and for
logarithmic ratio of the infrared excitation rate to the rate of rotational de-excitation
from the J = 1 level (Bockelee-Movan, D. and Crovisier, J. 1985. Astr. Ap., 151, 90).

population distribution is determined by the ratio of total infrared excitation rate to the spontaneous decay rate of the rotational levels. Therefore,
the molecules with large rotational Einstein A coefficients like that of HCN
molecule, will have population concentrated mostly in the lowest rotational
levels as compared to molecules like CO and HC3 N with small rotational
Einstein A values which have populations over a wider range of rotational
levels.
Observed molecules
As mentioned earlier, the line intensities in the radio region are generally
expressed in terms of equivalent brightness temperature TB . The brightness
temperature is related to the line flux Ful (upper level u, lower level l)
through RayleighJeans relation (i.e. h <
kT ) of the Planck function.
The integrated line area over the velocity is related to the column density
through the relation
Z
hc3 Aul
TB dv =
2 hNu i
8kul
where Nu is the column density in the upper level u and other symbols
have their usual meanings. In general, time-dependent excitation models

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are required to derive the population distribution in the upper states for
calculating the total column density hN i. Alternately from the observed
intensities of several rotational lines, it is possible to estimate the rotational
temperature which can then be used for the calculation of population distribution in the upper states. Knowing the total column density of molecules
in the coma, the production rate of the molecule can be calculated. This
is then used for estimating the relative abundances of molecules in the
nucleus.
The number of known molecules in comets before Comet Halleys apparition in 1985-86 were limited in extent. However the concentrated effort
made on Comet Halley led to the detection of many new molecules. Subsequently, large number of molecules of various kinds and complexities has
been detected in comets. Several lines arising out of isotopes have also
been detected. A typical observed spectrum in the radio region is shown in
Fig. 4.10. From such observations the production rate of molecules can be
derived. A wide variation in the observed abundance of parent species in
the coma of comets have been seen. In addition to the detected molecules
upper limits have been determined for many other molecules.
Several molecules belonging to CHO group, such as Methanol
(CH3 OH), Formaldehyde (H2 CO), Formic acid (HCOOH), Methyl Formate
(HCOOCH3 ), Acetaldehyde(CH3 CHO) and Ethyl Glycol (HOCH2 CH2 OH)
have been seen. Surprisingly Ethyl Glycol is the most abundant organic
molecule in spite of its complexity and its identification is based on several
lines present in the millimetre spectra of Comet Hale-Bopp. The hydrocarbons such as, Methane (CH4 ), Acetylene(C2 H2 ) and Ethane (C2 H6 ) are
present. Several sulphur bearing molecules like S2 , H2 S, OCS, H2 CS etc
are present. Some of the complex molecules containing nitrogen are Methyl
Cyanide (HC3 N), Isocyanic acid (HNCO) and Formic acid (NH2 CHO).
Comet Tempel 1 showed the presence of PAHs.
The significant result that comes out of abundance studies of molecules
is the presence of chemical diversity among comets belonging to Oort cloud
and Jupiter-family of comets. For example, the abundance of CO varies
by a factor of around 40. The abundance of hydrocarbon CH4 varies by a
factor of about 10, while that of C2 H6 shows less variation 0.4 to 0.7%.
The HCN abundance seems to peak around 0.1%. HNC, the isomeric form
of HCN was first detected (J(4-3) line at 363 GHz) in Comet Hyakutake and
subsequently in other comets. It is an unstable molecule under laboratory
conditions. The ratio of HNC/HCN in Comet Hale-Bopp is found to lie

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in the range of 0.03 to 0.15. The abundance of H2 S, H2 CO and CH3 OH

show large variations. In general, the abundance of most of the molecules
< 102 103 relative to water. Also the abundance of the molecules seems
to decrease with an increase in their complexity.
The observed diversity in the chemical composition among comets could
arise depending upon the local temperature and the nebular composition
in the region of their formation. The variation in chemical composition can
also arise if there was significant mixing of the nebular material. Therefore it is not surprising that there exists a wide variation in the chemical
composition among comets.
The heliocentric variation of the production rate of molecules is of great
interest as it is directly related to the cometary ices, sublimation process etc.
However, monitoring along the cometary orbit is possible only for bright
comets. This was possible in the case of Comets Halley, Hyakutake, Hale
Bopp etc. Since Comet HaleBopp was a bright comet and was discovered
when it was at 7 AU, it was possible to study the evolution of production
rate of a large number of molecules over a wide range of heliocentric distances. In Comet HaleBopp, CO was detected in the radio region up to
heliocentric distance 14 AU. CO is the main escaping gas at large heliocentric distances as its sublimation temperature is very low 25 K. The
results derived from radio observations of molecules on Comet HaleBopp,
show that the chemical composition of the coma changed with heliocentric
distance. In addition, the heliocentric variation of the production rate of
molecules is different for different molecules.
Ethylene glycol is a known interstellar molecule and is observed towards
Sgr B2. The abundance ratio of ethylene glycol to CH3 OH 0.1 in comets
whereas it is 0.001 towards Sgr B2.
Extended source of molecules
As discussed earlier, the results based on measurements carried out with
Neutral Mass Spectrometer on Giotto spacecraft of Comet Halley showed
different density distributions for the molecules H2 O and CO in the coma.
The H2 O distribution showed a R2 variation consistent with simple radial
expansion from the nucleus, like a parent molecule, while the distribution of
CO required an additional extended source. Therefore the basic idea to look
for an extended source of any molecule is to examine the observed radial
distribution of the molecule in the cometary coma. For parent molecule
coming from or near the nucleus the radial distribution of the molecule
should fall steeply with radial distance, while for an extended source, the

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variation initially is steeper and then flattens out. From the observed radial
distribution of molecules in the cometary coma of Comet Hale Bopp, the
extended source of H2 CO, OCS and CO has been inferred. In contrast,
the observed column density profiles for the molecules H2 O, C2 H6 , CH4
and HCN were found to be consistent with their release directly from the
nucleus.
6.2.9.

O, C, N, S

Oxygen
The abundances or the production rates of oxygen atoms can be calculated from the observation of red doublet lines of oxygen atom occurring
at 6300 and 6364
A. Since the line at 6300
A is quite strong in comets,
it has been studied extensively for deriving the production rate of oxygen
atoms. Since these lines arise due to photodissociation of H2 O, OH and CO
molecules which populate the 1 D state (Fig. 4.11), the column densities of
the parent oxygen atoms can be easily obtained. The observed intensity of
the line is therefore given by
N
(6.47)
I
P
where and are the yields for the particular state for dissociation and
branching ratio respectively. N is the column density of the parents and P
is the dissociation lifetime of the parent.The oxygen 1 D production rate of
the comet can be calculated using the observed fluxes of the oxygen line
that has been corrected for various blending and other effects (Fcorr ). The
photon rate is given by
P =

Fcorr 4 2
.
(h)6300

(6.48)

Here is the comet-earth distance. If the lifetime of the 1 D state is

sec for the 6300
A line ( 100 sec), multiplying P by the lifetime will give
the total number of oxygen atoms within a cylindrical column of radius ,
M(), centred on the nucleus, i.e.,
M () =

Fcorr 42
atoms.
(h)6300

(6.49)

The production rate is generally calculated using the Hasers model

with H2 O as the parent molecule and O as the daughter-product with
corresponding scale lengths lH2 O and l0 respectively.

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Fabry-Perot observations:

The main difficulty in the measurement of neutral oxygen from 6300 A

emission is the contamination due to NH2 emission lines. High resolution
spectroscopy allows the separation of spectrally NH2 lines from 6300
A line
thereby providing an uncontaminated 6300
A line for quantitative studies.
High resolution observations also help to avoid the airglow effects. The
Fabry-Perot spectrometer can be used for this purpose. An example of the
scan of 6300
A line is shown in Fig. 6.9. For the calculation of the produc-

Fig. 6.9 The observation of the cometary [OI] 6300

A line. The zero point for the velocity scale is set at the position of the terrestrial airglow line. The solid curve represents
a Gaussian least square fit to the data (Schultz, D., Li, G.S.H., Scherb, F. and Roesier,
F.L. 1992. Icarus 96, 190).

tion rate of O[1 D] atoms, it is necessary to know the photodissociation of

molecules responsible for the production of O[1 D] atoms. O[1 D] may be
produced by the dissociation of H2 O and OH through the reactions
H2 O + h H2 + O[1 D]
H2 O + h H + OH
OH + h H + O[1 D]

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with respective branching ratios BR1, BR2 and BR3. O[1 D] can also be
produced from the reaction
CO + h C + O[1 D]
CO2 + h CO + O[1 D]

with branching ratios BR4 and BR5. However, as CO and CO2 are minor constituents of comets and their photodissociation lifetimes are much
larger than those of H2 O and OH, the contribution from these sources to
6300
A emission is relatively small within the field of view of observations.
Therefore, the contribution arising out of CO and CO2 is generally neglected. The intensity of 6300
A emission at the projected distance from
the nucleus is given by
NH2 O () NOH ()
+
.
(6.50)
41
43
Here 1 and 3 are the photodissociation lifetime of H2 O and OH leading
to O[1 D] channels. NH2 O and NOH are the column densities of H2 O and
OH respectively at . Using azimuthally symmetric parent-daughter Haser
model for representing NH2 O and NOH , the intensity I6300 () can be written
as


Z /2
sec
1
d
exp
I6300 ()
0
l1
I6300 () =

 Z /2 





BR2 .BR3
sec
l1
sec
exp
d.
exp
BR1 l1 l2 0
l1
l2
(6.51)
Here l1 and l2 are the Haser parent-daughter photodissociative scale length
for the (H2 O, H) and (OH, H) respectively. By integrating Eq. (6.51) with
respect to , it is possible to calculate the ratio of the total flux in the
6300
A line to the flux within the field of view of the observation. This
ratio is given by
R
I6300 ()d
AC = R 01
(6.52)
I6300 ()d
0
+

where 1 is the projected radius of the field of view of the observation.

Hence AC can be calculated, based on the values of the parameters and
theoretical branching ratios BR1, BR2 and BR3. The photodissociation

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scale length can be derived from a comparison of Eq. (6.51) with several
high spectral resolution images of 6300
A emission. The production rate
Q(O1 D) can be derived from the relation
4
Q(O1 D) = ( )(42 I6300 )AC.
3

(6.53)

Here is the solid angle of the field of view, I6300 is the average intensity of
the 6300
A emission within the field of view (in photons /cm2 / sec /ster).
The factor (4/3) takes into account the fact that 1/4 of the O1 D atoms
radiate to the ground state via 6364
A channel.
To convert Q(O1 D) to Q(H2 O), the ratio of Q(H2 O)/Q(O1 D) has to
be known. This ratio can be determined from the photochemical branching
ratios. It can also be determined by comparing the production of Q(1 D)
with the results of Q(H2 O) derived from other observations. There is a
variation in the derived ratios of Q(1 D) to Q(H2 O). The estimated factor
for converting O[1 D] production rate to Q(H2 O) from the branching ratios
is given in Table 6.5.
Table 6.5

Branching ratios.

Reaction

Theoretical values
O(1 D)

H2 O + h H2 +
H2 O + h H + OH
OH + h H + O(1 D)

0.044, 0.054
0.840, 0.905
0.103

Schultz, D., Li, G.S.H., Scherb, F. and Roesler,

F. L. 1993. Icarus 101, 95 and is for solar minimum conditions. The individual references to
the above values are given in the paper.

It is around 11.7 for pre-perihelion observations and 13.7 for postperihelion observations for Comet Halley. The conversion factor for pre-and
post-perihelion observations are different as the branching ratio BR3 depends upon the heliocentric velocity of OH. The resulting production rate
of H2 O is compared with those derived from H observations in Table 6.6,
which shows a general agreement between the two determinations.
The [OI] 6300
A emission line profile from the coma of Comet Halley
was observed with Fabry - Perot during 1986. The observed profile is in
good agreement with the calculated profile based on Monte Carlo Particle
Trajectory Model. The derived water production rate is (2.90 0.13)

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1030 mol/sec. Fabry - Perot observations of [OI] 6300

A emission carried
out on Comet Hyakutake was also found to be in agreement with model
calculated line profile.
Table 6.6 H2 O Production rate for Comet Halley from H and [OI]
6300
A observations.
Date of observation

Dec 13, 1985

15, 1985
16, 1985
Jan 4, 1986
7, 1986
9, 1986
12, 1986
13, 1986

H2 O Production rate (1029 s1 )

H

[OI] 6300
A

4.30.5
3.20.4
2.80.3
6.3 0.8
8.3 0.9
11.6 1.5
7.8 0.9
17.5 2.0

4.42 0.82
3.71 0.85
3.22 0.61
7.65 1.5
9.49 1.8
12.1 2.3
11.8 2.3
18.5 2.6

(Adapted from Smyth, W. H., Marconi, M L, Scherb, F. and Roesler,

F. 1993. Ap. J. 413, 756).

Green line of oxygen at 5577.3

A
The forbidden line of oxygen arising out of the 1 S level which lies at
5577.3
A (1 S - 1 D) is highly blended with the Swan band sequence of
C2 corresponding to v = 1. The study of this line can also help in
clarifying the problem of the parent molecule of oxygen atoms. The H2 O
parent molecule model calculations have indicated the intensity of the green
line to be weaker by a factor of 10 or so compared to that of the red line.
Therefore, if the green line is detected, the intensity ratio of green to red
line could help in this regard. One way to extract the 5577.3
A line of
oxygen based on low dispersion spectra is through the comparative spectral
synthesis of v = 1 C2 Swan band sequence. The calculated profile
which is a superposition of all the rotational lines arising out of bands
(0, 1) to (5, 6) and which has been corrected for the instrumental effect
show a slight excess of flux at 5577
A compared to the expected flux
that could be attributed to the contribution of the oxygen line of 5577
A.
These results indicate that the intensity of the oxygen line at 5577.3
A
should be roughly about 3 to 5% of the oxygen line at 6300
A. A similar
ratio was obtained from the measurements on Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock
wherein the line 5577.3
A could be resolved. The line 5577.3
A has also been

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resolved in Comets Halley, Hyakutake and LINEAR (C/1999S4). Since C2

is severely depleted in Comet LINEAR, 5577.3
A line could be seen without
any blending with C2 band. These results are, therefore, consistent with
H2 O being the parent molecule for excited oxygen atoms.
The ultraviolet lines occurring at 1304
A have also been used to derive
the production rates of oxygen atoms (Table 6.7). The intercombination
doublet at 1356
A of OI has also been seen in some comets. Since the g
factor for this transition is too small, the excitation is likely to arise from
electron impact.

Table 6.7

Comparison of column densities of some species in comets.

Comet

Date

r(au)

(au)

N(O)
(1013 /cm2 )

N(C)
(1012 /cm2 )

N(S)
(1012 /cm2 )

Bradfield

16 Jan 1980
31 Jan 1980
5 Nov 1980
24 Oct 1980
7 Dec 1980

0.80
1.03
0.81
1.01
1.02

0.40
0.29
0.32
0.29
0.50

2.5
0.8
0.40

1.2

1.7
0.68
0.27

1.0

1.7
1.4
0.59

1.3

Encke
Tuttle

(a) Weaver, H.A., Feldman, P.D., Festou, M.C., AHearn, M.F. and Keller, H.U. 1981.
Icarus 47, 449.

Carbon
The brightness of the carbon line at 1657
A arising out of the 3 P state
has been used to derive the column densities of carbon for several comets
and are given in Table 6.7. The CI line at 1657
A was strong in the spectra
of Comet West. It could be accounted for from the dissociation of the
CO molecule. However in Comet Bradfield carbon emission is quite strong
inspite of CO being less abundant. This could indicate the presence of other
sources.
The detection of the carbon line at 1931
A arising from the metastable
1
level D state is of particular interest. This is because the parent molecule
should be able to explain the presence of carbon both in the 3 P (1657
A
line) and 1 D states.
There are several molecules which can give rise to carbon atoms such
as CO and several other minor species such as CO2 and so on. The in

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Physics of Comets

situ measurements of Comet Halley showed that carbon is contained in

CHON grains. Therefore, this is also source of carbon atoms. In fact,
the inclusion of this carbon component from the grains to the observed
component from the fluorescent lines has removed the problem of carbon
deficiency in comets.
Nitrogen, Sulphur
It is not possible to make an estimate directly of the production rate
of nitrogen as its resonance spectral line of 1200
A has not been observed.
Therefore, the estimates have to be made indirectly, based on the nitrogen
bearing molecules like CN, NH, N+
2 etc., and they give a rough value for
the ratio (N/O) 0.1.
The lines of SI 1812
A multiplet which was seen first in Comet West
has been seen in all the comets. The observed brightness of this multiplet
has been used to deduce the column densities for sulphur. The results for
some comets are given in Table 6.7.
Table 6.8 gives a rough representation of the elemental abundances of
H, C, N, O and S for comets.
Table 6.8

Average abundance ratios.

Ratios

Comets

Sun

CI chondrites

H/O
C/O
N/O
S/O

2.0
0.40
0.09
0.03

1175
0.43
0.13
0.02

0.17
0.10
0.007
0.07

Delsemme, A. H. 1991. In Comets in the

Post-Halley Era eds. R. L. Newburn, Jr.
et al. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Vol.
1, p. 377.

The table shows that the observed ratio of C/O in comets is similar to
the solar value. However, the ratio H/O is very much smaller in comets
compared to the solar value. This implies that hydrogen is very much depleted in comets. This in turn means that either the hydrogen has escaped
from the system or it was not trapped at the time of formation. A plausible physical explanation could be that in the case of the sun it is the
gravitational binding while in comets it is the chemical binding which is
important. Hence, in the case of the Sun, gravity essentially prevents hy-

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drogen from escaping, while in the case of comets only a small fraction of
hydrogen can be bound in molecules. Therefore, most of the hydrogen as
well as H2 disappear due to their high volatility. On the other hand, the
heavy elements like Na, Ca, Fe, Mn, etc are assumed to have sublimated
out of the refractory grains and have relative abundances similar to the
solar value (Fig. 5.19).
6.3.
6.3.1.

Analysis of Hydrogen Observations

Analysis of Lyman measurements

The presence of a huge halo of hydrogen gas around comets was predicted by Biermann in 1968 based on the dissociation of the H2 O molecule.
In general, the photon energy available for dissociation is much larger than
the dissociation energy. Therefore, this excess energy is usually carried
away by the dissociated products. For example, in the case of H2 O the
excess energy gives a velocity 17.8 km/ sec to the hydrogen atom, and
this is much larger than the gaseous outflow velocity which is of the order of 0.5 km/ sec. Since the lifetime for the ionization of the molecule is
106 sec, the observed extent of the size of the halo which is given by v
is about 106 to 107 km. Based on this simple physical argument and with a
hydrogen gas production rate of 1030 to 1031 molecule/sec, it was concluded
that the comets should be bright in the Lyman line. The ultraviolet observations made in Lyman with OAO-2 on Comets Tago-Sato-Kosaka
and Bennett confirmed the presence of the hydrogen halo extending up
to about 106 to 107 km around the nucleus. This result was further confirmed through a series of rocket and satellite observations made on various
other comets. In recent years, with the availability of better instruments
and spatial resolution, it has been possible to get good and high quality
isophotes of the Lyman region. These high quality isophotes and line
profile have shown that they extend farther in the direction away from the
Sun compared to that in the direction toward the Sun. The isophotes also
become more and more elongated in the antisolar direction as the comet
goes nearer the Sun. These observations clearly show the effect of intense
Lyman radiation pressure effects. The high quality isophotes also show
that the axis of the isophotes is not along the direction of the Sun-Comet
line, but is inclined at an angle to this line. The theoretical models have to
explain some of these observed effects.
In order to make a comparison with the observed isophotes, the emis-

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sion of the hydrogen atoms has to be calculated. The collisions could be

important in the inner coma region < 104 km for the gas production rate
of about 1030 molecules/sec. However, the dissociation takes place at distances > 105 km and therefore the collisions are not important. For an
optically thin case the emission is given by
B = gN (photons/cm2 /sec)

(6.54)

where g is the emission rate factor and N is the column density of hydrogen
atoms. Therefore, the calculation of emission intensities essentially depends
upon N , which is model dependent.
To start with, one can assume an isotropic radial outflow without collisions from a point source. The above assumption is reasonable since the
observed distribution of molecules is nearly spherically symmetric around
the nucleus. This is borne out by the shape of the isophotes in the visible
region. Therefore, the assumption of a point source with the radial outflow
of material usually termed as the Fountain model is reasonable for the interpretation of the hydrogen coma. In this steady state model the hydrogen
atoms are released at the rate of QH from the nucleus and are pushed away
due to solar radiation pressure in the direction away from the Sun with a
lifetime tH .
The lifetime tH for hydrogen atoms is the sum total of lifetimes due to
photoionization (tph ) and to charge exchange with protons (tpr ). The calculated photoionization lifetime at 1 AU is tph = 1.4 107 sec . The lifetime
for charge exchange with protons of flux Fw 2 108 proton/cm2 /sec at
1 AU and for an effective cross-section = 2 1015 cm2 is equal to
tpr =

1
= 2.5 106 sec .
Fw

Therefore, the total lifetime, tH is given by

h
i1
1
tH = t1
= 2.1 106 sec .
ph + tpr
The acceleration due to the radiation pressure force is given by
 2
e
F
h
f 2.
b=
mH c me c
r

(6.55)

(6.56)

The velocity distribution of the hydrogen atoms is assumed to be

Maxwellian and is given by
4 v 2 (v/v0 )2
f (v)dv =
e
dv.
v02

(6.57)

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The most probable speed v0 is related to the mean speed vH by the relation

vH =


v0 .

(6.58)

The density of hydrogen atoms at a distance r from the nucleus and for a
time of travel t is given by
nH =

QH
et/tH .
4vH r2

(6.59)

The distance r has now to be expressed in terms of the orbit of the hydrogen
atoms after they are released from the nucleus. The co-ordinate system is
chosen such that the nucleus is the origin, the Sun is in the negative z
direction and the positive x-axis is in the direction of the Earth. The
hydrogen atoms leaving the nucleus follow the parabolic orbits and they can
reach any point (x, y, z) with a velocity v through two different trajectories.
The total density which is made up of these two components is given by
the relation
nH (x, y, z) =

QH
[(a
4v "

q
q
x20 x2 ) x20 x2 ]1
#
 1/2 q
1 2
a (x20 x2 )1/2 .
exp
tH b

(6.60)

p
Here a = z + (v 2 /b) and x0 = x2 (z 2 + y 2 ). The parameter x0 is a
function of y and z and defines a surface of a rotational paraboloid about the
z-axis containing all the atoms within the maximum velocity v. The total
column density along the line of sight s, including the velocity distribution
of atoms, is given by
Z
N (s) =
0

v
f (v)2
vH

x0

nH (x, y, z)ds dv.

(6.61)

The model-based isophotes of Lyman- can, therefore be calculated for

different values of QH , tH and vH until a fit is obtained. The calculated
isophotes for Comet Bennett are shown in Fig. 6.10.

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Fig. 6.10 Calculated Lyman isophotes based on the Fountain and Syndyname models
for Comet Benett for April 1, 1970. The parameters used are: production rate QH =
1.2 1030 /sec, outflow velocity H = 7.9 km/sec, lifetime tH = 2.5 106 sec at 1AU,
solary Lyman flux = 3.2 1011 photons/cm2 /sec/
A (Adapted from Keller, H.U. 1976.
Space Sci. Rev., 18, 641).

The number marked on each isophote gives the intensity expressed in

Kilo Rayleighs (KR) where 1 Rayleigh = 106 photons/cm2 / sec. The calculated Lyman isophotes based on the above model were in qualitative
agreement with the observed isophotes; however in details, there were differences. For example, the calculated isophotes were symmetrical about the
sun-comet line while the observed isophotes were inclined at an angle with
respect to this line. This reflects the limitations of the model. The main
assumption of the model is that the average parameters do not change with
time, and this implies a steady state. But this is far from true in a real
situation, wherein one has to consider the non-steady situations.
The non-steady state models were then developed and are usually referred to as Syndyname models. The formalism is very similar to the case of
the formation of the dust tail of comets, wherein one finds dust particles in
the tail emitted at different earlier epochs (Chap. 7). The hydrogen atoms
coming out of the nuclear region are being acted upon by the forces of radiation pressure and gravitation. The resulting trajectories of the hydrogen
atoms in the orbital plane of the comet depend upon the ratio of these two
forces generally denoted as (1 ). The particles ejected continuously and
having the same value of (1 ), describe a curve called Syndyname. The
resultant effect of these two forces is to give curvature to the path of the
hydrogen atoms. The total column density of the hydrogen atoms is the
integral over all these paths corresponding to all the fictitious source points.

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At the observation time t0 , all the points are arranged along the Syndyname and correspond to the same emission time te . Let vP represent some
minimum velocity above which the contribution reaches the line-of-sight
integral. Then
s
vP =
(t0 te )
where s represents the minimum distance from the fictitious source point.
The total contribution to the column density at time t is the integral over
all the surface densities and is given by
Z
Pt (v) dv
1
(6.62)
Nt (s) =
2
2
2 vP v t [1 (vP /v)2 ]1/2
where Pt (v)dv represents the production rate of hydrogen atoms with velocities between v and v + dv. Here the subscript t is used to denote the
production rate as a function of time, which in turn depends on the heliocentric distance. The total column density arising out of all the fictitious
source points on the Syndyname is given by
Z
Z
Z
1
Pt (v)dv
.
(6.63)
N=
Nt (s)dt =
dt
2
2
2 1/2
2 0
vP v t [1 (vP /v) ]
If the hydrogen atoms decay with a lifetime
may be a function
R t tH which
0
0
of t, then the exponential factor exp [ 0 t1
(t
)
dt
]
has
to be included
H
in the expression for Nt (S). Therefore, the expression for the total column
density is given by
 Z t
Z
Z
1
Pt (v)dv
1 0
0
N=
dt exp
tH (t )dt
. (6.64)
2
2
2 1/2
2 0
0
vP v t [1 (vP /v) ]
The velocity distribution is related to the production rate of hydrogen atoms
through the relation


QH
vf (v)dv.
(6.65)
Pt (v)dv =
vH
Figure 6.10 shows the calculated isophotes for Comet Bennett based on
the above model for the same parameters of vH , tH , QH and F used in
the Fountain model. The figure clearly shows that the isophotes are now
inclined at a certain angle to the Sun-Comet line and are symmetrical about
the Syndyname, and this is consistent with the observations.
The model described above can be improved further by assuming the
parent molecules to be released by the nucleus and allowing for the decay
of the molecules as they flow outwards. This eliminates the assumption of

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the hydrogen atoms being emitted from a point source. In this model the
parent molecules are released isotropically from the nucleus. These parent
molecules could give rise to two or more decays along their paths with a
certain value for the scale length for each decay. This in turn is dependent
on the lifetime and the velocity of the molecules. The formalism developed
in Sec. 6.1.2 can easily be applied to the present situation.
The models described above has been applied to the Lyman observations of many comets with great success. A comparison of the observed
and the calculated isophotes allows one to determine quantitatively the
production rate, the lifetime and the outflow velocity of hydrogen atoms.
The detailed observations of Comet Bennett showed that two Maxwellian
velocity distributions in the model calculation corresponding to vH = 7 and
21 km/sec with 50:50 of each are required to fit the observations.
Monte-Carlo approach
In the formulation outlined above many details are still to be understood. This, therefore, led to the consideration of Monte-Carlo approach.
The model developed is a three-dimensional time dependent Monte-Carlo
particle trajectory model (MCPTM). It takes into account the physical
processes which are important in the inner and outer coma of comets.
In particular, it includes a physically realistic description of the detailed
production mechanism and trajectories of H atoms produced by the photodissociation of H2 O and OH. It takes into account the solar radiation
pressure acceleration. The gas dynamic model calculates the velocity and
temperature variation in the coma and includes the multiple collisions, photochemical heating, radiative transfer and so on. The model couples the
simple gas-dynamic flow of the gas with the MCPTM formalism. Therefore, the gas-dynamic model coupled with MCPTM formalism considers in
a consistent way and also in a realistic manner the actual trajectories of
as many as 105 radicals or atoms. The space and column densities and
hence the emission rates are then calculated. For comparing with the observation, the calculated results have to be referred to the projection on the
sky-plane which in turn depend upon the relative geometry of the Earth,
the Sun and the comet at the time of the observations. These are then
compared with observations.
The model simulated isophotes based on MCPTM formalism is in
agreement with the observed isophotes of Comet Hale-Bopp (Fig. 6.11).
Therefore MCPTM formalism which takes into account in detail the important physical processes in the inner and outer extended coma region, is

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Fig. 6.11 (c) Comparison of the SOHO SWAN observations of Ly isophote contours
(solid lines) of Comet 1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) at r = 1.75 AU with the calculated isophotes
based on MCPTM models. (b) Shows the H-atom velocity distribution upon photochemical production (thin line) and after Monte Carlo model calculation (thick line) (Combi,
M.R. et al. 2000. Icarus, 144, 191).

a very general method of studying the observations of Lyman in comets.

The additional complications in terms of physics and dynamics can be incorporated as and when the need arises.
6.3.2.

Analysis of H observations

The H line at 6563

A can also be used to study the daughter species and
could in turn be used to monitor the production rate of H2 O. Unfortunately,
this line is usually faint and in addition could be contaminated with geocoronal H emission, diffuse galactic H emission particularly when the comet
is located near the galactic plane and cometary H2 O+ (0, 7, 0) emission at

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6562.8
A. However, the observations carried out with the Fabry-Perot spectrometer, the Doppler shift of the cometary H may be sufficient to avoid
the geocoronal H emission (Fig. 6.12). The contamination of galactic H

Fig. 6.12 Fabry-Perot observation of H(6563

A) line of Comet Halley taken on January
4, 1986. The smaller feature which is centered at zero velocity is the cometary H
emission while the larger feature centered around - 32 km/sec is the geocorona H
emission. The model fit to the observed cometary H is shown by the dashed line
(Smyth, W.H., Marconi, M.L., Seherb, F. and Roesier, F. 1993. Ap. J., 413, 756).

emission and H2 O+ emission can be minimized by taking proper precautions in making the observations. The commonly used Hasers model is
not adequate for the analysis of H emission as the hydrogen atoms have
large dispersion in velocities. These had limited the study of H emission
in comets.
As discussed earlier, the Monte-Carlo Particle Trajectory Model
(MCPTM) has been successfully applied to Lyman observations of
comets. This formalism can be modified and used for the analysis of observations of H emission in comets. The main quantity to be determined
in the application of MCPTM model is the g-factor for the H emission.
This has to be calculated taking into account the contributions from all the
transitions which can give rise to this emission. This involves the knowledge of the transition probabilities of all the relevant transitions which

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contribute to this emission and the solar radiation which excites these levels i.e., through excitation and de-excitation. The principal source of H
emission is through the excitation of H atoms by solar Lyman photons. The actual profile of Lyman has to be used since H atoms are in
motion. For solar minimum conditions the total flux of Lyman line at
2
1AU is 3.5 109 photons/cm / sec while the corresponding Lyman flux is
2
3.1 1011 photons/cm / sec . For an accurate calculation of g-facotr for H
emission, in addition to principal contribution from the 3P to 3S transitions, several other secondary contributions have also been considered. The
derived g-factor is velocity dependent, as in the case of OH (see Fig. 5.14).
The MCPTM can be used to simulate observations of H emission.The calculated and the observed line profile for Comet Halley is shown in Fig. 6.12.
The derived velocities for such a fit require a broad velocity peak from 5 to
9 km/sec representing the bulk of ( 70%) of H atoms released and a velocity 8 km/sec due to the dissociation of OH. Additional smaller peaks also
appear at around 11 km/sec ( 7%) and 22 26 km/sec ( 20%) due to the
formation of H from OH and at 15 to 19 km/sec due to photodissociation of
H2 O. A comparison of the derived production rate of H2 O from H emission with those derived from 6300
A emission observations should help in
checking the photochemical processes which give rise to atomic oxygen and
hydrogen from the parent molecule H2 O. Fortunately such a comparison
can be made for Comet Halley, as measurements of H and 6300
A emissions were carried out on the same dates, with the same instrument, same
calibration procedure and so on. The results derived from such an analysis
are shown in Table 6.6. The agreement is reasonable in view of the various
uncertainties involved in the calculation of parameters such as, g-factor for
H emission and the branching ratios for the production of O[1 D] atoms
from photodissociation of H2 O and OH.
6.4.
6.4.1.

Related Studies
Gas-phase chemistry in the coma

The understanding of the formation of various observed species in the

coma has attracted much attention in recent years. They could be produced
either through the break-up of complex molecules or by some other physical
process, as the gas expands outwards in the coma. Therefore, the distribution of the observed species in the coma does not necessarily reflect the
original gaseous material ejected from the nucleus. In addition to the var-

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ious physical processes that could modify this gas, the gas-phase chemical
reactions among various constituents (neutral and ions) in the inner coma
could also alter the original gas. The chemical reactions can take place
due to the fact that the timescales involved for many of the reactions are
much faster than the solar photodestruction rates at a heliocentric distance
of 1 AU. In fact, the early investigations did indicate that ion-molecule
could be quite important and various reaction sequences were considered.
They did produce substantial amounts of various types of species that have
been observed in comets. However, the reaction schemes considered were
quite simple so that the calculations could be carried out without much
difficulty. But in a real physical situation various networks of chemical reactions have to be considered between neutrals and ions of different atoms
and molecules.
The nucleus is assumed to be spherical in shape containing the volatile
material in certain proportions. The gases evaporate from the nucleus as a
result of the solar heating. The vapourization theory (Chap. 11) could be
used to calculate the gas production rate, outstream velocity, temperature,
etc., which is consistent with the assumed mixture. The total number
density present in the expanding coma gas at a distance r from the nucleus is
related to the density at the nucleus surface n(R0 ) through the conservation
of mass by
 2
R0
n(r) = n(R0 )
.
(6.66)
r
Here R0 is the radius of the nucleus. To take into account the various
physical processes and the chemical reactions which modify the particular
species, it is necessary to have the particle conservation equation. The
equation for a general case for a species i can be written in the form
X
X
ni
Rji ni
+ ni vi =
Rik ,
(6.67)
t
i
k

where ni and vi denote the number density and the flow velocity respectively. The first and the second terms on the right-hand side of the equation
denote the rate of formation of species i, by processes involving species j
and the rate of destruction of species i through processes involving species
k. The whole set of equations given by Eq. (6.67) are coupled to each
other through sources and sinks which are on the right-hand side of the
equation. The assumption of spherical symmetry and a constant outflow
velocity for all the species will simplify the equations considerably. Photodissociation and photoionization processes as well as the opacity effects

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for the incident solar radiation are taken into account. The various chemical reactions between ions, electrons, neutrals and free radicals have been
considered (Table 6.9).

Table 6.9

Gas phase chemical reactions with examples.

Photodissociation
Photoionization
Photodissociative ionization
Electron impact dissociation
Electron impact ionization
Electron impact dissociative ionization
Positive ion-atom interchange
Positive ion charge transfer
Electron dissociative recombination
Three-body positive ion-neutral association
Neutral rearrangement
Three-body neutral recombination
Radiative electronic state deexcitation
Radiative recombination
Radiation stabilized positive ion-neutral association
Radiation stabilized neutral recombination
Neutral-neutral associative ionization
Neutral impact electronic state quenching
Electron impact electronic state excitation

h + H2 O H + OH
h + CO CO+ + e
h + CO2 O + CO+ + e
e + N2 N + N + e
e + CO CO+ + e + e
e + CO2 O + CO+ + e + e
CO+ + H2 O HCO+ + OH
CO+ + H2 O H2 O+ + CO
C2 H+ + e C2 + H
+
C 2 H+
2 + H2 + M C2 H4 + M
N + CH CN + H
C2 H2 + H + M C2 H3 + M
O(1 D) O(3 P ) + h
e + H+ H + h
C+ + H CH+ + h
C + C C2 + h
CH + O HCO+ + e
O(1 D) + CO2 O(3 P ) + CO2
CO(1 ) + e CO(1 ) + e

(Huebner, W.F., Boice, D.C., Schmidt, H.U. and Wegmann, R. 1991. In Comets in the
Post-Halley Era, eds. R.L. Newburn, Jr. et al., Kluwer Academic Publishers, p. 907).

A step-by-step solution of the coupled Eq. (6.67) gives the number density of the species and its variation with r. Figures 6.13 and 6.14 show
the typical results of such calculations for various neutrals and ions. The
column densities can be calculated by integrating the number density along
the line of sight.
It is interesting to note from the model calculations (Fig. 6.14) that
the most abundant ions in the inner coma should be H3 O+ , NH+
4 and
others. Therefore, in a comet, the most abundant ion in the inner coma
should be H3 O+ . The dominant H3 O+ in the inner coma arises as a result
of the production of H3 O+ through photoionization of H2 O followed by

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Fig. 6.13 Typical variation of the number density of various species plotted as a function
of the distance from the centre of the nucleus. The radius of the nucleus = 1 km and
r = 1 AU (Huebner, W.F. and Giguere, P.T. 1980. Ap. J., 238, 753).

ion-neutral reaction and destruction by dissociative recombinations,

i.e.,

H2 O H2 O+ + e,
H2 O+ + H2 O H3 O+ + OH

and

H3 O+ + e H2 O + H.

Such calculations have been used to identify the species found by Giotto
Mass Spectrometer.
6.4.2.

In situ mass spectrometer for ions

The in situ measurements carried out with spacecrafts on Comet Halley

gave confirming evidence for some of the basic ideas of gas-phase chemistry
discussed earlier. In fact the gas-phase chemistry has been used extensively
in the interpretation of ions observed in the inner coma of Comet Halley to
extract the production rates of ions.
The ion mass spectrometer on board the Giotto spacecraft has provided important information about the ions present in the coma of Comet
Halley to a distance 1000 km. The mass resolution is excellent. This
makes it easier to calculate the ion densities. The instrument measures
the distribution of m/q. Therefore, a careful analysis of the data with the

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Fig. 6.14 Typical variation of number density of ions plotted as a function of the distance from the centre of the nucleus. (Huebner, W.F. and Giguere, P.T., 1980. op.
cit).

theoretical modelling is required before the peaks can be identified with

certainty. However, the singly ionized peaks can easily be identified. The
peaks at m/q = 18, 17 and 16 gave the direct detection of H2 O as these
peaks belong to the H2 O group of ions, i.e., H2 O+ , OH+ and O+ . The peak
at m/q = 12 is certainly C+ . The peak at m/q = 19 is almost certainly
H3 O+ which supported the chemical models. Molecular ions have been
detected ranging beyond 100 amu. The major ion species and also some
of the secondary ones which can contribute to the observed m/q peaks are
shown in Table 6.10.
The important reactions for forming some of these ions are shown in
Fig. 6.15. As can be seen from Table 6.10, NH+
4 can also make contribution
to the peak at q/m = 18. Similarly, NH+
could
contribute to the peak at
3
q/m = 17. Several peaks have been seen with the positive ion cluster
analyzer on Giotto spacecraft with an alternate mass difference of 14 and
16amu as can be seen from Fig. 6.16. A suggestion has been made that
it could arise due to ion fragments CH2 and O breaking off from the large
parent molecule formaldehyde (H2 CO)n , also known as Polyoxymethylene
(POM).

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Table 6.10 Dominant ion species contributing to mass range detected in
the ion mass spectrometer.
M/q

Ion Species

M/q

Ion Species

12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33

C+

34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55

34 S+ ,

CH+ , 13 C+
+
CH+
2 , N
+
,
NH
CH+
3
+
O+ , CH+
4 , NH2
+
+
OH , NH3 , CH+
5
H2 O+ , NH+
4
H 3 O+
+
H18
2 O
+
H18
3 O
C+
2
C 2 H+
+
C 2 H+
2 , CN
+
C 2 H+
,
HCN
3
+
H2 CN+ , CO+ , N+
2 , C2 H4
+
HCO+ , C2 H+
,
N
H
2
5
H2 CO+ , CH4 N+ , NO+ , C2 H+
6
CH2 OH+ , HNO+
+
S + , O2
HS+ , O2 H+

H2 S+
H3 S+
C+
3
C3 H+ , H3 O+ .H2 O
C 2 N+ , C3 H+
2
C 3 H+
3
+
C3 H4 , CH2 CN+
C 3 H+
5
CH3 CO+
+
+
CO+
2 , CS , C3 H8
+
+
HCS , HCO2
+
+
H2 CO+
2 , NS , H2 CS
H3 CS+ , HNS+
SO+
HSO+
C 4 H+
2
C 4 H+
3
C 3 H2 N+
C 4 H+
5
C3 H3 O+ , C4 H+
7

(Huebner, W.F., Boice, D.C., Schmidt, H.U. and Wegmann, R. 1991. In

Comets in the Post-Halley Era, eds. R.L. Newburn, Jr. et al., Kluwer
Academic Publishers, p. 907).

6.4.3.

Temperature and velocity of the coma gas

The knowledge of the temperature and velocity of the coma gas as a

function of distance from the nucleus is required for the calculation of the
excitation process as well as for the derivation of molecular abundances.
This can, in principle, be derived from the model calculations which take
into account the thermodynamical and hydrodynamical processes in the
coma. For the description of the state of the gas, the equations of mass,
momentum and energy have to be considered. The corresponding fluid
dynamic equations with velocity u, mass density and pressure P can be
written as

+ (u) = ,

(6.68)
t

(u) + (u )u + u( u) + P = q,

(6.69)
t

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Fig. 6.15 For illustrative purpose, this figure shows the network of major chemical reactions involving the formation and destructive processes that have to be considered in the
calculation of abundances of some of the species. The arrow indicates the direction of the
reaction represents photodissociation or photoionization and e indicates electron dissociative recombination (Huebner, W.F., Boice, D.C., Schmidt, H.U. and Wegmann, R.
1991. In Comets in the Post-Halley Era,eds R.L. Newburn, Jr. et al., Kluwer Academic
Publishers, p. 907).



u2
u2

( + ) + u( + h) = E.
t 2
2

(6.70)

Here  and h are the specific internal energy and enthalpy respectively.
The quantities on the right hand side represent the sources and sinks for
the mass, momentum and energy respectively. These equations have to
be solved with the appropriate initial boundary conditions. The equations
are generally solved in a one-dimensional form with radial variation. Such

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Fig. 6.16 The ion mass spectrum of Comet Halley observed on March 14, 1986 with the
Giotto spacecraft at a distance 11 -12 103 km from the nucleus. The peaks at regular
intervals with alternate difference in mass number of 14 and 16 have been interpreted as
dissociation production of the molecule polyoxymethylene. (Huebner, W.F. et al. 1987.
Symposium on the diversity and similarity of comets, ESA-SP 278, p. 163; see also
Vanysek, V and Wickramasinghe, N.C. 1975. Astrophys. Space Sci., 33, L19).

solutions are sufficient in the inner coma, but in the outer coma where
the solar wind interactions occur, the description of the state of the ionic
gas may require two or three-dimensional solutions. The corresponding
equations for a spherically symmetric coma for the one dimensional case
are given by
1 d 2
(r u) = ,

r2 dr
u

du dP
+
= q
dr
dr

(6.71)
(6.72)

and
 


1 d

u2
2

u = Q L.
r u(h + ) +
r2 dr
2
1

(6.73)

Here is the specific heat ratio for the gas. Q and L are the energy input
and energy loss rates respectively. The above equations can easily be modified to include the dust component. The method is to write the analogous

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equations for the interaction of dust and the gas which are therefore treated
as separate fluids.
The results of the solution of the equations depend on the various physical processes that have been considered in the terms on the right hand side
of the equations. In particular, it depends on the source of energy input,
energy loss, chemistry and so on. Therefore, the emphasis on the solution
depends upon the problem of interest. For example, several studies have
been carried out which mainly emphasize certain aspects like nucleus-coma
interface, gas-dust interaction, detailed study of the chemistry or the solar wind interaction and so on. Here again initially simple models were
considered.
The inner part of the coma is the collision dominated region (LTE).
It decreases in importance moving away from the nucleus. The hydrodynamic flow which is a good approximation in the inner region becomes free
molecular flow in the outer region of the coma, with a transition region
in between. Therefore, the solutions of the hydrodynamic equations can
represent approximately the real solution provided proper quantities are
used referring either to LTE or NLTE situations and a suitable form for
in-between regions. The photolytic heating is given by the thermalisation
of the excess kinetic energy carried off by the photolytic products due to
photodissociation or exothermic chemical reactions. The dominant contribution to the heating process comes from the dissociation of H2 O through
the channel H2 O+h H + OH + Energy. In this process H atoms has
an excess of velocity 17.5 km/sec and OH radical 1.05 km/sec. This
means that collisions have to be important which imply that the time scale
for collision must be smaller than the time scale for the expansion of the
gas.
The cooling process of the coma gas comes mainly due to H2 O molecules
because of its large abundance. The cooling takes place mainly through
their strong rotational transitions.
In a real cometary situation, the calculation of photochemical heating
is not simple as the coma gas is not in LTE. Also the coma region where
the density is high for the local photochemical effect to be highly efficient,
depends upon the gas production rate and the expansion velocity in the
coma. Since the gas density varies as 1/r 2 , the photochemical heating
efficiency decreases slowly and hence it is rather difficult to define a collision
zone for heating caused by super-thermal H atoms.
Some of the complications in the calculation of cooling rates have also to
be considered. In particular, the water density in the coma is high enough

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that some of the lines could be optically thick. The optical depth effect is
generally calculated based on escape probability method. The net result
being that rotational temperature basically comes out of equilibrium with
the gas kinetic temperature. Several of these effects and refinements have
been incorporated in the calculation of heating and cooling rates which
greatly influence the temperature and velocity of the gas in the coma.
The results of such model calculations provide the velocity and temperature variation in the coma. The resulting temperature distribution is
shown in Fig. 6.17. The temperature distribution falls steeply to a minimum temperature 20 K at a distance 102 km and then increases again.
The general shape of the temperature variation is the resultant effect of the
relative importance of heating and cooling rates of H2 O and the expansion
cooling.

Fig. 6.17 The calculated variation of gas temperature as a function of distance from
the nucleus for Comet Halley. (Combi, M.R. 1989. Icarus, 81, 41).

Refined models
All the discussion presented so far pertaining to chemistry, temperature
and velocity of the coma gas were based on certain simplifying assumptions
in the model calculations. In addition several processes that can occur
in the coma were considered individually or in combination with others.
But in a real situation, due to the nature of the physical conditions in the
coma, various processes operate simultaneously in a complex and intricate
manner.

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The starting point for all the activities seen in the coma of a comet is
due the absorption of solar radiation by various molecules. This leads to
photodisssociation and ionization of the parent molecules. These in turn
fragment giving rise to newer species and the process continues. The energy
budget in this process is controlled by the heating and cooling mechanisms
which in turn has a great effect on the coma gas. The earlier assumption
of considering the gaseous coma as a fluid is reasonable in the inner parts
of the coma where the densities are high. But moving outwards from the
nucleus to the coma, the density gradually decreases and the flow of the gas
becomes more like a free molecular flow. In these regions the description
of the gas as a fluid is not applicable. Therefore it is necessary to consider
the flow of the gas in the coma in a consistent manner going from a region
of higher density to regions of decreasing densities. The presence of dust
can also have an effect on the structure of the coma. This comes through
the change in the temperature of the dust particles, which in turn can have
an effect on the vapourization of volatiles from the CHON dust particles.
Therefore the observed structure of the coma gas, is a resultant effect of
coma chemistry, physics and dynamics that are intimately connected with
each other. Therefore all these effects have to be considered simultaneously
in any realistic model.
Several types of such models have been developed. Some of them are,
Hydrodynamic model, Monte Carlo Model. Hydrodynamic model has been
used extensively for the study of the coma gas. For example, a chemical/dynamical model developed for the study of the coma includes in the
chemical reaction scheme involving around 180 species and more than 3500
reactions.
The Monte Carlo approach is the most general and most accurate description of the coma which can take care of all the complexities involved
within the coma. One such model is called Direct Simulation Monte Carlo
Method (DSMC). This is a time dependent in which the molecular motions
of a large number of molecules are followed and simultaneously their response to imposed field. This model has been used widely in the study of
the coma gas and has been highly successful. As an example, the observed
gas velocity variation in the coma of Comet Halley deduced from Giotto
observations is compared with the results based on time dependent DSMC
model in Fig. 6.18 for distances between 103 and 3 104 km. The observed
velocities are deduced from the energy shifts of peaks in the neutral mass
spectrometer energy spectra and show a variation from a value of about 0.8
to 1.05 km/sec. As can be seen the observed and the model based velocity

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distributions are in reasonable agreement.

Fig. 6.18 The calculated variation of expansion velocity with distance from the nucleus
based on time-dependent DSMC model is compared with the observed variation for
Comet Halley deduced from the Giotto measurements (Combi., M.R. 1996. Icarus, 123,
207.

6.5.

Parent Molecules

Most of the observed species in comets cannot exist as such in the nucleus. Therefore, it is suggested that they could arise out of the photodissociation process of stable complex molecules. However, it is very difficult to
observe these parent molecules directly from the Earth-based observations
due to their short lifetime, as they are dissociated in most of the cases very
near the nucleus. Hence the information about the possible parent molecule
has to come from indirect means and, in particular, mainly from the study
of the decay products. However, the spacecrafts which passed by Comets
Halley, Tempel 1 and Wild 2 made in situ measurements of the inner coma

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and have given important and direct information about the possible nature
of the parent molecules. In general, there are several ways to approach this
problem.
The straightforward approach is to look for the dissociated products
of simple parent molecules as in the case of H2 O molecules. There are
not many clear-cut cases of this type. The laboratory investigations of
the photochemistry of various types of molecules can help a great deal in
elucidating the problem of the parent molecules. The laboratory studies
have to give information with regard to the products of photodissociation,
the energy required to initiate the reaction and also the branching ratios
for various paths of the reactions. At present, the data is limited in extent.
Also such studies have to be performed for all molecules of astrophysical
interest. To start with, the various types of molecules identified in the
interstellar space could be used. The calculated photochemical lifetimes of
several molecules based on the laboratory data show that for most molecules
the lifetime is below 2 104 sec at 1 AU. The results based on laboratory
photochemical studies should be used only as a guideline when applying
the same to a cometary atmosphere. This is due to the fact that the
astrophysical situations are vastly different from laboratory conditions.
The surface brightness distribution as a function of the radial distance from the nucleus can give information about the parent molecule
(Sec. 6.1.2). The comparison of the observed brightness profiles with those
of calculated profiles gives the scale lengths of the species. The lifetime
of the species, can therefore, be obtained by dividing the scale length by
the expansion velocity. These lifetimes in turn can give information with
regard to the possible types of the parent molecule.
Another approach is through the study of gas-phase reactions in the
coma. If an agreement can be obtained between the observed and the
calculated abundances of various species, one can hopefully trace backwards
through the network of reactions and this could help in identifying the
plausible parent molecule of various species. However, the procedure may
not be very practical in most of the cases.
Another possible method is through the spectral study of the observed
lines and particularly from those molecules which give lines arising out of
singlet-singlet and triplet-triplet transitions. The idea is to see whether the
observed intensities of lines arise preferentially from the singlet-singlet or
the triplet-triplet states of the molecule. This could in turn be related to
the products arising out of the dissociation of the parent molecule.
The study of forbidden lines can also help in identifying the parent

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molecule of the species which gives rise to these lines. By combining different types of studies it is possible to infer the possible nature of the parent
molecule of some of the observed species. We may illustrate them with a
few examples.
Until the direct detection of H2 O from Comet Halley in 1986, all the
earlier observations had built up a strong case for the H2 O as the dominant
volatile component of the nuclei of comets. This is basically related to the
fact that all the dissociated products of H2 O are seen and they dominate
the ultraviolet spectra of comets. But the direct detection of H2 O came
from the observation made from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory of the 3
band near 2.65 m in Comet Halley. The same band was also observed
by the infrared spectrometer on the Vega spacecraft. The results based on
Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS) measurements on the Giotto spacecraft
showed that H2 O comprised around 80% of the volatile of Comet Halley.
The presence of CO in comets was indicated by the detection of fourth
positive bands at 1500
A. Its abundance relative to water varies from
a few percent to around 30%. For Comet Halley, the value derived from
various observations is 17%, while NMS data gave a value 7%. The
lower value is attributed to CO coming from the nucleus and the rest is
believed to arise from an extended source. CO is the second most abundant
molecule in comets.
The observation of the 3 band of CH4 around 3.3 m has yielded an
estimate for the production rate of CH4 which is 1%.
Although CO2 was believed to exist due to the presence of CO+
2 ion in
comets, it was first detected in Comet Halley from the observation of 3
band at 4.3 m from the IKS instrument in the Vega spacecraft and the
NMS instrument on Giotto which gave a value 3% relative to water. The
observed distribution of the column density of CO2 is in good agreement
with the 1 law. This is consistent with the distribution of R2 expected
for parent molecules in the vicinity of the nucleus.
NH3 ,NH2 and NH have been seen in comets. The photodisssociation of
NH3 appears to produce mostly NH2 ( 95%) and very little NH( 5%).
Therefore the parent of NH2 is NH3 and the dominant parent of N H is
NH2 .
The photodissociation of HCN, namely
HCN + h CN + H
can explain the CN radical both from the point of view of production rates
as well as from the kinematic considerations. The molecule C2 N2 has also
been proposed as the parent of CN.

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The parent of CH is most like CH4 . Since CH3 is highly unstable, CH4
first decays to CH2 which in turn decays to CH.
i.e.,

CH4 CH2 + H2 ,
CH2 CH + H

The source of S2 (lifetime 350 sec) has been the subject of considerable
debate as the presence of S2 in the cometary nuclei has great significance
for the origin of cometary material. CS2 hardly photodissociates into S2 .
It is highly unlikely that solid S2 has formed from gas phase condensation,
which primarily produces other compounds. So is also with the irradiation
of the nucleus by cosmic rays or ultraviolet radiation and so on.
The long-slit spectroscopic observations has been carried out with HST
to get the spatial brightness profile of S2 in Comet Ikeya-Zhang. These observations seems to indicate that most likely S2 originate from the nucleus.
Therefore, S2 could be a parent molecule.
The most plausible parent of CS is the short-lived (life time at 1 AU
500 sec) CS2 molecule,
i.e.,

CS2 + h CS + S(3 P ),
CS2 + h CS + S(1 D).

Another possible source of CS is OCS. However the main dissociation process of OCS is CO and S. Hence the contribution of OCS to S is minor.
The S produced from CS2 and S2 does not appear to account for the
observed amount of sulphur. The molecule H2 S which has been detected
in comets may contribute to the observed sulphur.
The analysis of the C2 brightness profile seems to suggest that it could be
formed in a three-step photodissociation process of some parent molecule.
The laboratory studies indicate that C2 can be produced in a two-step
process as follows:
C2 H2 + h C2 H + H
followed by
C2 H + h C2 + H.
The C3 molecule is a difficult case for which there are some suggestions.
Laboratory studies have shown that C3 molecule can be formed from C3 H4 .
This molecule photodecomposes to give C3 H3 and C3 H2 as intermediate
products, which can then absorb a photon to give C3 molecule. C3 H8 has
also been suggested.

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Table 6.11 gives a limited list of probable parent molecules of some

observed species in comets. Some of the identifications are to be taken
with caution as they are still preliminary in nature.
Table 6.11 Possible parent molecules and abundances of some of them.
Observed species
O+ ,

H2 O, H2
OH, H, O
+
CO+
2 , CO , CO
CO, CO+ , C
CH
CN
HCN
NH, NH2
NH
C2
C3
CS
S2
S

6.6.

Possible parent molecule

H2 O
CO2
CO
CH4
HCN, C2 N2
HCN
NH3
NH2
C2 H2 , C3 H2 O
C3 H4 , C3 H8
CS2 , OCS
S2
S2 , OCS, CS2 , H2 S, SO2

Chemical Diversity

The surprising result that comes out of the study of the abundances of
a large number of molecular species in comets, is the presence of chemical
diversity among them. This could help in the understanding of the possible
sites of formation of these objects as well as the physical processes that
could have taken place leading to such an observed effect.
The other problem of great interest is the bulk composition inside the
nucleus of a comet. The only available information for the study is the production rate of volatiles and its variation with heliocentric distance. The
natural question that arises is, to what extent the observed ratio of volatiles
reflects the bulk chemical composition inside the nucleus. The relation betwen the two is not simple. It has been realized over the years that the
observed ratio of volatiles in the coma which vary with the heliocentric distance and also among comets, may be vastly different from those present
in the nucleus even before they were processed by solar radiation. Conclusions on the bulk composition of the nucleus can only be made if the coma
composition is integrated over the entire orbit of the comet.

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6.7.

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Summary

We may briefly summarize the results of the discussion presented so far.

The study of several comets has shown a wide variation of the production
rate of molecules with the heliocentric distance, vastly different from that
of r2 dependence. In order to explain such a variation, more complicated
models have to be considered. The interesting result is the observed chemical diversity among comets, which has direct bearing on the formation site
of comets. Even though the lines of C2 , CN and others dominate the visual spectral region, their production rates are less by a factor of 100 or so
compared to that of H2 O or H. These molecules are, therefore, the minor
constituents of the cometary material. Most of the elements have abundance ratio very similar to the solar atmospheric value except hydrogen
which is very much depleted in comets.
The in situ measurements of Comet Halley made by spacecrafts have
shown the wide variety of ions present in the coma. The production rates of
these species derived for the first time making use of the detailed gasphase
chemistry show them to be a minor contributor of the gas. The presence
of extended source of molecules give strong evidence to show that grains
can also act as suppliers of volatiles in the coma. The expected velocity
distribution of the coma gas based on the detailed modelling agrees with
the Giotto results. Lastly, the spacecraft observations have detected several
possible parent molecules. All the earlier studies indicating H2 O as the
parent of OH, H and O have been further reinforced.

Problems
1. Calculate the surface brightenss profiles for a few values of 1 /0 as
shown in Fig. 6.1.
2. Deduce the values of 1 and 0 for the following observed surface brightness distribution: at = 103 , 4 104 and 7 104 km, the observed
values of surface brightness are 350, 35 and 12 kilo Rayleighs respectively. What is the lifetime of the species for an assumed velocity of 1
km/sec?
3. Assume that the diatomic molecule NH is formed due to the collision process of N and H with as the rate constant for the reaction.
What is the resulting concentration of NH for nH = 10/cm3 , =
1010 cm3 / sec and for a time scale of 4 109 years?

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4. Write down the expression for the equilibrium abundances of CH and

CH+ in terms of other abundances for the following reactions: C+H
CH + h; C+ + H CH+ + h; CH + h CH+ + e; CH + h
C + H; CH+ + h C+ + H. The rate constants for these reactions
are k1 , k2 , 1 , 2 and 3 respectively.

References
The calculations of surface brightness distribution for the two component
models are discussed in these two papers.
1. Haser, L. 1957. Bull. Acad. Belg.cl. Sc., 5e Ser. 43 740.
2. ODell, C. R. and Osterbrock, D. E. 1962. Ap. J. 136 559.
The values required for the calculation of surface brightness distribution
are given in
3. AHearn, M. F. and Cowan, J. J. 1975. Ap. J., 80 852.
The three component model is given in the paper
4. ODell, C. R., Robinson, R. R., Krishna Swamy, K. S., Spinrad, H. and
McCarthy, P. J. 1988. Ap. J., 334, 476.
For later work refer to
5. Combi, M.R. and Fink, U. 1997, Ap. J., 484, 879.
6. Manfroid, J.M., Hutsemekers, D., Jehin, E. et al. 2007, Icarus, 187,
144.
The vectorial formalism model is presented in
7. Festou, M C. 1981. Astr. Ap., 95, 69.
The Monte Carlo approach and others are discussed in
8. Combi, M. R. and Delsemme, A. H. 1980. Ap. J. 237, 633.
9. Hodges, Jr. R. R. 1990. Icarus, 83, 410.
10. Xie, X. and Mumma, M.J., 1996. Ap.J., 464, 442.
11. Combi, M.R. 1996, Icarus, 123, 207.
12. Crifo, J.-F., et al. 2005. Comets II, eds. M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and
H.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 471.
13. Combi, M.R. et al. 2005. Comets II, eds. M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller
and H.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 523.
14. Crifo, J.-F. 1990. Icarus, 84, 414.
For some basic parameters, refer to
15. Crovisier, J. 1992. Infrared Astronomy with ISO, eds. Th. Encrenaz
and M.F. Kessler, Nova Science Publishers, p. 221.
16. Huebner, W.F. et al. 1992. Astrophys. Space Sci., 195, 1.

comets

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209

The semi-empirical photometry theory is discussed in the following papers.

17. Newburn, R. L. 1981. In The Comet Halley Dust and Gas Environment.
ESA SP-174, p. 3.
18. Divine, N. et al. 1986. Space Sci. Rev., 43, 1.
The material for prompt emission lines (See. 6.2.2) is from
19. Mamma, M.J. et al. 2001. Ap.J., 546, 1183.
20. Benev, B.P., Mumma, M.J., Dello Russo, N., et al. 2004. Ap.J., 615,
1048.
21. Bonev, B.P., Mumma, M.J., Disanti, M.A., et al. 2006. Ap.J., 653,
774.
Papers referring to water production rates
22. Schleicher, D.G., Woodney, L.M. and Mills, R.L. 2003. Icarus, 162,
415.
23. Schleicher, D.K., Mills, R.L. and Birch, P.V. 1998. Icarus, 132, 397.
Review paper for Sec. 6.2.3.
24. AHearn, M.F. et al. 1995. Icarus, 118, 223.
Paper for CN Jet
25. AHearn, M.F. et al. 1986. Nature, 324, 649.
Extended source of CO and H2 CO
26. Eberhardt, P., Krankowsky, D., Shulte, W. et al. 1987. Astron. Astrophys., 187, 481.
27. Meier, R. Eberhardt, P., Krankowsky, D. et al. 1993. Astron. Astrophys., 277, 677.
28. DiSanti, M.A., Mumma, M.J., Dello Russo, N. et al. 2001. Icarus,
153, 162.
29. Festou, M. 1999. Space Sci. Rev., 90, 53.
Case of N+
2
30. Cochran, A.L. 2002. Ap. J., 576, L165.
31. Cochran, A.C., Cochran, W.D. and Barker, E.S. 2000. Icarus, 146,
583.
The Discussion about complex molecules is drawn from
32. Bockelee - Morvan, D. et al. 2005. Comets II, Eds. M.C. Festou, H.U.
Keller and W.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 391.
33. Crovisier, J. 1987. Astr. Ap. Suppl., 68, 223.
34. Crovisier, J. 2005. Asteroids, Comets and Meteors, eds. D. Lazzaro, S.
Ferraz Mello and J.A. Fernandez, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 133.
35. Mumma, M.J., Disanti, M.A., Dello Russo, N. et al. 2003. Adv. space
Res., 31, 2563.

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36. Disanti, M.A., Villanueva, G.L., Bonev, B.P. et al. 2007. Icarus, 187,
240.
The following paper pertains to Sec. 6.2.9 of oxygen
37. Schultz, D., Li, G.S.H., Scherb, F. and Roesler, F. L. 1992. Icarus, 96,
190; 101, 95, 1993.
For later work
38. Smyth, W.H. et al. 1995. Ap. J., 440, 349.
39. Morgenthaler, J.P. et al. 2001. Ap. J., 563, 451.
40. Oliversen, R.J. et al. 2002. Ap.J., 581, 770.
The following paper refers to discussion of Ly observations.
41. Keller, H.U. 1976. Space Sci. Rev., 18 641.
Monte-Carlo approach is presented in
42. Combi, M. R. and Smyth, W. H. 1988. Ap. J., 327, 1044.
43. Combi, M. R., Bos, B. J. and Smyth, W. H. 1993. Ap. J., 404, 668.
Some papers pertaining to H observations.
44. Smyth, W.H., Marconi, M.L., Scherb, F. and Roesler, F. 1993. Ap. J.,
413, 756.
45. Morgenthaler, J.P. et al. 2002. Earth Moon and Planets, (90), 77.
The basic formulation of gas phase chemistry in the coma can be found in
46. Huebner, W. F. and Giguere, P. T. 1980. Ap. J.,238 753.
For later work
47. Rodgers, S.D. and Charnley, S.B. 2002. MNRAS, 330, 660.
48. Rodgers, S.D. et al. 2005. Comets II, eds. M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller
and W.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona, Tucson, p. 505.
The following papers give some results based on in situ measurements.
49. Balsiger, H. et al. 1986. Nature, 321, 330.
50. Eberhardt, P. Meier, R., Krankowsky, D. and Hodges, R. 1994. Astr.
Ap., 288, 315.
51. Meier, R., Eberhardt, P., Krankowsky, D. and Hodges, A.R. 1994. Astr.
Ap., 287, 268.
52. Krankowsky, D. 1991. In Comets in the Post-Halley Era, eds. R. L.
Newburn, Jr., et al. Kluwer Academic Publishers p. 855.
53. Keller, H.U. et al. 2005. Comets II, eds. M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and
W.A. Weaver, University Arizona, Tueson, p. 211.
54. Kissel, J., Krueger, F.R., Silen, J. et al. 2004. Science, 304, 1774.
55. Tuzzolino, A.J., Economou, J.E., Clark, B.C. et al. 2004. Science,
304, 1776.
The following papers may be referred for parent molecules.
56. Krasnopoesky, V. A. 1991. Astr. Ap., 245, 310.

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211

57. Feldman, P.D., Cochran, A. and Combi, M.R., 2005. In Comets II,
eds. M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and H.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press,
Tucson, p. 433.

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CHAPTER 7

Dust Tails

The gaseous material released by the nucleus was studied in the previous
chapter. This material also carries with it a large amount of dust. The idea
that the dust particles are dragged into the tail by the effect of radiation
pressure was first suggested by Bessel in the 1830s. This concept was
refined by Bredichin around 1900. These ideas were put on a firm basis by
Finson and Probstein in the 1950s. These authors have worked out in great
detail the dynamics of grains based on fluid and kinetic concepts and the
resulting intensity distributions. Some of these aspects will be considered
in this chapter.
7.1.

Dynamics

Consider the case of only pure dust tails. The dust emitted by the
nucleus is subjected to two opposite forces. The solar radiation pressure
acting on the dust particles tries to push it away from the Sun while the
force of solar gravity tries to pull it towards the Sun. Since the two forces
vary as (1/r2 ), one usually defines an effective gravity, essentially given by
the difference of the two forces. The Keplerian orbit mechanics is then used
for the study of the dynamics of the dust particles. The ratio of radiation
pressure to gravitational force is denoted by (1 ) where
(1 ) =

Frad
.
Fgrav

(7.1)

The expressions for Frad and Fgrav for a spherical particle can be written
as


F
d2 Qpr
(7.2)
Frad =
4 c
4r2
213

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and
Fgrav

GM
=
r2

d d3
6


.

(7.3)

Here F is the mean solar radiation field impinging on the grain of diameter d and density d . Qpr is the efficiency factor for radiation pressure
(Chap. 8). Therefore Eq. (7.1) becomes
(1 ) = C(d d)1
where C =

(7.4)

3Qpr F
= 1.2 104 Qpr .
8cGM

The nature of the orbit of the particle is decided by the value of (1 ).

There are two cases of interest that have to be considered. Firstly, particles
are ejected continuously as a function of time by the nucleus. The locus of
the particles which have the same value of (1) is called the Syndyname or
Syndyne curve (Chap. 6). Physically this means that particles of the same
size are emitted by the nucleus. The other case involves the distribution of
particles emitted at any one particular time, as in the case of an outburst.
These particles will have varying (1 ) values and the locus of the curve
which describes this situation is called Synchrone.
The cometocentric coordinate system used to describe a comet tail is
shown in Fig. 7.1. Here and represent the coordinates in the orbit plane
of the comet. The third coordinate is in the direction perpendicular to the
plane of the orbit. Let the position of the comet be at A corresponding to
the time of observation t. Consider the position of the comet corresponding
to earlier times say t1 , t2 , t3 and t4 along its orbit. For simplicity assume
the particles to be emitted from the nucleus with zero relative velocity
and also of the same size. This implies that they have the same value of
(1 ). The orbit of the particles can be worked out and the position
on these trajectories for the time of observation t can be calculated. The
final positions are also marked as t1 , t2 , t3 and t4 in the tail. Therefore the
observed tail is just the locus of the dust particles in the (, ) plane, that
were emitted at different earlier times. This represents the Syndyname or
Syndyne curve. The farther one goes along the tail, the earlier the time at
which the particles were emitted. However, in a real situation, the particles
are emitted with a certain velocity spread, which gives rise to the observed
spread in the tail. The assumption that the particles have the same size
is not very realistic as generally particles of various sizes are emitted at
any instant of time. The actual trajectories of the particles are sensitive to

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Fig. 7.1

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215

Trajectories of the particles and the formation of the dust tail.

the particle size as can be seen from Eq. (7.4). The smaller size particles
would have moved farther compared to those of larger size particles. All
these effects have been incorporated in the dynamic model. Some of the
calculated Syndynes and Synchrones are shown in Fig. 7.2.
As mentioned already, in a real situation the dust particles are emitted
continuously as well as with varying sizes from the nucleus for which
(1 ) (d d)1 .

(7.5)

Let N d (t) represent the dust production rate of all sizes in particles per
second. For simplicity it is assumed that the distribution of particle sizes
remains constant along the orbit of the comet. The particle distribution
function g is given by
Z
g(d d)d(d d) such that
g(d d)d(d d) = 1.
(7.6)
0

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Fig. 7.2 Syndynes and Synchrones for Comet Arend-Roland on April 27, 1957. Time
= 1.71 106 sec at perihelion on April 8. The position of the observed tail of the
comet is also shown. (This figure as well as the other figures of this chapter are taken
from Finson, M.L. and Probstein, R.F. 1968. Ap. J. 154, 327 and 353).

The quantities N d (t) and g(d d) are usually obtained from the fitting of
the model with the observations.
For the calculation of the orbit of the particle, it is necessary to know the
initial velocities of the dust particles coming out of the nucleus. The model
for the calculation of the velocity of the dust particles is based on the steady
state fluid approach. The flow is assumed to be spherically symmetric with
the same temperature for the gas and dust at the nucleus and dust particles
having a uniform size. The gas and the dust coming out of the nucleus are
coupled through drag forces, computation of which is based on molecular
drag coefficient. With no relative velocity to start with, the particles are
accelerated outwards. The solution of the conservation equations gives the
velocity of the dust particles. These calculations which are quite involved
show that the dust particles reach their terminal speed within about 20
radii of the nucleus. This is indeed a very short distance and hence one
generally uses terminal speed for the dust particles in the tail calculations.
The terminal speed denoted as vi can be expressed in the functional form
as
vi
= g(M, )
(7.7)
(Cp T )1/2
m
d
16
M=
and =
d dR0 (Cp T )1/2 /m
g
m
g
3

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217

where m
d is the mass flow rate for the dust and m
g that of the gas. Therefore M represents the dust-to-gas mass ratio. Here R0 is the radius of the
nucleus of the comet, T is the initial temperature of the gas and Cp the
specific heat at constant pressure. Figure 7.3 shows a plot of the velocity of
the dust particles as a function of . Therefore the velocity can be written

Fig. 7.3

Speed of the dust particles emitted from the inner head region (see text).

in the form
vi = vi (d d, N d , m
g)

(7.8)

where T and R0 are known. Based on these results, it is generally assumed

that the dust comes out of the nucleus in a spherically symmetric manner
whose speeds are given by the results shown in Fig. 7.3. The results of
more detailed and realistic dust particle size distribution calculations show
that the derived velocities are similar to those in Fig. 7.3, except that the
terminal dust velocity is smaller by about 20% with respect to the single size
dust particles. One can also keep m
g , the gas mass flow rate, as a variable.
This value can be obtained by comparing the theoretical calculations with
the observations.
In order to compare with the observed isophotes, the total emission from
the comet along the line of sight has to be calculated. It is necessary to
calculate the integral of the number density along the line of sight, which
is termed as surface density. Since the optical thickness in the dust tail

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is small, the surface density is directly proportional to the light intensity.

There are two approaches for calculating the surface density distribution in
the tail. One procedure is to use the particles of various sizes emitted and
then integrate over all the times (Synchrone approach). The other method
is to consider one particle size and then integrate over all the sizes of the
particles (Syndyne approach). The two approaches give the same result as
they involve double integral involving (1 ) and time in both the cases.
Only the order of integration in these two cases is reversed. For illustrative
purposes, a brief discussion of the Syndyne approach will be presented.
Consider the position of the comet observed at a particular time tc
measured from the time of perihelion passage which is taken to be zero.
For a given value of (1 ), the particles lying on a Syndyne curve would
have been emitted at time
t = tc

(7.9)

where increases along the Syndyne curve with zero value at the Syndyne
origin. The number of particles emitted in the time and + d and in
the size range (d d) and (d d) + d(d d) is given by
N d (t)d g(d d)d(d d).

(7.10)

This has to be multiplied by the light scattering function to get the total
scattered intensity. The scattered intensity is proportional to the crosssectional area of the particle and hence varies as (d d)2 . Working in terms
of (1 ) rather than (d d), the new weighted distribution function can be
written as
f (1 )d(1 ) g(d d)(d d)2 d(d d)

(7.11)

such that o f (1 )d(1 ) = 1. Therefore the Eq. (7.10) can also be

expressed as
N d d f (1 )d(1 ).

(7.12)

These particles then follow well-defined orbits in the plane of the orbit of
the comet. However what is actually seen is the projection of these orbits
in the plane of the sky. Therefore, the expected intensities in the plane of
the sky has to be calculated. The total modified surface density is obtained
by integrating over various Syndyne tails for all values of (1 ). The final
expression is of the form

1
Z (1)b
dx

D=
Nd f (1 ) 2vi ( ; 1 ; tc )
d(1 )
(7.13)
d
(1)a

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Here dx/d represents the rate of change of length along the given Syndyne
axis with respect to . Physically it represents the effect on the surface density due to dispersion in the longitudinal direction with respect to the tail
axis. On the other hand the other term vi arises due to the dispersion
in the lateral direction. The Eq. (7.13) involves the functional parameters N d (t), f (1 ) and vi ( ; 1 ; tc ). These can be determined from a
comparison of the expected and the observed intensity distributions. From
a knowledge of these three parameters, all other quantities of interest can
then be determined.
The above formalism has been applied very successfully to Comet
Arend-Roland as can be seen from Fig. 7.4. Near perihelion, the gas and

Fig. 7.4 Measured and calculated isophotes for Comet Arend-Roland for May 1, 1957.
D is the density level.

the dust emission rates are about 7.5107 gm/sec and 6107 gm/sec. This
gas emission rate corresponds to a value of about 1.5 1030 molecule/sec.
The dust to gas ratio for Comet Arend-Roland is about 0.8 and the average
size of the particles in the tail is 1 m. The particles in the observed dust

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Physics of Comets

tail of Comet Arend-Roland correspond to those which have been emitted

about 10 to 15 days on either side of the perihelion passage. The method
has also been applied successfully to several other comets.
Although Finson and Probstein formalism has been very successful in
the studies of tail morphology, it has several limitations. All the grains are
assumed to be of the same kind and it is difficult to distinguish between
different kinds of grains. The observation of comets has clearly shown a
wide variation in the chemical and physical nature of grains. The value of
Qpr is also not constant but is dependent upon the sizes of the particles. If
the grains of various sizes are emitted continuously, it is difficult to separate
the effects depending on the time of ejection from those due to the size and
properties of the grains. Therefore several studies have been carried out
to take care of some of the above limitations. However, these studies with
complicated numerical integration techniques, loose the great advantage of
the simplicity of the Finson and Probstein approach. But they are highly
successful.
One of these is the Inverse Monte Carlo dust tail model. In this model,
the orbit of sample dust particles are calculated which takes into account the
anisotropy in dust ejection, dust ejection velocity for each dust particle etc.
for modelling the cometary dust tails. The model has been applied to large
number of observed cometary dust tails with good agreement. The model
also calculates the dust mass rate and the time dependent size distribution
function. The time average of size distribution function gives a value of
= 3.5 for the power law index. The resulting dust size range between
1 m and about 1 cm.

7.2.

Anti-tail

Many comets generally show a short tail in the solar direction which
is called the anti-tail (see Fig. 1.15). The anti-tail really do not point
towards the sun. It is related to the geometry of the system. The theory
developed for the dynamics of the grains of dust tails can also explain the
presence of anti-tail in comets. The calculated Synchrones and Syndynes
for Comet Arend-Roland are shown in Fig. 7.5 which shows the presence of
Synchrones in the direction of the Sun. The size of the particles giving rise
to these synchrons is >
10 m, which is much larger than those present in
the dust tails which is <
1 m. The appearance of the anti-tail of Comet
Arend-Roland changed with time within an interval of a few days. This

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Fig. 7.5
Roland.

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221

Calculated Syndynes and Synchrones for tail and anti-tail for Comet Arend-

arises due to the changing pattern of the positions of Synchrones. If the

Synchrones are crowded together, then the anti-tail will be seen as a narrow
tail, while if the Synchrones are spread out, the anti-tail will be a broad
one. The visibility of an anti-tail depends mainly on the sun-comet-earth
geometry. It can be seen clearly only when the orbit of the comet cuts the
orbital plane of the Earth.
The anti-tail of Comet Kohoutek could be seen shortly after perihelion. Comet Halley also displayed anti-tail after its perihelion passage. In
general, the anti-tail is more favourable for observation after perihelion.
The dynamical theory of grains has been applied very successfully to the
observed anti-tail of many comets. In fact, the predictions of the anti-tail
based on the theory have later been confirmed through observations. The
large size grains present in the anti-tail is also consistent with the estimated
size of the particles based on the absence of 10 m emission feature in the
anti-tail of Comet Kohoutek (Chap. 9). The presence of anti-tail of comets
is therefore generally explained as due to the effect of large size particles.

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It is evident from the dynamical theory of grains that the size of the
particles along the tail should vary and it depends upon the nature of
Synchrone and Syndyne curves. Since the polarization measurements are
sensitive to particle sizes, they could effectively be used for determining the
sizes of the particles. The polarization measurements on comets do seem
to indicate the variation of the particle size along the tail of the comet.
7.3.

Dust Trails

Dust trails were first seen on Comet Tempel 2 from the observations
carried out with the Infrared Astronomical Satellite. They are very narrow
with length to width ratio of around 200 to 1. Many of the trails are found
to coincide with the orbit of comets. Dynamical calculations show that
the observed dust trails are coincident with large size particle trajectories
indicating the presence of particles in the size range of about millimetre to
centimetre. These particles are ejected out at low velocities a few m/s
from the nucleus. The narrowness of the trail indicate that the velocity
dispersion is quite low and are therefore stable against perturbing forces
over periods of atleast a few orbital revolutions. Therefore the observed
dust trails is the resultant effect of the build up of large particle emissions
over several orbits. The observations carried out with ISO could spatially
resolve the dust trail in Comet Encke. Because of very large particles
present in dust trails, it may be too faint to be seen in the visible region.
However it has been detected along the orbit of Comet Kopff in the visible
region when the comet was at r = 3.01 AU. Therefore study of dust trails
in comets in the visible region should help in a better understanding of the
nature of very large size particles.
7.4.

Sodium Gas Tails

A narrow, straight and long tail along with a diffuse tail superposed over
the dust tail composed of sodium atoms has been seen in the bright Comets
Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake. These were seen in the images taken with filters
centred on the sodium D lines at 5890
A. These are similar to plasma tail
and dust tail that are generally seen in comets. The straight sodium tail
extending upto 107 km is located between the ion tail and the prolonged
radius vector. The straight tail could arise from the dissociation of some
molecule containing sodium which is then dragged out due to radiation

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pressure. The diffuse sodium tail could arise by the release of sodium
from dust grains due to some physical processes, such as evaporation and
sputtering. It is possible that sodium tails could be a common feature of
comets.

7.5.

Dust features

The high quality photographs near the nuclear region show highly complicated structure of various kinds as can be seen from Fig. 7.6. This arises

Fig. 7.6 The top rows show the various types of features observed in six comets in the
vicinity of the nucleus. The bottom rows show the computer simulated images. There is
a good similarity between the two. The Sun is at the top. (Sekanina, Z. 1991. In Comets
in the Post-Halley Era, eds. R.L. Newburn, Jr., et al. Kluwer Academic Publishers, p.
769).

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due to the complicated flow pattern of the grains after they are released
from the nucleus. To a first approximation it can be described in terms
of the resulting force between the gravitational, Fgrav and radiation Frad ,
forces acting on the grains (Sec. 7.1). The trajectories of the grains under
such a force in a cometocentric system are approximately parabolic in nature. Different patterns could be produced depending on the parameters
of the grains like radius, density and the material property (Fig. 7.7). In a

Fig. 7.7 Dust particle trajectories for Comet Halley released from the nucleus at the
time of perihelion passage. (a) and (b) correspond to particle sizes of 10m and 0.8 mm
respectively. The dotted curve shows the resulting envelope (Fertig, J. and Schwehm, G.
1984. Adv. Space Res. 4, 213).

real situation the spin of the nucleus, its associated precession and nutation
and the cometary activity has to be considered. These will give rise to complex behaviour of the flow patterns of the dust particles in the near nucleus
region. For example, arising from a single active area on the nucleus, the
spiral jets unwind and develop into expanding parabolic envelopes and so
on. It is rather difficult to take into account all these effects in the model
calculations. Therefore several attempts have been made to understand the
observed features in terms of simple hydrodynamic models. Another approach that has been attempted is to understand the flow patterns through
computer generated synthetic images by varying the parameters. As can
be seen from Fig. 7.6, the computer simulation technique can in principle
reproduce the diverse patterns of the observed dust structures of comets.
However the disadvantage of this method is that there are many parameters
involved which have to be adjusted by trial and error method to match the
observations, such as the angles associated with spin axis positions and its
relation to Earth and Sun, rotation period, position of active regions, dust

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properties and so on. Therefore it is possible to have multiple solutions in

this approach. To limit the number of solutions, it is preferable to fix some
of the parameters based on some other observations.
Several other fine features have also been seen in comets. The streamers
seen are straight and curved structures which converge towards the nucleus.
They are generally associated with synchrones. For example the streamers
seen in Comet West (1976 VI) have been attributed to particles of different
sizes expelled simultaneously from the nucleus in the form of an outburst.
Therefore long streamers are indicative of large dispersion of particle sizes,
whereas a narrow width reflects a short duration outburst. Several well
separated dust streamers has been seen in the images of Comet Halley. The
analysis of these streamers is consistent with the interpretation that they
represent diffuse synchrones of dust particles. The time interval between
these streamers is found to be around 2.2 days which corresponds to the
rotational period of the nucleus.
Another kind of feature, called striae has been seen in several comets.
These are characterized by a series of parallel narrow bands at large distances from the nucleus. They do not start from the nucleus. The mechanism of formation of striae is not clear at the present time.
The dynamical theory developed to explain the shape of the dust tail
of comets has been very successful in explaining the observations. In particular it can explain quantitatively the observed isophotes of dust tails of
comets. It has also been possible to get production rates of the gas and dust
and therefore the dust to gas ratio. The theory is also very successful in
explaining the presence of anti-tail in comets. Several sophisticated models
have been carried out over the simple dynamical theory, which can explain
in detail the observed dust tail of comets.

Problems
1. A grain of size a and density is moving in a medium of hydrogen density NH due to the effect of radiation pressure of a star of temperature
T and radius R. The grain is being slowed down by the drag force due
to the hitting of the grain and sticking to it. Show that the terminal
speed of the grain is given by

vt =

R2 T 4
mH c

1/2

1
1/2
NH r

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Hint: Use the conservation of momentum of the particle for calculating

the drag force.
2. Why does the length of the dust tail change with heliocentric distance?
At what distance from the Sun will the tail have the maximum extent.
3. How does the tail of a comet look, when it passes by Jupiter at a close
distance?

References
The theory of dynamics of dust tails is worked out in detail in these papers
1. Finson, M.L. and Probstein, R.F. 1968. Ap. J. 154, p. 327. (Paper
I), p. 353 (Paper II).
Other relevant papers are the following
2. Crifo, J.F. 1991. In Comets in Post-Halley Era, eds. R.L. Newburn,
Jr. et al., Kluwer Academic Publishers, Vol. 2, p. 937.
3. Fulle, M. 1989. Astr. Ap. 217, 283.
4. Fulle, M. 2005. In Comets II, eds. M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and W.A.
Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 565.
5. Gr
un, E. and Jessberger, E.K. 1990. In physics and chemistry of
comets. ed. W.F. Huebner. Springer-Verlag. p. 113.
6. Richer, K. and Keller, H.U. 1987. Astr. Ap. 171, 317.
7. Sekanina, Z. and Farrell. J.A. 1978. A.J 87, 1836.
Dust Trail
8. Eaton, N., Davis, J.K. and Green, S.F. 1984. MNRAS, 211, 15.
9. Sykes, M.V., Lebofsky, L.A., Hunten, D.M. et al. Science, 1986. 232,
1115.
Detection in the visible for the first time
10. Ishiguro, M., Watanabe, J., Usui, F. et al. 2002. Ap. J., 572, L117.
Cometary dust features can be seen in
11. Rahe, J., Donn, B. and Wurm, K. 1969. Atlas of Cometary Forms,
NASA SP-198 U.S. Govt. Printing Office, Washington D.C.
The following papers discuss model calculation of features
12. Vasundhara, R., Chakraborty, P., Muneer, S. et al. 2007. A.J., 133,
612.
13. Sekanina, Z., Brownlee, D.E., Economou, T.E. et al. 2004. Science,
304, 1769.

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CHAPTER 8

Light Scattering Theory

The dust particles present in comets scatter and absorb the incident
solar radiation. In fact, it is the scattered solar radiation which makes the
dust tail of comets visible. The infrared radiation that has been seen from
comets is also directly related to the amount of incident radiation absorbed
by the dust particles. Therefore the theory of scattering of light by small
particles is basic to the study of cometary grains. The aim is to determine,
from theory, the distribution of intensity of the scattered radiation and the
polarization as a function of the scattering angle. It is also of interest to
know the cross sections for the absorption and scattering processes, which
determine the albedo of the particles. The efficiency factor for the radiation pressure is also of interest, as was discussed in the last chapter. All
these quantities depend upon the shape, structure and composition of the
grain. The theories of scattering have been developed for well-defined particle shapes like spheres, concentric spheres, cylinders, spheroids and so on.
However, grains in general are likely to be irregular in shape, inhomogeneous and fluffy in nature. The theory of scattering from such grains is
highly complex. Hence, at the present time attempts are being made to
study the scattering from such grains from the theoretical points of view
with certain approximations. The study is also being pursued through experimental means. We will briefly discuss some of these aspects in this
chapter.

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8.1.
8.1.1.

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Mie Scattering Theory

Efficiency factors

The theory of scattering by spherical particles of homogeneous composition involves the solution of Maxwells equations with appropriate boundary
conditions on the sphere. This was worked out by Mie in 1908 and independently by Debye in 1909. Since an excellent account of the solution of this
scattering problem, generally known as Mie Theory, is discussed in many
books, we will summarize here only the results with particular reference to
the case of cometary dust.
The scattering properties of a particle depend upon the following quantities: (1) the property of the medium, usually specified by the complex
refractive index, m = n ik. where n and k are the refractive and absorptive indices respectively. (2) the wavelength of the incident radiation ()
and (3) the size of the particle (a). As a result of radiation interacting with
the particle, part of the radiation is absorbed and part of it is scattered.
Therefore, the total amount of radiation lost from the incident beam (extinction) is the sum total of the absorbed and the scattered components.
These are generally expressed in terms of the dimensionless efficiency factors, Qsca and Qabs for the scattering and absorption components. The
efficiency factor for the total extinction is given by
Qext = Qsca + Qabs .

(8.1)

If Csca , Cabs and Cext denote the corresponding cross sections, then
Csca = a2 Qsca

(8.2)

Cabs = a2 Qabs

(8.3)

Cext = a2 Qext .

(8.4)

and

The main aim is to determine the efficiency factors Qsca and Qabs from
the scattering theory. They are given by
Qsca =



2 X
(2n + 1) |an |2 + |bn |2
2
x n=1

(8.5)

Qext =

2 X
(2n + 1){Re(an + bn )}
x2 n=1

(8.6)

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where the dimensionless parameter x = (2a/) and Re represents the real

part. The scattering coefficients an and bn are given by
an =

n0 (mx)n (x) mn (mx)n0 (x)

n0 (mx)n (x) mn (mx)n0 (x)

(8.7)

bn =

mn0 (mx)n (x) n (mx)n0 (x)

.
mn0 (mx)n (x) n (mx)n0 (x)

(8.8)

n and n are the modified Bessel functions known as the Riccati-Bessel

functions. The addition of a prime to the Riccati-Bessel functions denotes
the differentiation with respect to their arguments. Riccati-Bessel functions
can be expressed in terms of Bessel functions, J, as follows
 y 1/2
Jn+1/2 (y)
(8.9)
n (y) =
2
and
 y 1/2 

n (y) =
Jn+1/2 (y) + i(1)n Jn1/2 (y)
(8.10)
2
where y represents either mx or x. The third Riccati-Bessel function can
be defined as
 y 1/2
Jn1/2 (y)
(8.11)
n (y) = (1)n
2
The functions n (y) and n (y) are connected through the identity
n (y) = n (y) + in (y).

(8.12)

In addition to energy, light carries momentum. Therefore a beam that

interacts with the particle will exert a force on the particle called radiation
pressure. With the assumption that all the photons absorbed by the particle
transfer all their momentum and hence exert a force in the direction of
propagation, the efficiency for radiation pressure is given by the difference
between the total extinction and the amount of scattered light.
i.e. Qpr = Qext cos Qsca

(8.13)

where
cos Qsca

x 
4 X n(n + 2)
[Re(an )Re(an+1 )
= 2
x n=1
n+1

+ Im(an )Im(an+1 ) + Re(bn )Re(bn+1 )


2n + 1
[Re(an )Re(bn ) + Im(an )Im(bn )] (8.14)
+Im(bn )Im(bn+1 )] +
n(n + 1)

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where Re and Im represent the real and imaginary quantities. The efficiency for radiation pressure is of interest in the study of dynamics of
grains. The value of cos is also sometimes known as the asymmetry factor.
i.e. g = cos .

(8.14a)

The value of g = 0 for a particle that scatters isotropically and g > 0

for preferentially scattering in the forward direction. For complete forward
scattering g = 1. For g < 0 the scattered radiation is in the backward
direction. The cross sections given by Eqs. (8.5) and (8.6) refer to a particle
of a given size. However, in general, a medium will consist of particles of
various sizes. If n(a) represents the number of particles per unit volume
in the size range a and a + da then the total extinction is given by the
expression
Z
Qtotal () = a2 Qext (a, )n(a)da.
(8.15)
8.1.2.

Albedo

Another quantity of interest is the amount of energy scattered from

the incident beam, called the albedo of the particle. In the general case,
when the scattered contributions from diffracted, refracted and reflected
components are taken into account, the albedo of the particle is defined as
=

Qsca
.
Qext

(8.16)

If the diffraction component is not taken into account, it is called the bond
albedo. Therefore the bond albedo is defined as the ratio of the energy
refracted and reflected by the particle in all directions to the energy incident
on the geometric cross section.
Z
1
i.e. AB =
r (, )d
(8.16a)
G
Here r (, ) is the differential scattering cross-section. For the case
when there is symmetry with respect to the direction of incident radiation,
then
r (, ) = r ().
The geometric albedo Ap is defined as the energy scattered by the particle at = 180 (backward scattering) to that scattered by a white disk

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of the same geometric cross section, scattering according to Lamberts Law

(r (180 ) = G/).

i.e. Ap = r (180 ).
(8.16b)
G
The bond albedo AB is related to the geometrical albedo Ap by the relation
AB = Ap .q
(8.16c)
where
Z

j() sin d.

q=2
0

Here j() = r ()/r (180 ) F ()/F (180 ), the ratio of the phase functions and q is known as the phase integral. For isotropic scattering, AB = 1
and Ap = 0.25 and therefore q = 4.
8.1.3.

Scattered intensity

The major physical quantity of interest is the intensity of the scattered

radiation as a function of the scattering angle. If I0 is the original intensity impinging on the grain, the intensity of the light scattered into unit
solid angle for the scattering angle defined with respect to the incident
beam (Fig. 8.1) is given by F ()Io , where F () denotes the phase function. Therefore a plot of F () versus gives the angular distribution of the

Fig. 8.1 Schematic diagram of a scattering process. is the scattering angle and
Io ()F () is the intensity of the scattered radiation from the original incident radiation of Io .

scattered radiation and is known as scattering diagram. The scattering

phase function is related to the complex scattering amplitudes s1 () and
s2 () as

1 
F () = 2 |s1 ()|2 + |s2 ()|2
2k
= i1 + i2
(8.17)

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where k = (2/). The quantity i1 and i2 are essentially the components of

intensity in the direction perpendicular and parallel to the scattering plane.
The scattering plane contains the incident radiation and the direction of
the scattered wave. The expressions for s1 () and s2 () are given in terms
of the scattering coefficients an and bn as
s1 () =

X
2n + 1
{an n (cos ) + bn n (cos )}
n(n
+ 1)
n=1

(8.18)

s2 () =

X
2n + 1
{bn n (cos ) + an n (cos )}
n(n
+ 1)
n=1

(8.19)

where
n (cos ) =

1
P 1 (cos )
sin n

(8.20)

n (cos ) =

d 1
P (cos ).
d n

(8.21)

and

Here Pn s are the Legendre polynomials.

8.1.4.

Polarization

The scattered intensities i1 and i2 in the two directions are a function of

the scattering angle. Therefore the polarization of the resulting radiation
is defined as
P =

i1 i2
.
i1 + i2

(8.22)

The value of |P | varies from 0 to 1. The sign of P could be positive or

negative. Positive and negative signs imply that the scattered light is polarized perpendicular or parallel to the scattering plane respectively. The
value of P for the scattering angles, = 0 and 180 , is equal to zero as
i1 = i2 . In addition to linear polarization, circular polarization also may
be seen in certain favourable cases. The circular polarization arises if the
refractive indices are different for the two states of polarization. In general,
the circular polarization is one or two orders of magnitude smaller than
that of linear polarization.

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8.2.

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233

Approximate Expressions

So far we have been considering the exact expressions for the efficiency
factors for the scattering and the extinction by the spherical particles. In
many practical situations, like in the infrared and far infrared regions, where
the condition that the size of the particle is very much less than the wavelength of the radiation, i.e., x <
1 is satisfied, the approximate analytical
expressions of Eqs. (8.5) and (8.6) may be used. Under the above condition,
the Eqs. (8.5) and (8.6) reduce to
 2
2
8 4
m 1
Qsca = x Re
(8.23)
3
m2 + 2
and

Qabs = 4xIm

m2 1
m2 + 2


.

(8.24)

If further m is real, i.e. no absorption, then

Qsca = Qext

8 4 m2 1 2
x | 2
|
3
m +2

(8.25)

and Qabs = 0.
8.3.

Computation of Cross Sections

The actual evaluation of the efficiency factors has been considered in detail by various investigators. Various methods have been proposed for the
calculation of efficiency factors starting from the simple expansion techniques. The main problem is to calculate the coefficients an and bn and
this is quite tedious. The calculation of an and bn involves a knowledge
of the quantities n , n0 and others which in turn depend upon the Bessel
functions with complex arguments. The computation of these quantities becomes complicated when the refractive index is complex. However they can
be calculated easily using recurrence relations with the help of a computer.
The following recurrence relations can be used to derive the Riccati-Bessel
functions.
2n 1
n1 (y) n2 (y)
(8.26)
n (y) =
y
n0 (y) =

n
y

n (y) + n1 (y)

(8.27)

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n (y) =

2n 1
y

n1 (y) n2 (y)

(8.28)

n (y) n+1 (y)

(8.29)

and
0n (y) =

n+1
y

with
0 (y) = sin y
1 (y) =

sin y
cos y
y

0 (y) = cos y

(8.30)
(8.31)
(8.32)

and
1 (y) =

cos y
+ sin y.
y

(8.33)

Therefore all the functions that enter in an and bn can be generated.

Hence the efficiency factors can be computed for any given value of m and
x. The number of terms to be included in Eqs. (8.5) and (8.6) depend upon
the parameters x and m. If x is large, more terms have to be included in the
calculation of an and bn . However with the availability of computers it is
easy to sum over all the terms till the required accuracy is achieved in the
calculated efficiency factors. Many investigators have developed efficient
computer programs for the calculation of these quantities which are readily
available in the literature.
8.4.

Results

For astrophysical situations, one seems to deal with the real part of
the refractive index of the particles, which is of the order of 1.3 to 1.6
(Chap. 9). Therefore, for illustrative purposes, the extinction cross-section
is plotted as a function of x for constant indices of refraction of 1.3 and
1.6 in Fig. 8.2. Since the indices of refraction are assumed to be constant,
the nature of the curves remains the same when the size or wavelength is
changed. But in a real situation, the refractive index of the material is a
function of the wavelength which has to be incorporated. The results of such
calculations give a better physical picture and show more structures in the
curves arising due to the material property. The curves in Fig. 8.2 display
several interesting features. A series of broad maxima and minima can be

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Fig. 8.2 The efficiency factors for extinction and scattering for spheres calculated from
the Mie Theory are plotted as a function of the dimensionless parameter X. The results
are shown for three sample cases. (Adapted from Wickramasinghe, N.C. 1973. Light
scattering functions for small particles. London: Adam Hilger).

seen easily. Superposed on these band features are the small irregular fine
structures generally called the ripple structure. The curve for small values
of x refers to Rayleigh scattering region, where it varies as (1/4 ). For
intermediate values of x, the variation is given by (1/). For large values of
x, the value of Qext approaches a value of 2. It is interesting to note that the
limiting value 2 is twice as large as the cross section given by the geometrical
optics. This is essentially related to the fact that the geometrical optics is
strictly not valid in the neighbourhood of the edges of the object. So one
has to use the diffraction theory. The additional factor of a2 comes due to
this reason. The effect of absorption in the Qext is to reduce the strength
of the resonances and the curve becomes smooth (Fig. 8.2). For very large
values of x, the absorption and scattering contribute almost equally while
for small values of x, the total extinction is mainly contributed by the
absorption process. The effect of increase in the absorption coefficient is to
reduce the albedo of the particle.
The scattering intensity for various angles is shown in Fig. 8.3. The

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Fig. 8.3 The intensities I1 (dashed curve) and I2 (solid curve) are plotted as a function
of the scattering angle for two representative values of the refractive index. Each curve
is labeled by the parameter X. (Adapted from Wickramasinghe. N.C. 1973. op. cit.).

values of the intensity at 0 and 180 are marked in the margin of the curve.
The most important point to note from the curve is that the scattering is
mostly in the forward direction ( = 0 ) and it oscillates with the scattering
angle. The scattering diagrams for a few cases are shown schematically in
Fig. 8.4. For isotropic scattering the intensity is the same in all directions.
For Rayleigh scattering i.e., particle size <
wavelength of the incident
radiation, the phase function (1 + cos2 ) where is the scattering angle.
This dependence shows that the resultant diagram shown by the solid line
is a superposition of two different components. One component which is
isotropic, is shown by dashed lines and the second component is shown by
two lobes. The Mie scattering diagram for m = 1.3, x 1 and x > 1 is
also shown in Fig. 8.4. Here as x increases, the scattering becomes more

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and more forward peaked.

Fig. 8.4

Schematic scattering diagrams for various cases.

However, in any real situation, there will be a distribution of particle

sizes. Therefore the cross-sections have to be averaged over the size distribution function. Several analytical expressions have been used for averaging
the cross-sections. For the purpose of illustration Fig. 8.5 shows the results
for the size distribution of the form

n(r) = constant r(13b)/b er/ab

(8.34)

where a = reff and b = veff . Here reff and veff represent a mean radius
for scattering and a measure of the width of the size distribution function
respectively, b = 0 refers to the case of single particles. The effect of the size
distribution function is to average out the ripple structure which smoothens
it out. It also dampens the resonance effects. Therefore the curve becomes
smooth. The results for phase function and linear polarization are shown
in Fig. 8.6. Although the results refer to a particular size distribution
function, the general trend and nature of the results are similar for any
other size distribution function.

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Fig. 8.5 A plot of the efficiency factor for scattering as a function of the dimensionless
parameter X = (2a/). The curves represent the averaged value summed over the
size distribution of the form n(r) = const. r(13b)/b er/ab . The refractive index is
n = 1.33, k ni = 0. (Hansen, J. E. and Travis, L.D. 1974. Space Sci. Rev. 16 527).

8.5.

Particles of Other Types

So far, the discussion has been limited to the case of spherical particles
with homogeneous and isotropic internal structure. Even in this case the
mathematical solution is highly complex in nature. However in a real situation, the particles are far from being spherical in shape. Therefore considerable effort has been spent in the study of particles of other shapes through
theoretical and numerical means. Several classical methods of solving scattering problems have been used. To name a few, separation of variables,
perturbation methods, fields expanded in vector spherical harmonics among
others have been used. The exact solutions for scattering from spheroids,

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Fig. 8.6 Phase function and polarization for single scattering are plotted as a function
of the scattering angle for wavelength of 5500
A and n = 1.33, k ni = 0 (Adapted
from Hansen, J. E. and Travis, L. D. 1974. op. cit.).

infinite cylinders, concentric spheres have been worked out and are available in many books. The cases of cylinders with oblique incident, as well
as concentric cylinders have also been investigated mathematically. The
approximate formulae for the limiting cases are also available for concentric spheres, cylinders etc. However, even the well defined shape for the
particles introduces many more additional parameters due to their shape,
orientation etc. compared to that of spheres.
Two possibilities exist for the case of spheroids. They could be prolate
or oblate. For infinite cylinders, the exact solution has been derived for
the case when the particle diameter is much smaller than its length. In the
case of concentric spheres there are various possibilities depending on the
inner and outer radii and their relative refractive indices. Even from such
well-defined shape of particles the computation of cross sections is quite
complicated and lengthy. In addition, the computation time could be quite
large and particularly so for larger size particles. Therefore efforts are being
made to develop efficient methods for the calculation of cross sections from
such well-defined particles.
The general results for nonspherical cases are qualitatively very similar
to those for spheres, with a Rayleigh like increase, broad scale interference
structure with finer ripples superposed over it. As a typical case, the results
for the extinction efficiencies in the case of infinite cylinders for n = 1.33
and m = 1.33 0.05i are shown in Fig. 8.7. Here QE and QH denote

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Fig. 8.7 A plot of the efficiency factors for extinction of cylinders oriented normal to
the incident radiation for two values of refractive index. QE is for the electric vector
E of the incident radiation parallel to the axis and QH is for the magnetic vector H of
the incident radiation parallel to the axis. The polarization is also shown as QE QH .
(Adapted from Greenberg, J. M. 1978. In Cosmic Dust. ed. McDonnel, J. A. M. New
York: John Wiley and Sons, p. 187).

the value of Q for the case of electric vector and the magnetic vector of
the incident radiation parallel to the axis of the cylinder. The radius of
the cylinder is a. The polarization (QE QH ) is also shown in the same
figure. The effect of absorption as pointed out before, is to dampen the
polarization oscillations.
The discussion so far was limited to the ideal situations wherein the
particles are assumed to have definite and regular shapes. However, in general, the dust particles in a real case are far from the above situations. It is
more likely that they will be irregular in shape. They could also be fluffy,
porous and could have surface roughness. Therefore several attempts have
been made to consider the general case of scattering by an arbitrary parti-

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cle. The general solutions involve the calculation of the effect on individual
atoms by the incident field and also the combined fields of all other atoms.
As the general case is almost impossible to solve, it necessarily involves
making certain approximations and finally the cross sections have to be derived from numerical methods. Several studies have been carried out based
on perturbation approach, T-matrix method also known as the extended
boundary condition method, study of statistical description of roughness in
the frame work of the potential theory and so on.
However a method which has been successfully used is to subdivide the
particle into several smaller identical elements, which itself is a collection of
large number of atoms, and can be represented as a dipole oscillator. The
average field due to the combined effect of all these individual oscillations
is then calculated. This is the well known Discrete Dipole Approximation
(DDA) method. Another approach that has been investigated is to make
use of the integral representation of the macroscopic Maxwells equations.
In this method, the particles are assumed to be an aggregate of small cubic
volumes at the lattice site of which are located sub volumes, of identical
and homogeneous character. This is mathematically equivalent to that of
DDA except that the computation is based on the calculation of volume
element polarizations. The advantage of DDA method is that it can be
applied to particles of arbitrary shape, structure and composition. A sample
representation of a fluffy particle in terms of subparticles which is considered
in the computation of cross sections is shown in Fig. 8.8. The nature of
fluffiness i.e. creating porosity in the grain, depends upon the number of
dipoles, their sizes and the separation between them. The number of dipoles
used in the calculation could be as large as 105 . Each of the dipoles in the
grain could be small enough to be thought of as Rayleigh-limit inclusions.
Extensive calculations have been carried out for the study of scattering
properties of such a grain under the DDA formalism for examining the
effects of porosity, size of the dipoles, topology of the grain and so on,
on the derived results. A sample result for the extinction from a prolate
spheroid is shown in Fig. 8.9. The validity of DDA results has to be tested
by comparing the results with those derived from well-defined shapes.
In the past, the scattering from regular particles like spheres, spheroids
etc., but with inhomogeneous composition, has been studied by replacing
the inhomogeneous grain with a homogeneous grain by using an effective
dielectric constant. The idea being that the effective dielectric constant of
the material provides the correct light scattering characteristics of the heterogeneous medium. It can be calculated either from the Maxwell-Garnett

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Fig. 8.8 The model of the dust particle (a prolate pseudospheriod with 2a = 60, 2b =
2c = 30 in units of the lattice spacing d) used in the calculation of cross-section under
Discrete-Dipole approximation. In this grain model 60% of the original 28256 dipoles
have been removed (Wolff, M. J., Clayton, G. C., Martin, A. G. and Schulte-Ladbeck,
R. E. 1994. Ap. J. Letters, 423, 51).

theory or the Bruggeman theory (Sec. 8.6). It is therefore of interest to compare the results obtained from such calculations with those derived from
DDA formalism, for the same grain parameters. Figure 8.9 shows such a
comparison. The agreement in general is found to be better, as the number
of dipoles in the DDA formalism is increased. Ultimately, how good are
the calculations has to be tested by comparing with the observations. In
general, the results based on these theories seem to represent astronomical
observations better compared to the case of spherical particles. However
the results based on spherical dust particles can be used to limit the range
of cometary grain parameters.
It is easier to carry out laboratory measurements on larger size particles
rather than on micron size particles. Therefore several studies have been
carried out using the microwave techniques. If the optical constants of the
material in the microwave and optical wavelength regions are the same, then

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Fig. 8.9 The calculated efficiency factors for extinction with 40% porosity. The results
are for two orientations of the incident electric vector E and H which are parallel and
perpendicular to the major axis of a 2:1 prolate spheroid. The DDA results for both
Rayleigh and non-Rayleigh vacuum inclusions are compared to the various mixing rules
(continuous curves). The base grains have 3558, 8320 and 14440 dipoles for the ranges
x 2, 3 x 4 and x 5 respectively (Wolff, M. J. et al. 1994. loc. cit.).

the results based on the microwave studies carried on larger size particles
are also valid for smaller size particles in the visible wavelength region,
as the characteristic parameter x is the same. Therefore, various kinds
of measurements like extinction, angular scattering and so on have been
carried out in the microwave region on particles of various shapes such as
cylinders, spheroids, spheres and irregular particles. The results of such
studies agree reasonably well with those of calculated values, thus giving
some credibility for the theories.

8.6.

Optical Constants

The calculation of cross sections requires the knowledge of the gross

material property of the grain. This is generally represented by the refractive index, m = n + ik, or the dielectric constant  = 0 + i00 , of the
medium. The optical constants represent a measure of the capacity of electrons in the material to oscillate for the incident radiation. m and  are
generally complex quantities. These two quantities are not independent of
each other. Knowing one set of quantities, the other set can be calculated.
The relations for 0 and 00 are given by
0 = n 2 k 2

and 00 = 2nk.

(8.35)

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similarly the relations for n and k are given by

 02
1/2
( + 002 )1/2 + 0
n=
(8.36)
2
and
1/2
 02
( + 002 )1/2 0
.
(8.37)
k=
2
The determination or the use of either refractive index or the dielectric
constant depends upon the physical situation being considered.
The optical constants of materials are not directly measurable quantities. But they have to be determined from laboratory measurements of
some property of light in combination with the suitable theory. Various
types of measurements can be made for the determination of the optical
constants of the material. They could be the measurement of the extinction coefficient from a set of thin slabs, transmittance and reflected light at
near normal incidence or for various incidence angles, measurement of the
phase shift of the reflected light and so on. The theoretical formulation for
the interpretation of the above types of measurements are available. The
choice of the method depends upon the material to be measured, experimental techniques available and so on. Various methods have been used to
derive the optical constants of several types of material. However the most
commonly used and probably the best method for the determination of
optical constants is the use of dispersion relations, generally known as the
Kramers-Kroning relations in combination with the reflectance measurements. Basically, the dispersion relation is an integral over the whole range
of photon energies, which relate the dielectric function to the measured
quantity like the extinction coefficients or the reflectance measurements.
The real and imaginary parts of m or  are not independent of each other
but are interrelated through these dispersion relations.
The determination of optical constants of materials from the laboratory
measurements are quite difficult and cumbersome. The sample has to be
perfectly smooth to avoid scattering effects, it should be homogeneous and
thin slab and so on. Most of the optical constants derived from laboratory
measurements are of that of pure substances. In addition the wavelength
coverage may not be extensive. Therefore one might have to make use of
the derived optical constants over the limited wavelength regions available,
to cover the wavelength region from ultraviolet to far infrared. The optical
constants for several material like graphite, carbon, amorphous carbon,
silicates and so on which are of interest for cometary studies are available.

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The optical constants for several terrestrial rock samples and moon samples
have also been measured. The measured refractive indices of silicates for
different Mg/Fe ratio show wide variation. This will have great effect on
grain temperature and hence on the infrared emission from such grains.
Since these materials are not strictly homogeneous, the measurements in
principle, should provide some sort of average dielectric constants of these
materials. The cometary grains are inhomogeneous in character. Therefore
the best way to get the refractive index of the material of interest is through
laboratory studies. Since it is almost impossible to study all the cases of
interest in the laboratory, a theoretical treatment of the problem becomes
a necessity.
The dust grains present in the astrophysical environments are highly inhomogeneous in character. In general, it is not easy to calculate the average
optical properties of inhomogeneous medium even if the property of the individual constituents are known. So one has to use various approximations.
This has given rise to the concept of an effective dielectric constant for the
material. This has given rise to several theories. The two theories that are
most commonly used are the Maxwell-Garnett theory dating back to 1904
and the Bruggeman theory proposed in 1935. In the Maxwell-Garnett theory, the composite grain consists of matrix material in which small spherical
inclusions are embedded having dielectric constants m and i respectively
with f as the volume fraction of inclusions. The inclusions are assumed to
be spherical in shape with sizes smaller than or nearly equal to the wavelength under consideration. The problem is to calculate the average electric
field of the medium from the knowledge of the individual electric fields Ei
and Em of the two components arising out of the interactions, which are by
themselves are averages over a smaller volume. With the assumption that
the relations for the electric fields, polarization vector and the relations
between Ei and Em as well as between i and m also hold for the average
fields, the following relation for the average dielectric constant is derived.
av = m [(2m + i 2f (m i ))/(2m + i + f (m i ))] .

(8.38)

Here the average dielectric constant is independent of the position in

the composite medium. This is generally known as the Maxwell-Garnett
rule or simply as the M-G rule.
In the Bruggeman theory, there is no distinction between the matrix and
the inclusions as in the case of Maxwell-Garnett theory. Here the grains
are aggregate of small particles with their own dielectric constant (i ) and

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volume fraction (fi ). The effective dielectric constant for such a case is
given by the expression
X fi (i eff )
= 0.
(8.39)
(i + 2eff )
i
The value of eff is derived from the solution of the above equations. However there may be some convergence problem if there is a wide variation in
optical constants. Maxwell-Garnett theory is more popular and is generally being used. The applicability and accuracy of the above relations has
to be tested based on the comparison between the computed values and
those of laboratory measurements of two component mixtures. The laboratory measured dielectric constants of several two component mixtures
are in agreement with the effective dielectric constant values derived from
Eq. (8.38). Therefore the M-G rule can be used to derive the average optical
constants of a two component medium. It is possible to extend the method
for a multicomponent mixture as well as for the shape distribution for the
inclusions, which of course introduces several additional parameters.
The dust in comets are more complicated than the simple models considered in the theoretical treatments as summarized so far. For a real situation
it is necessary to specify several parameters for the aggregate like the size,
shape and the refractive index of the material and for the inclusions, the
degree of porosity, size, shape, location and their orientation. To consider
so many parameters in the actual calculation of cross-section becomes difficult from the practical point of view as well as computing time required.
In spite of this, in recent times DDA and other methods have been used
extensively in cometary studies. The codes for some of these methods are
available.
Problems
1. Show that for the condition (2a/) <
1 and with refractive index m =
n ik, Qabs is given by
Qabs =

a
48nk
.
2
2
(n k + 2) + 4n2 k 2

2. Express the above relation for Qabs in terms of the dielectric function
1 and 2 .
3. Calculate Qsca and Qabs for ice particles of m = 1.30.05i, a = 2105
cm and = 5 m.

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4. For a particle size distribution of the form n(a)a3 for a1 < a < a2 ,
calculate the constant of proportionality such that the total number is
unity.
5. Assuming m=1, a  and the size distribution of Problem 3, get an
expression for the total Qabs .
6. Discuss the physical reason for the occurrence of Kinks in the extinction curve. Why does it smooth out when integrated over the size
distribution function?

References
The theory of scattering from spheres can be found in these classic works:
1. Debye, P. 1909. Ann. Physik, 30, 59.
2. Hulst, Van de 1957. Light Scattering by Small Particles. New York:
John Wiley and Sons.
3. Mie, G. 1908. Ann. Physik, 25, 377.
A discussion of albedos can be found in
4. Hanner, M.S., Giese, R.H., Weiss, K. and Zerull, R. 1981. Astr. Ap.,
104, 42.
The theory of core-mantle particles is worked out in
5. Guttler, A. 1952. Ann. Phys., Lpz. 6 Folge, Bd. 11,5.
The case of core-mantle and cylindrical particles is included in
6. Wickramasinghe, N.C. 1973. Light Scattering Functions for Small particles, London: Adam Hilger Limited.
A good account is also given in the book
7. Bohren, C.F. and Huffman, D.R. 1983. Absorption and Scattering of
Light by Small particles. John Wiley, New York.
The idea of Discrete-Dipole approximation was proposed in the following
paper.
8. Purcell, E.M. and Pennypacker, C.R. 1973. Ap. J. 186, 705.
More recent work can be found in the following papers.
9. Draine, B.T. and Goodman, J.J. 1993. Ap. J. 405, 685.
10. Hage, J.I. and Greenberg, J.M. 1990. Ap. J. 361, 251.
11. Wolff, M.J., Clayton, G.C., Martin, P.G. and Schulte-Ladbuck, R.E.
1994. Ap. J. (Letters), 423, 51.
12. Wolff, M.J., Clayton, G.C. and Gibson, S.J. 1998. Ap.J., 503, 815.
13. Kimura, H. Kolokolova, L. and Mann, I. 2006. Astron. Astrophys.,
449, 1243.

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14. Kolokolova, L., Hanner, M.S. and Levasseur - Regourd, A. -Ch. 2005.
Comets II, eds. M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and M.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 577.
Maxwell-Garnett and Bruggeman rules are discussed in
15. Bohren and Huffman 1983. Absorption and Scattering of Light by Small
particles, John Wiley, New York.

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CHAPTER 9

The Nature of Dust Particles

As was pointed out in the previous chapter, when radiation is incident

on a dust particle (also called the grain), it can scatter as well as polarize
it. The absorbed energy by the dust particles can also be radiated in
the infrared region and this has been seen in comets. There may be also
spectral features in the infrared region depending on the composition of the
dust particle. The radiation pressure acting on the particle can give rise to
dynamical effects as discussed in Chap. 7. Each of these physical effects
could be used to infer the nature and the composition of the cometary
grains. The in situ measurements of Comets Halley, Wild 2 and Tempel 1
performed by the instruments on board the spacecrafts have given valuable
information about the nature and the composition of dust particles. The
laboratory studies of dust samples collected from Comet Wild 2 has revealed
for the first time the true nature of the cometary dust particles. While
it is known that comets do exhibit a great deal of variability, there still
exists a general overall pattern of behaviour in their observed properties.
The emphasis here is on this general pattern of the observed properties of
comets. Here we would like to consider some of these effects.
9.1.

Visible Continuum

Comets in general posses a continuum in the visible region of the spectrum. The strength of the continuum varies from comet to comet and with
the heliocentric distance. The observed continuum is attributed to the
scattering of the solar radiation by the dust particles. Therefore, the dusty
comets should have a strong continuum. What is of interest, of course,
is the dependence of the continuum as a function of the wavelength. The
usual method adopted for getting the variation of continuum with wave249

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length is to compare the observed energy distribution of a comet with the

energy distribution of the Sun or a similar star. But the cometary spectrum in the visible region is dominated by the emission features from the
molecules. Therefore, the continuum has to be corrected for these emission
features or a spectral region has to be selected where the emission features
are absent or minimal. From these observations, it is possible to determine
the relative continuum intensities of comet with respect to the Sun or a star
similar to the Sun. This yields the wavelength dependence of the observed
continuum of the comet. Since the dependence arises due to the scattering
of the dust particles in the comet, the interpretation of these observations
should give information about the nature of the particles.
Let I0 be the intensity of the incident solar radiation and r, represent
the sun-comet and the comet-earth distances respectively. The intensity of
the scattered radiation at the Earth at an angle is given by (Chap. 8).
I0 ()
[i1 (, ) + i2 (, )]
(9.1)
2k 2 r2 2
where k = 2/.This has to be integrated in general with a size distribution function. Therefore, the problem reduces to the calculation
of Iscat (r, , , ) for a given size distribution function and for the assumed grain properties represented by the refractive index of the material,
m = n ik. The mean scattering intensities can be calculated from the
Mie Theory as discussed in the previous chapter. Therefore, the expected
intensity distributions can be calculated for various input parameters which
could then be compared with the observations.
There exists a large number of broad band observations of comets in
the wavelength region from 0.5 to 20 m. To have an idea of the expected
results from the scattering component of the cometary grains, some of the
comets around a few heliocentric distance values and covering various scattering angles can be grouped together. Since the main interest is in the
general shape of the wavelength dependence of the observed fluxes and not
in the absolute amount, the shape of the curves could be shifted to obtain
a mean dependence of the observed fluxes. This procedure enables one to
extend the wavelength range of the scattered radiation for comets up to
4 m as can be seen from Fig. 9.1. There exists a close relation in
the various observations. The shape of the observed solar flux variation
with the wavelength is nearly the same as that of the observed shape. This
shows that it is rather difficult to extract the properties of dust particles in
comets from the study of broad band-pass observations. This is borne out
Iscat (r, , , ) =

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Fig. 9.1 Superposed plot of relative observed fluxes of eight comets as a function
of wavelength for heliocentric distances r grouped around 0.3 AU(), 0.7 AU(4),
1.0 AU(0), 2.5 AU(X) and 3.75 AU(). They cover the scattering angles from around 30
to 177 . The continuous curve shows the shape of the observed solar flux and the dashed
curve is for Mie calculations with m = 1.38 0.039i and N (a) a3.5 . Observational
data: Bradfield (1974 III) and Kohoutek (1973 XII) (Ney E.P. 1974 Icarus 23, 551);
Bradfield (1980 XV) (Ney, E.P. 1982. In Comets, ed. L.L. Wilkening, Univ. Arizona
Press, Tucson, p 323); P/Crommelin (1984 IV) (Hanner, et al. 1985. Astr Ap 152, 177);
P/Giacobini-Zinner (1985 XIII) (Hanner, M.S. et al. 1992. AJ, 104, 386); Halley (1986
III) (Bouchet, P. et al. 1987. Astr. Ap. 174, 288; Tokunaga et al. 1988, AJ, 96, 1971);
West (1976 VI) (Ney, E.P. and Merrill, K.M. 1976. Science 194, 1051); Wilson (1987
VII) (Hanner, M.S. and Newburn, R.L. 1989. AJ, 97, 254).

from the extensive studies of near infrared colour like J-H and H-K, which
show that they cannot be used as a distinguishing feature for the study
of the properties of cometary grains. It also indicates that in general, the
results expected from the scattering effects of grains are not drastic.
There have been several refined studies of the continuum measurements

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of comets in the visible region. However, the results are somewhat confusing. In some comets, the observed wavelength distribution of the scattered
radiation has almost the same dependence as that of the solar radiation,
while for others, it produces a large reddening. This arises due to several
factors. As mentioned earlier, the wavelength dependence of the scattered
radiation is derived from observations by comparing the observed continuum with the energy distribution of the Sun. In this procedure, it is very
essential to take into account properly the contribution of the molecular
emissions, before the dust scattered component can be extracted. This is a
difficult and a major problem in scattering studies, as the molecular bands
are quite strong and dominate in the visual spectral region. This leaves
very few clear windows or spectral regions where the observations could
be carried out. However, the situation improves moving towards the red
region. It may also be noted that the continuum becomes stronger as the
dust to gas ratio increases and the emission bands become weaker as the
heliocentric distance of the comet increases. The other difficulty associated with the early observations is connected with poor spectral resolution.
A combination of these difficulties and the poor response of the detectors
could have been responsible for the differing results of earlier studies. In
recent years it has been possible to overcome some of these difficulties and
it is now possible to get somewhat reliable and consistent results.
From the observational point of view, it is convenient to describe the
scattered radiation or colour from the observed spectra in terms of a quantity called reflectivity, which is merely the ratio of the flux F () to the
solar flux F ()at the same wavelength, i.e.,
F ()
.
(9.2)
S() =
F ()
To be consistent with the cometary spectra, the solar spectrum has to be
made smooth to the instrumental resolution of the cometary spectra before
the ratio is determined. The normalized reflectivity gradient is defined as
 
ds
S 0 (1 , 2 ) =
/S.
(9.3)
d
Here (ds/d) represents the reflectivity gradient in the wavelength interval
between 1 and 2 , and S is the mean reflectivity in the same wavelength
region defined as
X
S = N 1
Si ().
(9.4)
The reflectivity gradient S 0 (1 , 2 ) gives a measure of the colour.
S 0 (1 , 2 ) > 0, it indicates grain reddening.

If

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The reddening curve, in principle, can be extended to the ultraviolet

and infrared wavelength regions by combining various observations. However, the main difficulty is that since the observations are performed with
different instruments, different wavelength regions etc., it is hard to connect
them with one another. An attempt to combine the data obtained from
the IUE and ground-based observations, along with infrared observations
of Comets Bowell, Stephen-Oterma and Cernis, has succeeded in getting
the reddening curve for the coma in the wavelength region = 0.26 to
2.5m. This showed a gradual reddening with an increase in wavelength.
In more recent times, the reflectivity and the reflectivity gradient have been
determined in a systematic manner from the study of several comets in the
spectral region from 0.5 to around 3 m. This broad coverage in wavelength
came about as a result of the combination of the scanner observations in
the wavelength region of 0.35 to 0.7 m and the near infrared observations.
In these studies, several wavelength regions in the cometary spectra, as far
as possible, free of molecular emissions, were selected. This criterion is particularly difficult in the continuum measurements in the ultraviolet region,
where they are susceptible to emission lines in the spectral region. The derived average behaviour of S 0 based on a large number of comets is shown
in Fig. 9.2. The results for Comet Halley also show a similar behaviour of
the reflectivity gradient with wavelength. These results clearly show that
the average S 0 decreases systematically from ultraviolet into the near infrared wavelength region. In particular, it shows a strong reddening in the
ultraviolet region which decreases slowly with an increase in wavelength.
The neutral point being around 2 m and the blue beyond 3 m.
Therefore, comets in general, appear to show an average behaviour for the
reddening as shown in Fig. 9.2, although there are some exceptions. In
addition, there could be spatial as well as temporal variation in colour in
the coma.
Colours of dust grains can also be determined from the difference in
the values of A()f (Sec. 9.1.4) between the two continuum filters used
in photometric measurements. Observations of several comets indicate the
presence of reddening.
It is also possible to determine the distribution of surface brightness of
the continuum radiation. The results based on several comets show that
the brightness varies with the nucleocentric distance up to about 105 km
or so, with an average power index of around 1. The particles generated
near the nucleus, as they expand outwards with a constant velocity, will
give rise to a surface brightness variation with an index of 1. The close

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Fig. 9.2 The observed normalized reflectivity gradient S 0 (1 , 2 ) between wavelengths

1 and 2 expressed in percent per 103 A is shown as a function of the wavelength for
more than a dozen comets. The horizontal line represents the observational value for each
comet over the interval between 1 and 2 . The filled circle represents the mean value
of S 0 with each measured wavelength interval. The dashed line is for neutral scattering
with S 0 (1 , 2 ) = 0. Continuum colours due to scattering changes from red (S 0 > 0) to
blue (S 0 < 0) as the wavelength changes from optical to near-infrared regions (Jewitt,
D.C. and Meech, K.J. 1986. Ap J 310, 937).

agreement between the observed and the expected variation shows that the
fountain model is reasonable. However, with an increase in distance from
the nucleus, the effect of radiation pressure on the grains will start becoming important causing distortion in the observed surface brightness curve.
This is evident from the observed isophotes of comets which show spherical
symmetry close to the nucleus, but distorted at larger distances. Also, the
asymmetry in the coma due to sunward ejection of the dust particles becomes prominent. In these situations, the surface brightness in the coma is
also a function of the phase angle. Therefore, the surface brightness profile
of comets can be described reasonably well with the geometrical dilution of
the expanding gas for distances not too far from the nucleus. But, with the
increase in distance, the radiation pressure effect becomes important and
it dominates at large distances causing deviations from the 1 index law.
The interpretation of reddening results in terms of the physical characteristics of the dust grains is complicated, as it involves several parameters,

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including the variation in scattering angle, and is also generally based on the
Mie theory of scattering for spheres. Also, in general, it is rather difficult
to entangle the influence of size and the composition of the dust grains.
The early reddening observations of the tails of Comets Arend-Roland
and Mrkos were found to give a fit with model grains with the refractive
index of iron and sizes 0.3. The scattered radiation from the head regions of Comets Arend-Roland and Mrkos could also be fitted with particles
with the refractive indices between 1.25 and 1.50 (dielectric) and the size
distribution proportional to a4 for the sizes of the particles. The interpretation of later observations of Comets Kohoutek, Bradfield, West and
others seems to indicate the particle sizes to be submicron or micron and
slightly absorbing. The expected intensity distributions have been carried
out for various types of silicate materials as well as for various values for
the constant refractive index (n) with a small absorption part (k). These
comparisons indicate that n 1.5 to 1.6, k 0.05 and the particle size
0.2. The observed colour trend of Fig. 9.2 is consistent with dust grain
sizes, a 1 m and slightly absorbing.
9.1.1.

Albedo

The average value for the albedo of cometary particles can be obtained
from a combination of very simple physical arguments and observations.
The observation required for such a study is the scattered radiation at the
visible wavelength and the total integrated infrared flux from a comet.These
are readily available for many comets. The basic physical idea behind such
a simple method is that the continuum in the visual region arises due to
the scattering process which depends on the scattering efficiency of the
grain. On the other hand the observed infrared radiation is dependent on
the amount of impinging energy absorbed by the grain, which depends on
the absorption efficiency of the grain. For small optical depths and also
neglecting phase dependence effects, the optical surface brightness can be
written as
F ()
F ()Nd la2 Qsca (a, )
=
.
(9.5)
4
4
Here Nd is the column density of the dust particles and l is the representative path length. The infrared surface brightness can be approximated
as
Sopt () =

Sir =

hQabs ia2 F Nd l
.
4

(9.6)

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Here hQ
R abs i represents a mean absorption efficiency for the grain and
F = F ()d, the integrated solar radiation. It is possible to derive
an expression for the average albedo of the particles from the above
equations. This is given by

F Sopt ()
=
.
1
Sir F ()

(9.7)

The estimated values of albedo for several comets is 0.1. In the above
method, the phase dependent scattering is neglected. The derived albedo
for Comet Giacobini-Zinner to around 0.07 to 0.15.
9.1.2.

Phase function

The average scattering function or phase function, i.e., the scattered

intensity as a function of the scattering angle, is another important parameter in defining the nature of the particle responsible for it. The average
scattering function can be obtained by observing the coma of the comet
as a function of the heliocentric distance or by scanning along the outward
direction of the tail. In such observations the quantity that is changing is
basically the scattering angle.
It is considerably difficult to derive the phase function, since the physical conditions within the coma change with the scattering angle. The
approximate phase function has been derived from the ratio of the visual
flux, which represents the scattered radiation, to the infrared brightness
that represents the absorbed energy, for the scattering angles between 30
and 150 . Since they both come from the same volume of dust, the ratio is
simply proportional to the scattering function of the grains. The derived
phase function for several comets is shown in Fig. 9.3. The phase function
shows a forward scattering lobe for scattering angle 40 with almost a flat
shape for an angle between 60 and 150 . The observation of Comet Halley
carried out upto a scattering angle of 178.63 does not indicate a strong
backscattering peak. The results for Comets Ashbrook-Jackson, Bowell and
Stephen-Oterma also show a similar behaviour of Comet Halley. Therefore,
there appears to be no evidence for the presence of backscattering peak.
The results for Comet Machholz follow the general trend of the continuum
curve for scattering angles less than about 50 . The values for Comet HaleBopp is about 50% higher compared to that of Comet Halley for scattering
angles around 140 . The nature of the observations is more in conformity
with the expected results from non-spherical particles (Fig. 9.3(b)).

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Fig. 9.3 (a) A composite phase diagram of the observed ratio of the reflected to the
infrared flux as a function of the scattering angle derived for several comets. For comparison with the data, the curve 3 from (b) is also shown. (b) shows the laboratory data
from spherical (curves 1 and 2) and nonspherical particles (curve 3) (Gehrz, R. D. and
Ney, E. P. 1992. Icarus, 100, 162).

The phase function for Comet Halley has been determined for phase
angles between 1.5 and 66 . This in combination with other results should
give the phase curve over the entire range of phase angles.
The observed phase function is consistent with the expected distribution
of micron size particles with an index of refraction in the ranges 1.3 n
2.0 and k 0.05.
With regard to albedo, the estimated albedos for different comets have
to be compared at the same scattering angle. The geometric albedo Ap at
1.2 m is roughly around 0.025 for scattering angles in the region of
around 150 .

9.1.3.

Dust production rate from continuum

The production rate of grains can be calculated from a knowledge of

the total number of dust particles in the field of view required to explain
the observed scattered flux at the earth, Fearth . It is given in gm/sec by the

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expression
Qopt
D (r)



42 Fearth M
=
V

(9.8)

where
Z

amax

E=
amin

2
I0 () R
[i1 (, ) + i2 (, )] n(a)da
2k 2 r2

(9.9)

and
R amax
M=

4 3
a n(a)da
amin 3
R amax
.
n(a)da
amin

(9.10)

Here is the linear radius of the projected field of view, is the density of
the grain material and is the geocentric distance. The mean velocity of
grains is defined by
R amax 3
a V (a)n(a)da
R amax
.
(9.11)
V = amin
a3 n(a)da
amin
In the above expression, n(a)da represents the number of grains of size a in
the size range between a and a+da and V (a) is the velocity of grains of size
a. The summation has to be carried over minimum, amin and maximum,
amax size ranges of the size distribution function. The other symbols have
their usual meanings.
The calculation of dust production rate from the nucleus requires the
knowledge of the density of the grains, the dust particle velocities and the
size distribution of grains. However the density of grains in comets is quite
uncertain. Although the instruments on board the spacecrafts to Comet
Halley were not designed or calibrated to measure the density accurately,
some estimates have been made which are around 0.3 to 1.0 gm/cm3 . The
compositional measurements from Giotto and Vega spacecrafts indicate an
average value of 1 gm/cm3 for the carbon type of particles and a value
2.5 gm/cm3 for the silicate type particles. The density measurements of
the actual interplanetary dust particles indicate a value 1 gm/cm3 . In
view of the uncertainties, a canonical value of 1 gm/cm3 is generally used
as the production rate roughly scales with the density.
The velocity of the grains has to be obtained from the study of the
dust-gas dynamics in the coma. Either the dust velocities calculated based
on a simplified expression for the dust or by the results based on detailed
dust-gas dynamics may be used.
The size distribution function for cometary dust is generally taken as
n(a)da a da

(9.12)

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259

where is a constant. The value of is generally 3.5 (Sec. 9.3). Some

variation in the above type of function has also been used.
The production of dust can be calculated from Eq. (9.8), provided the
scattered continuum is known. As discussed earlier, it is rather difficult to
get accurately this quantity due to the presence of strong emission bands
in the visual spectral region. This will also introduce uncertainty in the
derived production rate of grains. However, the difficulty associated with
band emissions improves in the red wavelength region. In addition, the
observed fluxes in the near infrared region of comets essentially refer to the
scattered radiation by the dust particles. Therefore, it may be advantageous
to use the observed fluxes in this spectral region for the calculation of
production rate. Some sample calculated results are given in Table 9.1. It
is interesting to note that the derived production rate of grains from the
observed scattered fluxes and infrared fluxes agree reasonably well.
Table 9.1

Production rate of grains (Kg/s).

Comet

Date

r(au)

(AU)

From IR
emission

From
scattered
radiation

Halley

25 Aug 85 (Pre)
26 Sept 85 (Pre)
8 Jan 86 (Pre)
2 May 86(Post)
30 May 86 (Post)

2.81
2.40
0.90
1.65
2.05

3.16
2.18
1.29
0.85
1.75

2.4(4)
5.8(4)
2.9(6)
5.3(5)
2.5(5)

3.4(4)
5.0(4)
2.2(6)
3.8(5)
2.4(5)

Kohoutek

10 Dec 73 (Pre)
16 Dec 73 (Pre)
1 Jan 74 (Post)
4 Jan 74 (Post)

0.65
0.48
0.23
0.33

1.2
1.1
1.0
0.9

2.0(6)
2.0(6)
5.0(6)
3.3(6)

2.5(6)
3.4(6)
8.0(6)
3.8(6)

Krishna Swamy, K.S. 1991. Astr. Ap. 241, 260.

Pre: Pre-perihelion observation.
Post: Post-perihelion observation.

9.1.4.

Dust production from A()f

In view of the difficulties associated with deriving accurate scattered

radiation of dust from continuum observations as well as its interpretation, sometimes it may be sufficient to use a quantity which represents the
average property of the grain. This will be particularly useful in the inter-

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comparison of observations of various comets. Therefore, a quantity A()f

has been used extensively as a proxy dust production in comets and it is
given by


2 
2r
Fcom
A()f =
.
(9.13)

F
Here A(), f and represent the average grain albedo for the phase angle
of observation , filling factor of the grains in the field of view and the
linear radius of aperture projected on the comet respectively. Fcom is the
observed cometary flux. The filling factor f is given by
f=

N ()
2

(9.14)

where N () is the number of grains in the field of view and is the average
grain cross-section. If the column density N () 1 , as in the case of the
radial outflow model, the quantity A()f becomes independent of the field
of view or the geocentric distance. The advantage of the quantity A()f
is that it can be directly determined from the measurable quantities. Since
A()f depend upon the phase angle, some correction may be needed on
the measurements. The resulting values of A()f which has been corrected
to zero phase angle represents the intrinic production of dust of the comet.
In addition there could be some deviation in the projected density from
1 variation, which could have some effect on the measurements made
with different aperatures. The quantity Af allows comparison of dust
production rates of comets.
The calculated dust production rate A()f from observations for
Comet Halley is shown in Fig. 6.6. The resulting variation of Af corrected to zero phase angle is quite similar to Fig. 6.6. The power law
constant which are for the pre- and post-perihelion observations give values
of 2.96 and 2.25 respectively. The interesting feature is the pre- and
post perihelion data do not converge near perihelion in contrast to those of
other gas species.
In contrast of Comet Halley, Comet Borrelly has heliocentric distance
dependence for OH of 8.9 which is very steep. Other observed molecules
have also similar steep slopes. These variations are vastly different from
that of A()f which has a power law slope of around 3. In addition it
does not show any asymmetry about perihelion.
The dust-to-gas ratio is just the ratio A()f /Q(OH). Since the heliocentric variation of gas and dust is vastly different in Comet Borrelly, the
derived gas-to-dust ratio varies during each apparition. There is a strong

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asymmetry for the dust between pre- and post-perihelion data in the case of
Comet Wild 2. The dust-to-gas ratio was found to have a variation of two
orders of magnitude between different comets in the study of a sample of
85 comets. The variation that have been seen among different apparitions
in the same comet could be due to evolutionary effect.
As can be seen from the above discussion, there appears to be a wide
variation in the dust-to-gas ratio in comets and its variation with heliocentric distance. These could be the consequence of strong seasonal effect
which is also present in the gas species as pointed out earlier.
9.2.
9.2.1.

Polarization
Linear polarization

The scattered light from cometary dust is usually linearly polarized,

which implies that the electromagnetic wave has preferential plane of oscillation. For randomly oriented particles the electromagnetic wave oscillates
either perpendicular (called positive polarization) or parallel (called negative polarization) to the scattering plane.
The polarization of the scattered radiation is another important observation which can give information as to the nature and size of the particle.
In fact, it is found that the polarization is quite sensitive to the shape,
structure and sizes of the dust particles.
The appearance of bright Comets Arend-Roland and Mrkos gave a good
opportunity for making the first good polarization measurements. The measured polarization at 5000
A and for the phase angle of 100 for both
the comets is about 20%. Until the recent measurements on Comet Halley,
there were not many systematic continuum polarization measurements on
a single comet over an extended range of heliocentric distances and/or for
scattering angles from 0 to 180 . The available observations were referred
either to the fixed scattering angles or to fixed heliocentric distances. The
observations were also referred to mostly in the visual spectral region based
on the use of broad-band passes. Therefore, as in the case of continuum
measurements, the possible contribution of the molecular emission features
has to be taken into account. The observed variations of the polarization
with scattering angle for several comets are shown in Fig. 9.4. They show
a well defined mean polarization curve as a function of the scattering angle. The polarization shows negative values for scattering angles 160 ,
a gradual increase with a decrease in scattering angle reaching maximum

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Fig. 9.4 The observed dust polarization in several comets denoted by various symbols
is plotted as a function of the scattering angle. The existence of negative polarization
for scattering angles around 170 can be seen. The observations clearly delineate a well
defined polarization curve as a function of the scattering angles. The dark vertical bars
are the calculated values (Krishna Swamy, K. S. and Shah, G. A. 1988. Monthly Notices,
233, 573).

polarization value 20 to 30% around 90 and then decrease for s

< 90 . The observed negative polarization is typically around 2% and is
parallel to the scattering plane. The neutral point is around the scattering
angle of 160 . The polarization becomes perpendicular to the scattering
plane for scattering angle less than 160 . The extensive polarization measurements carried out in Comet Halley from the visible to the near-infrared
wavelength region show a very similar behaviour as shown in Fig 9.4. This
general behaviour could be taken as a representative of quite conditions
of the coma. There could be a variation of polarization with the level of
activity of the nucleus, such as the presence of jets, bursts or in active
comets.
For interpreting polarization observations, Mie theory has been used
extensively. From a comparison of the observed polarization with those
of calculations, it is possible to restrict the ranges in the input parameters for the dust particles. In general, the smaller size particles have a

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complicated polarization behaviour with respect to the wavelength and the

scattering angles. In order to reproduce the observed value of polarization,
one requires the complex part of the refractive index to be small. This is
also consistent with the result that a high value of the complex part cannot produce negative polarization for large scattering angles. Therefore,
roughly one can put a range for the parameters n and k of 1.3 < n < 2.0
and 0.01 < k < 0.1 and particle size 1.
The usual procedure adopted is to calculate the polarization as a function of the scattering angle for a grid of real and imaginary part of the
refractive index, particle size distribution and then to try to get the best
fit to the observations. Such an analysis was carried out for Comet Halley
based on the size distribution of grains derived from Vega measurements.
This leads to an average refractive index of the grain for the visible region,
n = 1.39 0.01 and k = 0.035 0.004. The observed linear polarization
with the scattering angle for several comets is also consistent with such a
refractive index (Fig. 9.4). The calculations for rough particles, including
both silicate and graphite grains, also give a good fit to the Comet Halley
polarization measurements.
So far the discussion pertained to the average behaviour of the observed
polarization in various comets. However the polarization data seems to indicate a wider dispersion in polarization values for scattering angle less than
150o . It seems to fall into two distinct classes corresponding to the maximum polarization. This is shown in Fig. 9.5. One group such as Comets
West, Halley, Levy 1990XX etc. corresponds to comets with high polarization of around 2530%. The other group of comets such as KobayashiBerger-Milon, Austin etc. appears to belong to low polarization values
around 1015%. The polarization observations of the bright Comet HaleBopp limited to scattering angles > 132 show distinctly higher values than
the above two groups. Efforts are being made to understand the real nature
of these two apparently two classes of comets.
The polarization also shows wavelength dependence. The wavelength
dependence of polarization has been carried out on several comets. The
characteristic feature is that the polarization increases with increase in
wavelength from the visible region. It also depends upon the scattering
angle. This was noticed in Comet Halley and later confirmed based on
other comets. However few comets have shown that the degree of polarization decreases with increase in wavelength as was observed in Comet
Giacobini-Zinner. The polarization changed from 8% at 4430
A to 5% at
6420A observed at phase angle 44 . This type of behaviour was also seen

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Fig. 9.5 The observed polarization of comets for phase angles 0.3 to 120 . They seem to
divide comets into classes depending on the maximum polarization (Levasseur-Regourd,
A.-Ch, Hadamcik, E. and Renard, J.B. 1996. Astron. Astrophys., 313, 327).

in Comet Halley based on Giotto measurements. This has also been seen
in Comet Tempel 1. The reason for the increase or decrease in polarization
with wavelength is basically related to the sizes of the dust particles in
relation to the wavelength of the observation. This is due to the fact that
the dust particles are efficient scatters when the size of the dust particles
is of the order of wavelength of the incident radiation. Therefore the polarization dependence depend upon the size of the dust particles at a given
wavelength.
An extensive polarimetric measurements of the tail of Comet IkeyaSeki carried out in 1965 when the comet was at r 0.3 AU showed the
surprising result that the polarization value changed from +0.20 to 0.42%
with scattering angles from 116 to 136 respectively, for = 0.53 m.
The neutral point (zero polarization) was found to be around a scattering
angle of 125 . The linear polarization measurements carried out along the
tail of Comet Halley in April 1986, at r = 1.3 AU showed that they are
very similar at 1000 km, 3000 km from the nucleus and for the envelope
around the nucleus, for the scattering angles between 125 to 160 . These

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observations showed that there was no change in the crossover angle of linear
polarization and there was also no drastic modification of the grains as they
were transported from the nucleus out to distances of around 1.6 106 km.
The expected polarization calculated as a function of the particle size
shows that it is possible to produce positive and negative polarizations
for grain composition of silicate type and not for that of dirty ice (ice
with a small complex part), graphite or iron. Figure 9.6 shows the typical
result obtained for grain composition of olivine. As the polarization is very

Fig. 9.6 Expected polarization versus particle sizes for = 5300

A and for two scattering
angles of 116 and 135 . The oscillations will smoothen out with the use of a size
distribution function (Krishna Swamy, K. S. 1978. Astrophys Space Sci. 57, 491).

sensitive to particle sizes, it is possible to get reversal in polarization, if

there is a variation of particle size along the tail of the comet.
At the present time, there exist several kinds of observations pertaining
to scattering and polarization properties of cometary dust. Any proposed
cometary dust model should be able to explain simultaneously all these
observations. Attempts are being made to develop such a model. One
such model proposed to explain all the observed characteristics in the visual spectral region uses aggregates of 10 to 1000 monomers with sizes
0.1 m composed of silicate, carbonaceous material and iron-bearing
sulphides with volume fraction of one-third silicates, two-thirds carbona-

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ceous material and a small amount of iron-bearing sulphides. The resulting

mean refractive index derived for this mixture based on Maxwell-Garnet
mixing rule and consistent with the Comet Halleys in situ abundances is
mav = 1.88 + 0.47i for = 4500
A and mav = 1.98 + 0.48i at = 6000
A.
The result based on this model can reproduce the correct behaviour of the
observed characteristics of comets such as, the observed shape of anugular dependence of scattering intensities and polarization. The model can
account for all the observed trends and also the mineral composition of
cometary dust is consistent with the elemental abundances derived from
other considerations. This has led to consideration of more realistic model
which can explain the observations in a quantitative manner.
9.2.2.

Circular polarization

So far, the discussion pertained to linear polarization. It is also of interest to see whether circular polarization can be detected in comets as it
can give additional information about the grains. The expected circular
polarization is of the order of 0.5% for certain values of scattering angles
which is quite small compared to the linear polarization. Circular polarization was first detected in Comet Halley with an average value of around
1.7 103 . This was followed by Comet Hale-Bopp which had a circular
polarization of 0.26% in 1997. Since then circular polarization has been
measured in Comets D/1999 S4(LINEAR), C/2001 Q4(NEAT) etc. The
circular polarization seen from comets show left circularly polarized light.
This can be seen from Fig. 9.7 where the phase dependence of circular
polarization is shown for several comets. The figure also show the increase
in circular polarization (absolute value) with phase angle.
The circular polarization is produced only in the case when an incident unpolarized light after scattering by an ensemble of particles violating
mirror symmetry. This can arise due to the intrinsic property of the particles itself or it could be due to an external cause. The external processes
could due to multiple scattering in an anisotropic medium or scattering
by aligned non-spherical particles. Scattering by optically active (Chiral)
particles belongs to the other class where the property is intrinsic to the
particle.
For multiple scattering to be the cause of the observed circular polarization, the optical depth must be appreciable. The estimated optical depth in
a cometary atmosphere appears to be reasonable and therefore in principle
this mechanism can account for the observed circular polarization.

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Fig. 9.7 The variation of circular polarization with phase angle for Comets Halley,
Hale-Bopp, LINEAR and NEAT (Rosenbush, V., Kiselev, N. and Kolokolova, L. 2008.
Organic Matter in Space, eds, Kwok S. and Sandford S., Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, p. 311).

In the case of scattering by aligned non-spherical particles, the main

problem is associated with the mechanism of alignment of the particles.
The other class of particles is where the circular polarization arises from
scattering of light by dust particles composed of optically active material
(Chiral). The property of such a material is that they have different refractive indices for left and right circularly polarized light which automatically
separate the two polarizations.
It is interesting to note that the above effect is quite strong in complex
organic molecules. This is due to the fact that they exist in two forms called
Left-handed(L) and Right-handed(D). They arise mainly because the organic molecules are optically active as well as possess circular dichroism.
The biomolecules on the earth are only L-amino acids and D(sugar). This
is also found to be case in the case of Murchison meteorite (an extrater-

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Physics of Comets

restrial source). Therefore the dust particles present in comets must be

Chiral organic in character. This is consistent with the left-handed circular
polarization seen from comets. The model based results are in reasonable
agreement with the observations.
These studies are highly relevant, as comets are believed to have transported organic molecules on to the earth by cometary impacts (Sec. 13.6).
It is intrigueing that the biomolecules present on the earth, L-amino acids,
could actually be the ones that were transported from comets during earlier
times.

9.3.

Grain Sizes

Dust particle detectors were used on Giotto and Vega missions to Comet
Halley to record dust impact rate and thus to measure the mass distribution
of particles. The instrument from both the missions covered together the
mass range of around 106 to 1016 gm. The size distribution of particles
can therefore be inferred from these mass measurements. The cumulative
mass distribution function for the observed data is consistent with =
3.7(n(a) a ). The measured mass distribution of dust particles for
particles masses > 106 gm is found to be much flatter compared to smaller
masses. This indicated that the total mass is mostly contributed by large
size particles. The in situ mass distribution of dust particles in the coma of
Comet Wild 2 was also carried out by the stardust misssion. The results of
these measurements was found to be similar to that of Comet Halley. The
in situ measurements also showed the dominance of small size particles,
a 0.1 m, which cannot generally be detected through observations made
in the visible region.
It is possible to deduce the size distribution function of the dust particles
from the model fitting to the observed dust tail of comets. These studies
indicate the size distribution function is characterized by the power law
index of 3.5. The analysis of the nucleus of Comet Tempel 1 acquired
with camera aboard Rosetta spacecraft in the orange filter 6450
A with
the Monte Carlo approach gave an index of 3.0 for the power law size
distribution function.
Large size particles are also present in comets. This comes from several
observations. The absence of 10m silicate emission feature in the antitail of Comet Kohoutek puts a lower limit to the particle size, a 5 m
(Sec. 9.4.2). This conclusion is also consistent with the results based on

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dynamical considerations of the anti-tail which gives for the particle sizes,
a 15 m. Supportive evidence for the presence of large size dust particles
comes from the study of meteor showers which are associated with comets.
In addition dust trails seen in comets require millimetre to centimetre size
dust particles.
The dust particles emitted from comets span a wide range in sizes, from
submillimetre to millimetre to centimetre. The derived size distribution
of dust particles based on various studies is a representative value for all
comets, but it could vary from comet to comet and can also vary within
the coma. The variation in the size distribution of dust particles with
distance in the coma can arise as a resultant effect of sorting of particles
due to radiation pressure effect and sublimation of volatiles. The power
law index, 3.5 of the size distribution function, is also characteristic
of intersteller grains and is typical of collisionally evolved bodies.

9.4.

Infrared Measurements

There are very few windows in the infrared region that are available for
ground based observations, as most of the infrared radiation is absorbed
by the Earths atmosphere (Fig. 9.8). Therefore, most of the observations
are carried out with broad band passes. Several such systems exist which
have been used by different observers with slight variations in their mean
wavelengths and band widths. (Table 9.2).
Table 9.2

Infrared band passes and their wavelengths.

Band pass

Arizona System
Wavelength
(m)

(m)

IRTF System
Wavelength
(m)

(m)

J
H
K
L
L0
M
N
Q

1.26
1.60
2.22
3.54
4.80
10.6
21.0

0.20
0.36
0.52
0.97
0.60
5.0
11.0

1.20
1.60
2.2
3.55
3.78
4.7
10.50
20.6

0.3
0.3
0.4
1.05
0.57
0.57
5.0
9.0

Adapted from Hanner, M.S. and Tokunaga, A.T., 1991. In

Comets in the Post-Halley Era, eds. R.L. Newburn, Jr et al.
Kluwer Academic Publishers, p. 70.

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Fig. 9.8 The atmospheric transmission is plotted as a function of wavelength for the
region of 1 to 20 m. The spectral band passes corresponding to J to Q are also shown
(Courtesy Charlie Lindsey).

The first infrared observations made on Comet Ikeya-Seki in 1965 in the

wavelength region of 1 to 10 m showed clearly that the comet was very
bright in the infrared wavelength region and its colour temperature was
higher than that of a black body at the same heliocentric distance. These
results have been confirmed based on the infrared observations of many
more comets. Most of the observations on comets before Comet Halley
were limited to broad band infrared observations in the spectral region
around 2 to 20 m. However, for Comet Halley it has been possible to
get very good broad band and spectroscopic data in the middle infrared
and far-infrared wavelength regions based on ground based, airborne and
spaceborne instrumentation.
The infrared observations of comets can provide another independent
method for extracting significant information on the physical nature of the
cometary grains. This is due to the fact that the observed infrared radiation
arises from the re-radiation of the absorbed energy by the dust particles

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which in turn depends on the nature and composition of the dust. From a
detailed comparison of the cometary infrared radiation with the expected
infrared fluxes based on grain models, it is possible to infer the physical
and the chemical nature of cometary grains. The grains are considered to
be in radiative equilibrium with the incident solar energy. The equilibrium
temperature of the grain is, therefore, determined by a balance between
the absorbed radiation which is mostly in the ultraviolet and visible regions
and the emitted radiation which is in the far infrared region. This can be
expressed by the condition
Fabs (a) = Fem (a, Tg )

(9.15)

where

Fabs (a) =

R
r

2 Z

F () Qabs (a, )a2 d

(9.16)

and
Z
Fem (a, Tg ) =

B(, Tg )Qabs (a, )4a2 d

(9.17)

where F () representing the incident solar radiation field at wavelength ,

Qabs (a, ) is the absorption efficiency and B(, Tg ) is the Planck function
corresponding to the grain temperature Tg . The difference in the geometrical areas between the two sides arises as the grains absorb in one direction
and emit in all the directions. The calculation of the grain temperature
involves a knowledge of the size and composition of the grains. Knowing
the grain temperature, it is possible to calculate the infrared emission from
Eq. (9.17).
In general, the emission has to be integrated over the size distribution
function to get the total infrared emission from the grains. Therefore, the
total infrared emission at the Earth is given by
Z
1
n(a)a2 Qabs (a, )B(, Tg )da
(9.18)
Fem (, r) = 2
0
where n(a)da represents the relative number of grains in the size interval
between a and a + da and is the geocentric distance of the comet. If
there are grains of various types present at the same time, then the total
observed infrared radiation is the sum total over all the grain types, j, i.e.,

Ftotal (, r) =

j
X
i=1

Fem (, r)i xi

(9.19)

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where xi is the fraction of the grain population of type i. The corresponding mass of grains of type i is given by
Z
Mi =
o
th

4 3
a i n(a)da
3

(9.20)

where i is the density of the i type of the material.

The important observation which gave some clue to the possible nature
of the grain was the detection of a broad 10 m emission feature in Comet
Bennett (C/1969 Y1). Another feature at 20 m also appears to be present
in many comets (see Fig. 9.9). However, the whole profile does not show up
in these broad band observations as the last band pass is at around 20 m.
The observed features at 10 and 20 m are widely believed to be due to a
silicate type of material (Sec. 9.5). The moderate resolution observations of
Comet Halley made in the 10 m region with Kuiper Airborne Observatory
has given important information about the nature of the silicate material
in showing that it is in crystalline in nature.
Observations of the 10 m feature in the spectra of comets show that
the apparent strength of this feature varies from comet to comet and also
with the heliocentric distance for the same comet. The strength of the 10
and 20 m features is a function of the particle size. It becomes weaker with
an increase in size of the particles (Sec. 9.4.2). Therefore, silicates can still
be the dominant component of the grain even if no 10 m feature is evident
in the spectra. Another new emission feature near 3.4 m was detected in
the spectra of Comet Halley. This also appears to be a common feature
of most of the observed comets. The 3.4 m feature is a characteristic of
the C-H stretching vibrations and indicates the presence of some form of
hydrocarbons. Taken together, the infrared spectra of comets suggest, there
are two components to the grains silicates and some form of carbon.
Several attempts have been made to reproduce the observed infrared
radiation from comets using models based on assumed optical properties
for the cometary dust particles. They include models such as, assuming
constant refractive index for the material or its variation with wavelength
or a mixture of materials such as silicate and some form of carbon with
some size distribution function etc. (See Sec. 9.5.2).
9.4.1.

Dust production from infrared observations

The production of dust can also be determined from the observed infrared radiation of comets. The observed infrared radiation at the Earth,

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Fig. 9.9 Observed infrared fluxes plotted as a function of wavelength for Comet Kohoutek. The fitted black body temperataure for each of the curves along with the factor
by which the temperature exceeds the black body temperature is also shown. (Ney, E.
P. 1974. Icarus, 23 551).

Fearth is related to the total number of grains in the coma, N (r) through
the relation
Fearth =

E
42

(9.21)

where E represents the infrared radiation of the comet given by

E = B(, Tg )Qabs (a, )4a2 N (r).

(9.22)

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Here is the geocentric distance. A rough estimate for the production rate
can be obtained from the relation
N (r)
(9.23)
QD (r) '

where is the lifetime of the grain. This gives an average dust mass rate of
about 4 106 gm/sec for the assumed lifetime of the grain ' 4 104 sec .
However, in general, it is necessary to take into account the effect of the size
distribution of grains. Therefore, the production rate of grains in gm/sec,
as in the case of continuum can be calculated from the relation
QiR
D (r) =



42 Fearth M
V

(9.24)

where
Z

amax

E =

B(, Tg )4a2 Qabs (a, )n(a)da.

(9.25)

amin

The expressions for M and V are given by Eqs. (9.10) and (9.11). All the
symbols which occur in these equations are described in Sec. 9.1.3 or have
their usual meanings. The calculation of the production rate of grains from
Eq. (9.24) involves the knowledge of density, velocity and size distribution
function for the grains. A discussion regarding these quantities is also
outlined in Sec. 9.1.3. The production rate of grains has been calculated
for various comets. The results for Comet Halley for heliocentric distances
between 2.8 and 0.6 AU show a close relation with an r4 dependence,
while the results for Comet Kohoutek show a close relation for heliocentric
distances between 0.15 and 1.5 AU with an r2 dependence. It is interesting
to see whether there exists a general behaviour of the production rate of
dust with the heliocentric distance in comets. This could be carried out
by the superposition of the shape of the derived dust production rate with
the heliocentric distance of various comets and the results are shown in
Fig. 9.10.
The gas (composed of H2 O) and the dust coming out of the nucleus of
a comet flow outwards in such a way that the gas carries the dust with it.
Therefore, to a first approximation, the heliocentric variation of the dust
production rate and the water production rate should be very similar as can
be seen from Fig. 9.10. The dependence of r2 for r 1 AU arises due to
the solar flux falling of as r2 and it then deviates from this dependence due
to the effect of temperature dependence of the vapour pressure. The ratio
of gas to dust for a representative sample of comets is given in Table 9.3.

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Fig. 9.10 A composite diagram showing the general shape of the variation of the dust
production rate with heliocentric distance is derived from several comets, denoted by
various symbols. There is a tight relation with heliocentric distance r showing r2
variation up to r 1 AU and r4 for r 1 AU. The dashed curve shows the shape of
the derived water production for r0 = 2.4 and 2.6 respectively (Krishna Swamy, K. S.
1991. Astron. Astrophys., 241, 260).

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Table 9.3

Gas to dust ratio in comets (r = 1 AU).

Comets

Q(H2 O)
(Kg/sec)

Q(dust)
(Kg/sec)

H2 O/dust

Bennett (1970 II)

Churyumov-Gerasimenko (1982 VIII)
P/Crommelin (1984 IV)
P/Encke
P/Giacobini-Zinner (1985 XIII)
P/GriggSkjellerup (1982 IV)
P/Halley (1986 III)
IRAS-Araki-Alcock
(1983 VII)
Kobayashi-Berger-Milon (1975 IX)
Kohoutek (1973 XII)
Sugano-Saigusa-Fujikawa (1983 V)
West (1976 VI)
Wilson (1987 VII)

1.5(4)
1.1(2)
1.8(2)
2.1(2)
1.2(3)
9.0(1)

1.5(3)
5.4(1)
1.2(3)
2.8(1)
3.8(2)
2.0(1)

10
2
0.1
7
3
5

1.5(4)
2.2(2)

5.4(3)
2.0(2)a

3
< 11.1

6.0(2)
9.2(3)
8.1(1)
1.5(4)
1.1(4)

1.0(2)
4.6(2)
2.0
3.5(3)
1.8(3)

6
20
40
4
6

(Krishna Swamy, K.S. 1991. Astron. Astrophys., 241, 260).

9.4.2.

Anti-tail

The characteristic feature of Comet Kohoutek was the presence of the

anti-tail seen shortly after the perihelion passage. The infrared measurements of this comet made on the same day showed the presence of 10 m
emission in the coma and in the tail, but not in the anti-tail (Fig. 9.11).
The absence of 10 m feature in the anti-tail immediately puts a lower limit
to the particle size, as can be seen from Fig. 9.12. The figure shows the
shape of the emission curves for grains of silicate type for different sizes
and for grain temperatures of interest. It shows that the strength of the
10 m feature is a function of the particle size and for a 5 m, the feature
actually disappears. The 10 and 20 m features in small size grains show
up as they are optically thin. As the size of the particle gets larger and
larger, the material becomes optically thick and the feature gets washed
out. Therefore, the particles present in the anti-tail appear to be of a much
larger size compared to those present in the coma or in the tail region. This
conclusion is also consistent with the results based on dynamical considerations of the anti-tail which gives for the particle sizes, a 15 m. The
strength of the silicate feature can change from comet to comet. It can
also change with time for the same comet as was the case for Comet Bradfield. This comet had the silicate signature in the observations of March

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Fig. 9.11 Measured energy distributions in the coma, tail and anti-tail of Comet Kohoutek are plotted as a function of wavelength. Observations refer to January 1.7, 1974.
The absence of 10 micron feature in the anti-tail observations can be seen. (Ney, E. P.
1974. op. cit.).

21.9, 1974 (r = 0.51 AU and = 0.73 AU), but was clearly absent in the
observations of April 5.8, 1974 (r = 0.67 AU and = 0.69 AU). These observations show that the sizes of the emitted grains (Fig. 9.12) could vary
from comet to comet, as well as with the heliocentric distance for the same
comet. The supporting evidence for the large size particles in the anti-tail
also comes from the colour temperature measurements of Comet Kohoutek.
It showed that the colour temperature for the anti-tail was much cooler and
therefore closer to the black body temperature than that of the coma and
the tail temperature.

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Fig. 9.12 Shape of emission curves for different sizes, grain temperatures and for material of moon samples are shown. (a) For moon sample 12009, Tg = 550 K and sizes of
0.2, 1.0 and 5.0 microns. (b) For moon sample 14321, Tg = 400 and 700 K. Long-dashed,
continuous and dashed curves refer to particle sizes of 2, 5 and 10 microns respectively.
(Krishna Swamy, K. S. and Donn, B. 1979. A.J., 84, 692).

9.5.

Spectral Feature

The most direct way of getting information about the composition of the
grain is through the detection and identification of characteristic spectral
features such as the vibration-rotation bands of molecules. It is important
to note that such bands retain their identity even when the molecules are
in the solid state.

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279

Silicate signature

As already remarked, the clue to the possible chemical composition of

the cometary grain came from the infrared measurements themselves, with
the first detection of a broad emission feature at 10m in Comet Bennett.
This was confirmed by the observation of many other comets, although the
strength may vary from comet to comet with heliocentric distance.
The next logical step is to try to identify the nature of the material
responsible for giving rise to this feature. Laboratory measurements of
the absorption spectra of various types of rocks and minerals carried out at
room temperature or at liquid nitrogen temperature (89 K) have a common
property in showing strong and broad absorption feature around 10 m
(Fig. 9.13). This is attributed to Si-O stretching vibrations. From the
similarity between the laboratory spectra and the cometary spectra, it is
suggested that the 10 m feature observed in cometary spectra is due to
some type of silicate material. There is the other broad feature present
in the laboratory spectra around 20 micron arising out of Si-O-Si bending
vibrations. This feature has also been seen in cometary spectra confirming
the silicate nature of dust. The laboratory spectra in addition to showing
the main features at 10 and 20 m, also show a few other secondary features
which are the characteristics of the particular types of silicate material. If
these features show up, then it could be used as a diagnostic of the dust
composition. The silicate material also shows another feature around 30 to
33 m as was observed in the laboratory absorption spectra of Ca2 SiO4 ,
Olivine (Mg2 SiO4 ) or other silicates. Unlike the 10 and 20 m features, the
feature around 30 m seems to depend more on the chemical composition
of the material.
The observed shape of the 10 m feature in comets should be able to
provide information about the composition of the grains, since different silicate materials have different band profiles depending upon Si-O stretching
frequencies. The observations carried out on Comet Halley with the Kuiper
Airborne Observatory and ground-based telescopes clearly showed a well
defined spectral feature at 11.2 m located inside the broad 10 m emission feature (See Fig. 9.14). This feature is attributed to crystalline olivine
[(Mg, Fe)2 SiO4 ] based on good spectral match with the observed spectral
emissivity of Mg-rich olivine. The strong 10 m emission feature has been
seen from a number of comets. Comet Hale-Bopp had the strongest silicate
emission among all the observed comets. It was also unusual in showing
a strong silicate feature even at 4.6 AU pre-perihelion. A typical 10 m

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Fig. 9.13 Absorption spectra of Orthopyroxene ionosilicates. Sample curves shown (in
cm1 ) are for the enstatite-hypersthene series of En62 , En75 and En84 . (Adapted from
Lyon. R. J. P. 1963. NASA Technical Note, NASA TN D-1871).

spectral feature observed in a comet is shown in Fig. 9.14.

There are three strong featurers at 9.2, 10.0 and 11.2 m. The other features which are minor in nature is at 10.5 and 11.9 m. The 11.2 m feature
is due to crystalline olivine, as was seen earlier, in the Kuiper Airborne Observations on Comet Halley. Crystalline olivine has also a secondary peak
at 10 m and a weak feature at 11.9 m. The broader 10 m maximum in
the cometary spectra is characteristic of amorphous olivine. The characteristic signature of pyroxene [(Mg,Fe)SiO3 ] is the presence of a feature at
9.2 m. Therefore the cometary 9.2 m feature corresponds to amorphous
Mg-rich pyroxene. Crystalline pyroxene has also a feature near 9.3 m.

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Fig. 9.14 Shows the shape of the emission feature around 10 m in Comets Halley (r
= 0.79 AU, line) and Hale-Bopp (r = 0.92 AU, dots) with various spectral signatures.
(Hanner, M.S. et. al. 1999. Earth, Moon and Planets, 79, 247).

Crystalline pyroxene in general have a wide range of spectral features. The

peak at 1011 m contribute to the width of total feature and the structure
near 10.5 m.
9.5.2.

Mineralogy of dust particles

Comet Halley
The mineralogical composition of dust particles was first obtained for
Comet Halley based on in situ measurements. This came from the studies
of mass spectra of around 5000 particles made with instrument on board
Giotto and Vega Spacecrafts. The mass spectra basically provide the elemental composition of the dust particles. The mass spectra clearly indicated the presence of dust particles with rock-forming elements Mg, Si, Ca,
and Fe. It also showed the presence of dust particles containing both rock
and CHON elements (Sec. 9.6).
The next step is to get some information on the mineralogical composition of the dust particles. From a knowledge of the abundances of various
elements, it is possible to make a systematic analysis of the variation among

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the observed grains and make some broad classification of its composition.
For this purpose the cluster analysis method can be used. Cluster analysis
is a stistical method of grouping a set of data points to look for correlations
among them. This method has been applied to classify Comet Halleys dust
particles. In this study, the abundant inorganic elements Na, Mg, Al, Si, S,
Ca and Fe have been considered. The result of these studies and with the
observed distribution of Fe/(Fe+Mg), Mg-Fe-Si, Mg-Fe-O and Mg-Fe-S, it
has been possible to characterise the particles into a few major mineral
groups. The resulting major mineralogical composition of dust particles
in Comet Halley is given in Table 9.4. As can be seen from the table,
the dominant component is the Mg-Si-O rich particles (olivine, pyroxene
etc.). The other group comprising around 10% are the particles of Fe, Ni
and sulphides. These particles could consist of Pyrrhotite (Fe1x S) and
Pentlendite(Fe Ni)9 S8 . All these results indicate that the cometary dust is
an unequilibrated heterogeneous mixture of minerals containing both high
and low temperature condensates.

Table 9.4

Estimated mineralogical composition of Comet Halley Dust.

Estimated

Mineral

proportion

chemistry

possible minerals

Mg silicates

> 20%

Fe-poor, Ca-poor

Mg-rich pyroxene and/or olivine

Fe sulfides 10%

some Ni-rich

pyrrhotite, pentlandite

Fe metal

1-2%

Ni-poor

Mineral group

Fe oxide < 1%

kamacite

magnetite

Schulze, H., Kissel, J. and Jessberger, E.K. 1997, From Star Dust to Planetesimals, ASP
Conference Series, Vol. 122, p. 397, eds. Y. Pendleton and A.G.G.M. Tielens, By the kind
permission of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series.

Comet Hale-Bopp

The remarkable spectra taken with Infrared Space Observatory in the

wavelength region 5 to 45 m on Comet Hale-Bopp at heliocentric distance,
r = 2.9 AU showed the true nature of the grain material. The spectra show
clearly five strongest emission features at 10, 19.5, 23.5, 27.5 and 33.5 m
(Fig. 9.15). The wavelength of all peaks correspond to Mg-rich crystalline
olivine (forsterite, Mg2 SiO4 ) when compared with the laboratory spectra.
Minor features present in the spectra are attributed to crystalline pyroxene

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Fig. 9.15 The upper curve shows the silicate emission features in Comet Hale-Bopp
observed with ISO, in the wavelength region 5 to 45 m. The lower curve shows the
modeled spectrum of forsterite from the laboratory data (Crovisier, J. et al. 1997.
Science, 275, 1904).

[(Mg,Fe)SiO3 ]. The agreement between the two is excellent. The infrared

observations of comets have cearly shown that silicate grains in comets
are Mg-rich. Models have been proposed to match the observed infrared
spectra of Comet Hale-Bopp based on a mixture of silicate minerals. A
good fit could be obtained with the following five emission components:
black body 1(T = 280 K), black body 2(T = 165 K), Mg-rich olivine
(forsterite, cry O1), Ortho pyroxene (cry O-pyr) and amorphous (Am Pyr)
silicates. The relative abundances of silicates are Cry O1:Cry O-pyr: Am
pyr = 0.22:0.08:0.70. The temperature of silicate grains used in the model
is 210 K. Therefore the spectral structure indicate complex mineralogy for
cometary silicates containing both crystalline grains of olivine and pyroxene
as well as amorphous silicates. The observed mineralogy in Comet HaleBopp is similar to pyroxene-rich and olivine-rich chondritic aggregate IDPs
thought to originate from comets. The grains in Comet Hale-Bopp is also
Mg-rich which is also in agreement with the chemical composition in the
coma of Comet Halley.
The ISO spectra of young stars with a dust disk such as Herbigs Ae/Be
star HD 100546 is strikingly similar to that of Comet Hale-Bopp as can be

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seen from Fig. 9.16. This shows the similarity in the mineralogy of the
grain material.

Fig. 9.16 Comparison between the ISO-SWS spectrum of Ae/Be star. HD 100546 (top
curve) with the corresponding spectrum from Comet Hale-Bopp (bottom curve). The
striking resemblance between the two curves can clearly be seen (Malfait, K., Waelkens,
C., Waters, L.B.F.M. et al. 1998. Astron. Astrophys., 332, L25).

Comet Tempel 1

Deep Impact mission gave the first opportunity to look at the deeper
layer material ejected from Comet Tempel 1. The spectral characteristics
of this material was observed by the Spitzer Space Telescope in the spectral region from 535 m. The emission from the normal coma and the
nucleus, which is representative of the pre-impact spectrum was subtracted
out from the observed spectrum. The resulting emission spectrum represent basically the emission from the ejected material. This is shown in the
Fig. 9.17. The conspicuous features in the spectrum are carbonates in the
region 6.5 to 7.2 m, pyroxenes in the region 8 to 10 m, olivines at 11 m
and sulphides in the region 27 to 29 m. The calculated spectral emission
model is based on measured thermal emission spectra of micrometer size

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Fig. 9.17 (a) Comparison of the observed spectrum of Comet Tempel 1 ejecta obtained
from Spitzers Space Telescope at r = 1.51 AU with the best fit model using various kinds
of materials for the dust particles. (b) The residual spectrum after subtracting the best
fit model (a). The best fit with non-silicate species are overlaid in the figure (Lisse, C.M.
et al. 2007. Icarus, 187, 69).

particles of over 80 mineral species. The particle composition, size distribution and temperatures were determined through search in phase space.
Several checks were applied for the correctness of the model such as, minerals detected are the major species seen IDPs, the derived abundances
are consistent with solar system abundances as well as the deduced particle distribution and temperature agrees with the findings of instruments
on Deep Impact etc. The phase space search eliminated large number of
mineral species from the Comet Tempel 1 ejecta. The best model fit to the

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observed spectrum is shown in Fig. 9.17(a). It clearly shows the presence

of compositional signaturers due to rich silicates and phyllosilicates, carbonates, water-ice, amorphous carbon, sulphides and polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons(PAHs). Figure 9.17b show the residual emission features after subtracting the best-fit model curve to the observed curve (Fig. 9.17(a)).
The non-silicate species which give a fit to the residual emission spectra is
also shown in Fig. 9.17(b). The list of all the identified features in the emission spectra of Comet Tempel 1 is given in Table 9.5. The derived relative
atomic abundances of Si, Mg, Fe, Ca and Al in the ejecta dust of Comet
Tempel 1 are similar to the relative abundances in the solar system and C1
chondrites. The emission spectra of Comet Tempel 1 ejecta clearly show
the presence of PAH from the detection of features at 5.2, 5.8, 6.2, 7.7 and
8.2 m. Therefore the spectral structure present in the infrared spectra of
Comet Tempel 1 has shown the complex mineralogy of these dust particles.
Table 9.5 Dust composition of Comet Tempel 1 ejecta
from model fitting.
Species
Olivines
Amorph olivine(MgFeSiO4 )
Forsterite(Mg2 SiO4 )
Fayalite(Fe2 SiO4 )
Pyroxenes
Amorph pyroxene(MgFeSi2 O6 )
Ferrosilite(Fe2 Si2 O6 )
Diopside(CaMgSi2 O6 )
Orthoenstatite(Mg2 Si2 O6 )
Phyllosilicates
Smectite nontronite
Na0.33 Fe2 (Si,Al)4 O10 (OH)2 .3H2 O
Carbonates
Magnesite(MgCO3 )
Siderite(FeCO3 )
Metal sulphides
Niningerite(Mg10 Fe90 S)
Water
Water ice(H2 O)
Water gas(H2 O)
Organics
Amorph carbon(C)
PAH(C10 H14 )

Molecular
Weight

Nmoles
(rel.)

172
140
204

0.35
0.70
0.18

232
264
216
200

0.06
0.50
0.18
0.16

496

0.07

84
116

0.11
0.17

84

0.92

18
18

0.27
23.7

12
(178)

1.45
0.022

Adapted from Lisse, C.M. et al. 2007. Icarus, 187, 69.

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The results of Comet Tempel 1 are consistent with the Comet Halley
flyby results which showed the presence of silicates, water, sulphides and
carbonates.
The same model has been used for the re-analysis of ISO Spectrum in
the region 2.4 to 4.5 m of Comet Hale-Bopp (r = 2.8 AU) and the young
stellar object HD 100546. The results are qualitatively similar in showing
emission signatures due to silicates, cabonaters, Phyllosilicates, water ice,
amorphous carbon and sulphides. But there are some differences as well.
Comet Wild 2
The Stardust misssion which collected samples of dust particles from
Comet Wild 2 has given interesting results with regard to their mineralogy.
It showed the importance of sulphur and nitrogen chemistry in the dust
particles. It is likely that sulphur atom which is generally associated with
mineral phase result have came from mineral such as troilite.
Infrared studies of these particles has shown the presence of amorphous
silicate. Among crystalline silicates, forsterite, enstatite, olivine and diopside with pyroxene has been seen. FeNi metal grains and FeNi sulphides
have been seen. The range of Fe/Mg ratios seen in the particles indicate that
Comet Wild 2 is unequilibrated. The presence of particles with nitrogenrich chemistry and lower abundance of O implies that nitriles or polycyanides may have been present. The interesting finding is that dust particles which are mineralogically similar to meteoritic Calcium-Aluminiumrich inclusions have been found. Ca-Al-rich dust particles are the oldest
samples in the solar system and contain minerals in abundance.
Deep Impact mission of Comet Tempel 1 provided detailed mineralogical
composition of this comet. Among the various minerals, only forsterite was
seen in both the Comets Tempel 1 and Wild 2. Iron sulphide has been seen
in Comet Wild 2, but not FeMg sulphides. The major difference between
the two comets is the presence of carbonatess and hydrated silicates in
Comet Tempel 1 but not in Wild 2 samples. These species have been
seen from meteorites. Its formation is generally believed to arise from
hydrothermal alteration inside a wet parent body.
The vast difference in the observed mineralogy betwen the two Jupiter
family of Comets Tempel 1 and Wild 2 could be due to several reasons. It is
possible that the two comets themselves are different or it could have been
formed in different regions. In addition the synthesis of observed infrared

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spectra of Comet Tempel 1 was carried out with laboratory minerals which
may be different from those present in comets that have gone through
various processes. Since comets were formed from aggregates of materials, it
is quite possible that some comets possess hydrated silicates due to melting
of ice. Lastly Comet Tempel 1 site of impact appeared to show the presence
of impact craters. Therefore it is possible that the hydrated silicates could
have been formed inside Comet Tempel 1 due to the impact. However this
appears not the case for Comet Wild 2.
9.5.3.

The C-H stretch feature

A new emission feature near 3.4 m was first detected by Vega 1 spacecraft in the spectra of Comet Halley. This was confirmed by several groundbased observations. The laboratory absorption spectra of organic materials
both in gaseous and solid phase generally show a strong feature around
3.4 m. Most of the C-H stretching vibrations fall in the wavelength regions around 3.1 to 3.7 m (see Fig. 3.4). Therefore, the observed feature
in Comet Halley is attributed to C-H stretching of some organic material.
The 3.4 m feature has subsequently been seen from several other comets
indicating the common nature of cometary organics. This feature is also
seen from some IDPs collected in the stratosphere. The intensity of the
3.4 m feature as observed by Vega spacecraft seemed to vary inversely
with the projected distance from the nucleus in a manner similar to the
parent molecule indicating the possible detection of a new parent molecule.
The apparent profile of 3.4 m feature in several comets is around
3.36 m (Fig. 9.18). In addition, there is evidence for the presence of
two weaker features at 3.28 and 3.52 m. The vibrational frequencies of
CH3 group occur at 3.37 m and 3.48 m and that of CH2 group at 3.42 m
and 3.50 m. Therefore, the observed features in comets appear to indicate
the presence of spectral signatures of CH3 and CH2 functional groups.
The structure, width and the intensity of the observed 3.4 m emission
feature suggest that several of these species may be present.
The feature at 3.52 m is attributed to 3 band of Methanol (CH3 OH).
Other rotational-vibrational lines of methanol occurring at 3.33 m(2 ) and
3.37 m(9 ) contribute to the broad 3.36 m emission. Detailed modelling
with methanol indicate a residual feature. This could come either from
other weaker lines of methanol, for which the required data is not available
or it could come from some other species.
The other feature present at 3.28 m is characteristic of aromatic com-

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Fig. 9.18 The spectral feature around 3.4 m region observed from Comet 109P/SwiftTuttle at r = 1.0 AU (Disanti, M.A. et al. 1995. Icarus, 116, 1).

pounds(PAHs). The feature seen at 3.29 m from interstellar matter is generally associated with other features occurring at 6.2, 7.7, 8.6 and 11.3 m.
Some of these features have also been seen in the infrared observations of
Comet Tempel 1.
The spectra of the Comet Tempel 1 showed an increase in the ratio of
organics to water after the impact. The organic feature was also found to
be broader and contained more structures after the impact. This indicates
the presence of many new species that were below the detectable limit prior
to the impact.
The 3.4 m cometary feature has also been seen from interstellar clouds,
molecular clouds, HII regions and so on. But the characteristic feature
is different indicating the variation of carbonaceous material present in
different environments.
9.5.4.

Ice signature

All the available evidence indicates that H2 O is the major component

of the nucleus of a comet. Therefore, it is interesting to look for ice grains
in the cometary comae.

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Large size particles of ice grains could be stable against sublimation

around 1 AU. However, even with a small amount of absorbing material
present, the high temperature attained by the grain can entirely sublimate
the icy grain. Therefore it should be looked for in comets at large heliocentric distances where the temperature of the grain is low enough that the
icy grains are present. The strong OH production seen in Comet Bowell at
r > 4 AU has been attributed to icy grains.
A more direct method of detecting the presence of icy grains in comets
is to look for the absorption bands of ice in the infrared region. Laboratory investigations have shown that ice band has features near 1.5,2.2 and
3.1 m. Among these, 3.1 m feature is the strongest. These bands have
been looked for in several comets. The observations on Comets Bowell and
Cernis at r 4 AU gave an indication of the presence of 3.1 m absorption feature. A broad and shallow absorption feature appears to have been
detected in Comet Hale-Bopp when the comet was at 7 AU.
The strong water-ice band at 3.1 m has been definitely detected for
the first time from Comet Tempel 1 from the infrared observations of the
ejecta from the Deep Impact experiment. This is shown in Fig. 9.19. This
indicate that large amount of icy grains from the nucleus of Comet Tempel
1 was lifted gradually after impact without being evaporated. This shows
that the excavated pristine material from a depth of 10 to 20 meters consist
of water-ice particles of sizes 1 m.

9.6.

Properties Derived from Direct Measurements

Comet Halley
The important information about the chemical composition of dust particles in Comet Halley has been obtained from the dust impact mass analyzer PUMA 1 and 2 on Vega and PIA on Giotto spacecrafts. Dust particles
striking a silver target placed in front of the mass spectrometer generate a
cloud of ions and the positive charge are mass analyzed, which indicates its
chemical composition. Several thousand mass spectra of dust particles were
recorded by the instruments. These studies indicated broadly three classes
of particles (Fig. 9.20): (1) mostly made up of light elements such as H, C,
N and O indicative of organic composition of grain called CHON particles
(2) similar to CI Chondrites but enriched in carbon and (3) primarily O,
Mg, Si and Fe suggestive of silicate grains. Therefore, the Comet Halley

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grains were found to be essentially composed of two end member particle

types - a silicate and a refractory organic material (CHON) in accordance
with the infrared observations.

Fig. 9.19 Comparison of the observed broad feature in the region of 3 m from the
ejecta of Comet Tempel 1 with the model spectra of 0.5 m diameter water ice particles.
There is a good fit (Sunshine, J.M. et al. 2007. Icarus, 190, 284).

The possibility of the presence of core-mantle structure of dust particles comes from the fact that on the average CHON ions appear to have a
higher initial energy than the silicate ions. The observed ion abundances
have been transformed to atoms based on laboratory calibration from the
knowledge of the ion yields with different projectiles. The resulting composition of Comet Halleys dust indicate that the abundances of rock forming
elements in Halleys dust are within a factor of two relative to the solar
system abundances. The abundances of H, C and O are more than that
of CI-chondrite believed to be the unaltered meteorites from the early solar system. This can be interpreted to mean that the Halley dust is more
primitive than CI-chondrites. The puzzle of carbon depletion in comets also
seems to have been resolved as they are tied up in the refractory organics.
Due to uncertainties in converting the ion intensities to atomic abundances,
there could be a factor of two uncertainties in the final derived abundances.
The derived gas to dust ratio is 1.1 to 1.7. The estimated density of
silicate dominated grain indicates a value 2.5 gm/cm3 , while CHON
dominated grain indicates a value 1 gm/cm3 . Several refractory grains
show 12 C/13 C 5000 which is drastically different from the normal value
89. This indicate that the carbon coming out of different nucleosynthesis
sites has been incorporated in the Comet Halley dust particles.

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Fig. 9.20 Composition of dust particles seen by dust impact mass analyzer by Vega
spacecraft from Comet Halley (Kissel, J. et al. 1986. Nature, 321, 336).

The possible presence of polymerized formaldehyde (H2 CO)n (also

called polyoxymethylene, POM) in the dust grains of Comet Halley has
been proposed based on the results of the positive ion cluster analyzer
(PICCA) experiment conducted aboard the Giotto spacecraft (Fig. 6.16).
The dust grains contain a large number of organic compounds (Table 13.8),
e.g., unsaturated hydrocarbons like pentyne, hexyne, etc; Nitrogen derivatives like hydrocyanic acid etc; Aldehydes and acids like formaldehyde,
formic and acetic acid etc. Many more molecules are expected to be present
in the dust. It is quite possible that a large number of molecules might have
also been destroyed due to the high velocity of impact 78 km/sec.
Comet Wild 2
The stardust spacecraft flew past the nucleus of Comet Wild 2 within

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a distance of 234 km on 2 Jan 2004. The particles ejected from the nucleus
of Comet Wild 2 were collected when they hit silica aerogel with a speed
of 6.12 km/sec. Stardust collected more than 1000 dust particles of sizes
in the range of about 5300 m. Stardust mission was meant for collecting
dust samples from Comet Wild 2 and bring back to earth for laboratory
investigation. The stardust spacecraft also contained a time-of-flight spectrometer called CIDA (cometary and interstellar dust analysis) which was
used for the study of the composition of dust particles in the coma. These
two studies have given detailed information about the composition of dust
particles of Comet Wild 2.
The CIDA instrument was similar to that in PUMA 1 and 2 on the
Vega spacecraft and PIA instrument on Giotto of Comet Halley. The CIDA
instrument is a time-of-flight mass spectrometer and is based on the fact
that the dust particles with enough velocity striking a silver target produce
either positive ions or negative ions depending on the voltage applied. The
flight time of these ions from the time of impact to the time of detection
give a direct measure of the mass of these ions.
The dominant ion detected from CIDA instrument was CN . This
indicates the dominance of nitrogen-rich chemistry. It was found that O
and OH ions were minor in abundance which show that oxygen chemistry
play a minor role in these dust particles. Hence water-ice cannot be a major
constituent of these dust particles.
The importance of sulphur chemistry in the dust particles came out of
the detection of the two isotopic lines of SH (mass-to-charge ratio m/z =
33 and 35). it is possible that sulphur atom which is generally attributed to
mineral phases of cometary dust could have come out of minerals such as
troilite to organic phase by some radiative process during the time (several
billion years) the dust particles spent in interstellar space and later in the
nuclei of comets.
In the positive ion mass spectra, three types of species have been detected. They are CH+ ion(m/z = 13+ ), traces of N+ , NH+ ,O+ , OH+ and
unsaturated organic species containing some nitrogen.
Therefore studies based on CIDA instrument of Comet Wild 2 indicate
that H2 O and CO were absent in the dust particles, nitrogen chemistry
appears to be dominant and sulphur must have come out of mineral phase
of the cometary dust.
The stardust samples collected from Comet Wild 2 have been subjected
to multiple experimental techniques. They show the presence of organic
aromatic matter(PAHs). As shown in Fig. 9.21 it contains benzene(78 amu,

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C6 H6 ), phenol(94 amu, C6 H5 OH), naphthalene(128 amu, C10 H8 ) and their

alkylated derivatives, acenaphthylene(152 amu, C12 H8 ), phenanthrene(178
amu, C14 H10 ), pyrene(202 amu,C16 H10 ), perylene(252 amu,C20 H12 ) etc.
The features present at 101, 112, 155 and 167 amu could arise from O
and N substituted aromatic species. The higher mass spectra extending to
about 800 amu could be attributed to polymerization of smaller aromatics
as a result of chemical processing due to radiation processes, such as cosmic
rays, solar heating etc.
Glycine which is an amino acid and is an important constituent of living
systems has been detected for the first time in the dust particles of Comet
Wild 2.
Infrared spectra of dust particles show the presence of non-aromatic
functional groups as can be seen from the absorption features present
at 3322 cm1 (-OH), 3065 cm1 (aromatic CH), 2968 cm1 (-CH3 ), 2923
cm1 (-CH2 -), 2855 cm1 (-CH3 and -CH2 -) and 1706 cm1 (C=O).
The observed spectra indicate the presence of aromatic, aliphatic, carboxylic and N-containing functional groups. The organics in Comet Wild
2 is found to be considerably richer in O and N relative to both meteorite
organic matter and the average composition of Comet Halley.
Isotopic measurements have given some interesting results. D/H ratio
in some of the dust particles was found to be about three times larger than
the terrestrial value. D and H were heterogeneously distributed within
the samples and is associated with C. This indicates that it is organic in
character. The enrichment of 15 N was also seen in some dust particles. The
higher value of D and 15 N suggest that cometary material contain materials
from those of interstellar and/or protostellar environments.
All the studies carried out on dust particles from Comet Wild 2 has
shown the rich diversity of organic materials. They show a wide variety of
forms in molecular structure and molecular complexity. The distribution
of organics is heterogeneous inside as well as between the dust particles
indicating that they are unequilibrated material that experienced very little
processing after incorporating into dust particles. The enrichments in D and
15
N in the dust particles indicate the presence of presolar material.

9.7.

Radiation Pressure Effects

The dust particles released from the nucleus are subjected to radiation
pressure forces which push them to different distances from the nucleus and

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Fig. 9.21 Mass spectra of stardust sample C2115, Track 22 of Comet Wild 2. The
complex distribution of aromatic species covering molecular weights upto 500 can be
seen in (B). The expanded portion of mass range is shown in (C) and (D). The complex
nature of organics present can be seen (Clemett, S.J. et al. 2007. Lunar and Planetary
Science, 38, 2091.

this ultimately gives rise to the observed dust tail as discussed in Chap. 7.
The dust tail is composed of various Syndynes and each curve is defined
in terms of a parameter (1 ), which is the ratio of solar radiation
pressure to gravity. These Syndynes when projected on to the photographs
of the tail give a range of values which encompass the observed tail. The
maximum value of fixes the minimum size of the particles that can exist in
the tail. Others will essentially be pushed away from the system. From such

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comparisons, it is possible to get the maximum value of denoted as max

for various cometary tails. Table 9.6 gives a list of max values obtained
for various comets. They show that there are no particles in the tail which
Table 9.6 Values of max obtained for various
comets (r = 1 AU).
Comet

max

Comet

max

1957
1957
1962
1965
1965

0.55
2
2.5
1.1-1.4
0.8 (farthest
part)
2.5 (near the
head)

1970 II
1970 II
1973 XII
1976 VI
1976 VI
Several
Comets

1.9
3.8a
0.8b
2
2.5
2.5

III
V
III
VIII
VIII

1965 VIII

a.
from IR photometry; b.
from
Colorimetry( Saito, K., Isobe, S., Nishioka, K.
and Ishii, T. 1981. Icarus 47, 351.)

are subjected to radiation pressure forces beyond about max ' 2.5. This
apparent cut-off in the value of can be used to infer the properties of
the dust particles. However, the interpretation is not straightforward as it
involves various parameters of the grains, which means one has to invoke
various grain models. As an example, Fig. 9.22 shows a plot of the variation
of as a function of the radius of the particle for different types of particles.
It can be seen that for small size particles most of the curves are flat except
for the silicate type (Basalt) of materials. The observed maximum value of
max ' 2.5 seems to lie in between these two general shapes of the curves.

9.8.

Summary

We may now briefly summarize the main characteristic properties of

cometary grains based on the discussion presented so far. In order to reduce the ambiguity, it is important as well as necessary to consider various
types of observations which have to be satisfied simultaneously by any grain
model. However, it may not be practicable in all the cases. In the absence
of such detailed studies, it is even worthwhile to restrict the parameters

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Fig. 9.22 The variation of radiation pressure force (1 ) with the radius of
the particle for three types of material is shown. (Adapted from Saito, K., Isobe, S.,
Nishioka, K. and Ishii, T. 1981. Icarus, 47, 351.)

which define the grain characteristics within certain possible ranges.

The optical continuum measurements, the polarization measurements
as well as scattering phase function in the visual region give a limit for the
refractive index as 1.3 < n < 2.0 and k 0.1.
These are based on single particle models or multi-component models
based on different compositions and size distribution functions. Models
based on aggregaates of large number of monomers with sizes of 0.1 m
composed of several compositions have also been considered. Any realistic model has to explain all the observations pertaining to cometary dust.
Attempts are made to develop such a model.
The silicate nature of grain came from the detection of 10 and 20 m features from comets. The evidence for the second component to the cometary
grain namely organics, came from the discovery of CHON particles in
Comet Halley as well as the detection of 3.4 m feature in the infrared

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observation. Therefore, the two major components of the cometary dust

are silicates and some form of carbon.
The true mineralogical composition of cometary dust particles came
from the mid and far-infrared observations of Comets Halley, Hale-Bopp,
Tempel 1 and Wild 2 and the laboratory studies of cometary dust of Comet
Wild 2. They showed the presence of silicates of various kinds including
crystalline type, carbonates, water ice, amorphous carbon, sulphides, PAHs
etc. Calcium-Aluminium-rich inclusions, the oldest samples in the solar system containing minerals in abundance, which condensed around 1400 K was
seen. The dust particles also show rich diversity of organics. The detection
of Glycine in cometary dust indicate the presence of ingredient for the formation of living systems. There is enrichment of 15 N and D in the dust particles indicating the presence of presolar grains. Therefore cometary dust is
an unequilibrated heterogeneous mixture of materials containing both high
and low temperature condensates and also contains presolar grains. This
also indicated for the first time, that large scale mixing must have taken
place in the solar nebula.

Problems
1. Derive an expression for the variation of the temperature of a black
body as a function of distance from the Sun. Assume that the energy
distribution of the Sun can be represented by a black body of temperature 6000 K. What will happen if the body is a planet with no
atmosphere or if there is an atmosphere?
2. Calculate the grain temperature for graphite grains of a = 0.2 m at
1 AU from the Sun. How much does this value differ from that of black
body temperature at the same distance?
3. Suppose in the above problem, the grain has some impurity which gives
Qabs = 1 at 1 mm. What will happen to the temperature of the grain?
4. Calculate the number of electrons and atoms or molecules required to
explain the observed scattered radiation in comets at r = 1 AU and for
= 5000
A. Take the value of the scattered intensity to be 50% of the
solar intensity at that wavelength. What is the expected wavelength
dependence of these?
5. Suppose the heavy elements like O, C, N hit the grain and stick to it
with a probability . If the temperature of the gas is T and assuming
the mean velocity to be given by the Maxwellian distribution, deduce

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the expression for the rate of growth of the grain. What is the time
required for an ice grain of initial radius of 0.01 m to grow to 1 m,
if = 1, T = 100 K and nH = 10/cm3
6. A grain releases a molecule and reduces in size due to protons hitting
the surface of the grain. Deduce an expression for the rate of decrease
of grain size with time, if is the probability for the release of a lattice
molecule when the proton hits the surface. What is the time required
to destroy completely an ice grain of size 1 m with NH = ne = 10/cm3 ,
T = 104 K and = 0.1?
2
7. Assuming solar constant of 1.4 106 ergs/cm sec and spherical completely absorbing particles of density 3.0, calculate the limiting radii of
particles to be retained in the solar system released from Comet Encke
at aphelion distance of 4.10 AU and perihelion distance of 0.34 AU.
8. Compare the importance of radiation pressure on the motion of the dust
compared with the force of gravity at the orbit of Venus. Calculate the
time required for the dust to be driven out to the distance of the Earth
by radiation pressure alone.

References
The following paper gives a good account on dust
1. Kolokolova, L, Hanner, M.S., Levasseur-Regourd, A.-Ch et al. 2005.
In Comets II, eds., M.S. Festou, H.U. Keller and H.A. Weaver, Univ.
Arizona Press, Tucson, P.577.
The early work on continuum studies can be found in these two references:
2. Liller, W. 1960. Ap. J. 132 867.
3. Remy-Battiau, L. 1964. Acad. r. Belg. Bull. el. Sci. 5eme Ser. 50
74.
The following papers may be referred for later work:
4. Jewitt, D. C. and Meech, K. J. 1986. Ap. J. 310, 937
5. Hanner, M.S. 2003. JQSRT, 79-80, 695.
6. Wolf, M.J., Clayton, G.C. and Gibson, S.J. 1998. Ap.J., 503, 815.
7. Mann, I., Kimura, H. and Kolokolova, L. 2004. JQSRT, 89, 291.
8. Mason, C.G., Gehrz, R.D., Jones, T.J. et al. 2001. Ap.J., 549, 635.
The determination of grain albedo can be found in the following papers
9. ODell, C.R. 1971. Ap. J., 166, 675.
10. Hanner, M.S. and Newburn, R.L. 1989. Astron, J., 97, 254.
A()f was introduced in the following paper

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11. AHearn, M.F., Schleicher, D.G., Feldman, P.D., et al. 1984. Ap.J.,
89, 579.
The early measurement of polarization was done by
12. Bappu, M.K.V. and Sinvhal, S.D. 1960. M N 120 152.
The existence of negative polarization in comets was shown in the following
two papers:
13. Kiselev, N.N. and Chernova, G.P. 1978. Soviet Astron. 22 607.
14. Weinberg, J.L. and Beeson. D.E. 1976. Astron. Astrophys. 48 151.
For later work the following may be consulted
15. Dollfus, A. 1989. Astr. Ap. 213, 469.
16. Mukai, T., Mukai, S. and Kikuchi, S. 1987. Astr. Ap. 187, 650.
17. Harrington, D.M., Meech, K. Kolokolova, L., et al. 2007. Icarus, 187,
177.
The possible division of comets based on observed linear polarization is in
the following papers
18. Levasseur-Regourd, A. -Ch., Hadanicik E. and Rehard, J.B. 1996. Astron. Astrophys., 313, 327.
19. Levasseur-Regourd, A. -Ch., Zolensky, M. and Lasue, J. 2008. Planetary and Space Science, 56, 1719.
20. Jockers, K., Kiselev, N., Bonev, T. et al. 2005. Astron. Astrophys.,
441, 773.
Circular polarization could be due to organics is discussed in the following
paper
21. Rosenbush, V. Kolokolova, A., Lozarian, A. et al. 2007. Icarus, 186,
317.
In situ studies are discussed in the following papers
22. Mazets, E.P., Aptekar R.L., Golenetskii, S.V. et al. 1986. Nature, 321,
276.
23. McDonnell, J.A.M., Lamy, P.L. and Pankiewicz, G.S. 1991. In Comets
in the Post-Halley Era, eds. R.L. Newburn, M.Neugebauer and J. Rahe,
Kluwer Academic Publishers, P. 1043.
24. Nordholt, J.E., Reisenfeld, D.B., Wiens, R.C. et al. 2003. Geophys.
Res. Lett., 30, 18.
25. Tuzzolino, A.J., Economou, T.E., Clark, B.C. et al. 2004. Science,
304, 1776.
The first infrared measurements made on Comet Ikeya-Seki is reported by
26. Becklin, E E and Westphal, J A. 1966. Ap. J., 145 445.
The following paper reports the first detection of 10 m emission feature
in Comet Bennett.

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27. Maas, R., Ney, E.P. and Woolf, N.J. 1970. Ap. J.,160, L101.
Interpretation of infrared observations and mineralogy of grains can be
found in the following papers
28. Krishna Swamy, K.S. and Donn, B 1968. Ap J 153, 291.
29. Krishna Swamy, K.S., Sandford, S., Allamandola, L.J. et al. 1988.
Icarus, 75, 351.
30. Oishi, M., Okuda, H. and Wickramasinghe, N C 1978. Publ. Astro.
Soc. Japan, 30, 161.
31. Crovisier, J., Brooke, T.Y., Leech, K. et al. 2000. Thermal Emission
Spectroscopy and Analysis of Dust Disks and Regoliths, eds. M.L. Sitko,
A.L. sprague and D.K. Lynch, ASP Conference Ser. Vol. 196, P.109.
32. Wooden, D.H., Harker, D.C., Woodward, C.E., et al. 1999. Ap.J.,
517, 1034.
Study of complex mineralogy of dust is in the following papers
33. Crovisier, J., Leech, K., Bockelee-Morvan, D. et al. 1997. Science, 275,
1904.
34. Lisse, C.M., Kraemer, K.E., Nuth III, J.A. et al. 2007. Icarus, 187,
69.
35. Hanner, M.S. and Bradley, J.P. 2005. In Comets II, eds. M.C. Festou,
H.U. Keller and H.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 555.
The following papers discusses the complex nature of organics
36. Sandford, S.A. 2008. In Organic Matter in Space, Eds. S. Kwok and
S.A. Sandford, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, P.299.
37. Brownlee, D., Tsou, P., Aleon, J. et al. 2006. Science, 314, 1711.
38. Kissel, J. Krueger, F.R., Silen, J. et al. 2004. Science, 304, 1774.
39. Kissel, J. and Krueger, F.R. 1987. Nature, 326, No. 6115, 755.
40. Disanti, M.A., Villanueva, G.L., Bonev, B.P. et al. 2007. Icarus, 187,
240.
41. Biver, N., Bockelee-Morvan, D., Boissier, J., et al. 2007. Icarus, 187,
253.
42. Clemett, S.J., Nakamura-Messenger, K., Mckay, D.S. et al. 2007. Lunar and Planetary Science, 38, 2091.
The first detection of Glycine in Comet Wild 2 is reported in the following
paper
43. Elsila, J.E., Glavin, D.P. and Dworkin, J.P. 2009. Meteorites and Planetary Science, 44, 1323.
The observed C-H(3.4 m) feature in Comet Tempel 1
44. AHearn, M.F. 2005.
In Asteroids, Comets and Meteors, eds.
D.Lazzaro, S. Ferraz-Mello and J.A. Fernandez, Cambridge Univ.

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Press, p. 33.
The first definite detection of strong 3.1 m ice dust feature in Comet Tempel 1 is reported in the following paper
45. Sunshine, J.M., Groussin, O., Schultz, P.H. et al. 2007. Icarus, 190,
284.

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CHAPTER 10

Ion Tails

The ion tails of comets provide a unique and natural place for the study
of various plasma processes. Many of the features seen in the ion tails
of comets change on a short-time scale as well as on a long-time scale.
The formation of ion tails is basically due to the interaction of the solar
wind plasma with the cometary plasma. The detailed dynamical model
calculations for such an interaction process had indicated the presence of
Large Scale Structures like bow shock, ionosphere and so on. The in situ
measurements of Comets Giacobini-Zinner, Halley Borrelly, etc. showed
not only the presence of these features but also indicated the plasma to be
highly complex, containing instabilities, waves, turbulence and so on. Some
of these aspects will be discussed here. In addition, some of the large scale
features that have been seen in the ion tail of comets will also be discussed.
10.1.

Evidence for the Solar Wind

The existence of the solar wind was first postulated based on the study
of the ion tail of comets. The model was put on a firm footing with the
work of Parker based on the hydrodynamic expansion model of the solar
corona. The model predicted in detail the expected nature of the solar wind
as well as the resulting shape of the interplanetary magnetic field. These
were confirmed later on with observations made through satellites.
The idea of the solar wind came from the photographic observations of
comets which showed that certain features like knots in the ion tails were
moving away along the tail. The velocity and the acceleration of the features
obtained from successive photographs showed clearly that these features
were moving in the anti-solar direction with high velocities. The typical
velocity is about 100 km/sec. A measure of the deceleration is generally
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expressed in terms of the effective gravity parameter (1 ) as defined in

Chap. 7. The typical values of (1 ) 102 were quite commonly observed
in the ion tails of many comets. This indicates an outward force which is
102 times larger than the solar gravity. One force which could operate and
give rise to this motion on an atom or a molecule is the radiation pressure.
The expression for the radiation pressure is given by

 2 
F
e
Frad =
f
(10.1)
c
mc
where F is the solar flux at the comet and all other quantities have their
usual meanings. It was found that the Eq. (10.1) fails to explain the
observed accelerations of features in the ion tail by several orders of magnitude. This led Biermann to hypothesize the existence of the solar wind,
i.e., the high velocity corpuscular radiation coming from the Sun, which
accelerates the ions in the tail through the momentum transfer. In fact he
developed a very simple expression for this interaction and obtained the
equation
dvi
e2 Ne ve me

.
dt
mi

(10.2)

Here the quantities with the subscript e refer to electrons and i to ions, Ne
is the electron density and ve is the velocity of electrons, is the electrical
conductivity. In order to explain the observed accelerations, the above
equation requires the solar wind velocity to be of the order of a few hundred
kilometers per second and the density of about 600 electrons/cm3 . These
values may be compared with the present day velocity of about 400 to
500 km/sec and the density of about 5/cm3 .
10.2.

Dynamical Aberration

More support for the solar wind hypothesis came from the study of the
orientation of ion tails of comets. The tail axes of ion tails are found to lag
behind by a few degrees with respect to the radius vector. The lag arises
due to the resultant effect of the solar wind velocity and the velocity of the
comet. This is known as the dynamical aberration. Figure 10.1 shows the
geometry of the comet tail on the plane of the sky. Here r, t and v denote
the radius vector, the tail vector and the negative velocity vector of the
comet. For the interpretation of ion tail orientation, it is convenient to use
the plane of the comets orbit as the reference frame. The observational

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Fig. 10.1 The geometry of the comet tail (dashed lines) projected on to the plane of the
sky. The position angles , and denote the prolonged radius vector, the comet tail
and the direction of comets velocity back along the orbit respectively. (Belton, M.J.S.
and Brandt, J.C. 1966. Ap. J. Suppl. 13, 125).

data is the position angle of the tail axis on the plane of the sky. From a
knowledge of the various quantities as shown in Fig. 10.1, the orientation
of the tail in the comets orbital plane can be calculated (Fig. 10.2) with
the assumption that it also lies in the same plane. The aberration angle 
is then the angle of the tail with respect to the radius vector. The basic
equation used for the interpretation of dynamical aberration observation is
given by
t=wv

(10.3)

where t is the tail vector which lies in the orbital plane of the comet, w is
the solar wind velocity and v is the comets orbital velocity. Physically the
above equation means that the direction of the tail is the direction of the

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Fig. 10.2 The geometry of the comet tail projected on to the plane of the comets orbit.
The aberration angle  and the angle are shown. (Belton, M.J.S. and Brandt. J.C.
1966. op. cit.).

solar wind as seen by an observer riding on the comet. If the solar wind
velocity is resolved into radial (wr ) and azimuthal (w ) components, the
aberration angle for a comet near the solar equator is given by
v sin w cos i
tan  =
(10.4)
wr v cos
where i is the inclination of the comets orbit to the plane of the solar
equator and is the angle between the radius vector and the direction of

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v. All the quantities in the above equation are known except for wr and
w . Since the value of w is small, the value of wr can easily be calculated
from Eq. (10.4). Since the observations on comets cover a wide variety of
situations, it is possible in principle to get not only wr and w but also
their variations. If w has an appreciable value, it should show up in the
aberration angle between the direct (D) and retrograde (R) comets. The
above method has been applied to about 60 comets covering approximately
1600 observations. The resulting averages for the aberration angles for
direct and retrograde comets are
hiD = 3.7
and
hiR = 5.5 .
Assuming wr and w are the same for the two cases and using the average
values for other parameters, the resulting mean values for wr and w are
hwr i = 450 11 km/sec
and
hw i = 8.4 1.3 km/sec.
In the above discussion, it was assumed that the tail of the comet lies
in the orbital plane of the comet. This assumption can be relaxed and
the velocity field of the solar wind can also be taken into account. The
following variations for w and w which are found to be consistent with
the observational and theoretical evidences have been used in the comet
tail orientation problem
wr = constant, w = w,o

(cos b)2.315
r

(10.5)

and
W = wm sin 2b

(10.6)

where b is the solar latitude, w,o and wm denote the azimuthal speed
in the plane of the solar equator at 1AU and the maximum value of w .
The results of analysis are given in Table 10.1. It is also possible to get
the minimum solar wind speed which actually refers to the larger values
of . The minimum value obtained for the solar wind speed is around
225 50 km/sec. All these results are in good agreement with the direct
space probe measurements. The presence of the azimuthal component of the

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Table 10.1

Parameters of solar wind derived from ion tails.

Parameter

Published sample

Total sample (includes unpublished data)

r (km/sec)
,o (km/sec)
m (km/sec)
Number of
observations

402 12
7.01.8
2.61.2

400 11
6.71.7
2.3 1.1

678

809

(Brandt, J.C. and Mendis, D.A. 1979. In Solar System Plasma Physics, Vol. II,
eds. C.F. Kennel, L.J. Lanzerotti and E.N. Parker. Amsterdam: North Holland
Publishing Company.)

solar wind was also first deduced based on the study of ion tails which was
later confirmed through the direct space probe measurements, vindicating
the simple aberration picture of the ion tails of comets. It is also remarkable
that it can give so much of information without a detailed knowledge of the
interaction between the solar wind and the tail plasma.
From the above discussion, it is apparent that the derived results based
on the use of Eq. (10.3) are in good agreement with the gross observed properties of plasma tail of comets. Having established the validity of Eq. (10.3),
it is now possible to reverse the problem and calculate approximately the
expected general shape of the plasma tail from the same equation. This
formalism is known as the Wind Sock Theory. Therefore the existence of
solar wind was well established from the cometary studies before its detection by spacecraft at a much later time. The above studies indicate the
importance of knowing the nature, structure and composition of solar wind
for a full understanding of the comet and solar wind interaction.

10.3.

Theoretical Considerations

The comet acts as an obstacle to the free flow of the solar wind. Therefore one can approach the problem of the interaction of the solar wind with
the cometary atmosphere purely from the theoretical considerations. The
presence of fine structures in the plasma tail of comets indicates the existence of magnetic field in comets for its confinement. Otherwise the fine
structure will be washed out due to thermal motions.
Therefore the theoretical study of the interaction between the solar wind
and cometary ions is a complicated problem as the interaction is coupled

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through the interplanetary magnetic fields. The basic idea of the cometsolar wind interacation was provided by Alfven in 1957 and is shown in
Fig. 10.3. When the solar wind with its frozen-in-magnetic field encounters

Fig. 10.3 A schematic representation of the piling up and curling up of interplanetary magnetic field by the coma of the comet. The gradual formation of the ion tail is
shown in (a), (b), (c) and (d). (Adapted from Alfven, H. 1957. Tellus 9, 92).

a comet containing ionized molecules, these molecules cannot cross the

field lines. Instead they spiral around the magnetic lines and hence they
are attached to the field lines. The cometary ions trapped in the field line is
called mass loading. Since the cometary ions have low velocities, they are
essentially at rest with respect to the solar wind speed of 450 km/s. This
reduces the flow speed. This effect is stronger near the nucleus than well
away from the comet. These field lines wrap around the comets ionosphere
and it is finally dragged into the tail as shown in Fig. 10.3. It also helps

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in transfer of momentum betwen solar wind plasma and the cometary ions
and this formalism can explain in a natural way the presence of narrow
and straight streamers in the ion tail of comets. This is the basis of all the
plasma models.
In a simple model, the plasma can be assumed to act as a fluid in the
sense of fluid dynamics, allowing the use of simple hydrodynamic methods
to predict the flow pattern of the plasma. Even without detailed modelling,
it was suggested around 1964 that the expansion of the ionized coma gas
should act as an obstacle to the supersonic solar wind flow which should
result in a bow shock at a distance of around 104 to 105 km from the nucleus. The particle distribution functions can usually be determined from
the conservation laws, namely, continuity, momentum and energy equations
including the effect of electric and magnetic fields. These are to be supplemented with the equations for the magnetic field and the electric field.
These equations constitute the magnetohydrodynamic equations (MHD) for
the plasma and provide a good description of most of the plasma processes
in the coma. The results of accurate one-and-two-dimensional models with
spherical gas flow showed that a weak bow shock is expected with a Mach
number 2. In recent years, more realistic and sophisticated models have
been constructed, which takes into account various physical processes including chemistry in the neutral and ionized coma and its interaction with
the solar wind. The interaction of the ionized coma with the solar wind
lead to deviations from spherical symmetry. The assumption of axial symmetry is also destroyed due to the embedded magnetic field. Therefore a
detailed description of the region would require a 3-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic model. These MHD models describe the macroscopic flow
patterns and the characteristic boundaries expected from such interactions.
The result of one such detailed 3-dimensional MHD calculation is shown in
Fig. 10.4. The model takes into account momentum exchange from ionneutral collisions, photoionization, mass-loading through ion pick up and
the Lorentz forces of the transverse magnetic field. The simulation also
takes into account the detailed physics and chemistry of the coma together,
as they are intimately connected.
The results show that a bow shock occurs around 5 105 km from the
nucleus for Comet Halley parameters. The ions are heated by the shock
to around 2.2 106 K. However they cool down very fast due to collisions
and charge exchange. The temperature of electrons is not affected by the
shock and they lose their energy due to electron impact reaction. A sharp
boundary exists at a distance of around 4800 km where the flow velocity

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Fig. 10.4 Variation of physical quantities as a function of distance from the nucleus (R
in km) for axisymmetric model (dashed lines) and the three dimensional model (solid
lines). Ti=ion temperature (K), Te=electron temperature (K), v=velocity (km/sec),
N=Number density (/cm3 ), B=magnetic field strength (nT) and =mean molecular
weight (Wegmann, R., Schmidt, H.U., Huebner, W.F. and Boice, D.C. 1987. Astr. Ap.
187, 339).

falls steeply. This is the contact surface which separates the contaminated
solar wind from the pure cometary plasma inside. Therefore at this surface
two plasmas of different origin converge. The magnetic field is compressed
by the shock and it reaches a value of about 53 nT in the stagnation zone.
The value drops suddenly at the contact surface. The variation of physical
parameters as shown in Fig. 10.4 arise as a result of balance of different
effects.
The overall morphology of the flow of plasma near a comet is schematically shown in Fig. 10.5. They can be understood as follows. At large
distances from the comet the interaction of the solar wind is collisionless

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Fig. 10.5 Schematic representation of the global morphology produced by the interaction of the solar wind with the cometary atmosphere shows the flow pattern and the
presence of various discontinuities arising from such an interaction (Mendis, D.A. 1988.
Ann. Rev. Astr. Ap. 26, 11).

as the cometary material is neutral. Once the ions are created, they are
accelerated due to the interplanetary magnetic field (B) and the motional
electric field of the solar wind, E=-Vsw B where Vsw is the solar wind
velocity. The most important source of ionization of the gas is the photoionization by the extreme ultraviolet radiation. The charge exchange
transfer of solar wind protons with cometary neutral also contribute to the
ionization process. The ions formed move with a typical speed of around
1 km/sec in the cometary frame of reference, while the solar wind velocity
is 400 km/sec. The newly formed ions which are initially at rest are accelerated by the motional electric field of the solar wind leading to a cycloidal
motion with both gyration and EB drift motion. The gyration speed
depends upon the angle between the solar wind velocity and the magnetic
field. This assimilation of the cometary ions into the magnetized solar wind
is called mass loading of the inflowing solar wind. The dynamics of the
solar wind containing cometary ions depend upon the overall pressure and
density associated with these ions. The thermal speed of ions, picked up by
the solar wind, is of the order of solar wind speed. The picked up energy of

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the ions in the upstream in the solar wind reference frame is typically about
1020 keV for O+ , whereas the solar wind protons have thermal energies
10 eV. Therefore the picked up ions are quite hot and the pressure due
to these ions dominate the total pressure even at large cometocentric distances. With the decrease in cometocentric distance, more and more ions
are added to the solar wind and hence the total pressure increases. As solar
wind progressively gets mass loaded, due to momentum conservation, the
solar wind slows down. As the solution of the fluid equation cannot go
continuously from supersonic to subsonic state, this results in a weak bow
shock at a critical level of mass-loading. This depends crucially on the mean
molecular weight. Therefore the cometary bow shock arises purely as a result of mass-loading process and is unique among the solar system objects.
Many of the energetic ions like O+ , C+ and H+ are generated upstream
of the comet. Moving inwards from the shock, the solar wind continues to
interact with the cometary material of increasing neutral density. These
outflowing neutrals play an important role in slowing down the incoming
solar wind through collisions. Therefore cometary ions which are produced
down-stream of the shock are less energetic (E 1 keV) compared to those
produced upstream of the shock. In a real situation there is a slow gradation in the energy of the picked up ions and hence in the solar wind
reference frame, energy of the pick-up ions decreases with decreasing cometocentric distance. Therefore the plasma found in the inner regions of coma
contains ions of different populations made up of energetic ions picked up
far upstream, and relatively cold ions picked up locally Finally, the velocity
decreases rapidly, giving rise to a sharp boundary called cometopause,In
this transition region, collisions dominate. Near cometopause, the hot and
warm cometary ions disappear from the plasma through charge exchange
collisions with the neutrals. Inside the cometopause, the speed is very low,
the ions are abundant and are modified by collisions and chemistry. This
also leads to compression of the magnetic field giving rise to the magnetic
barrier. The boundary of the field free cavity is called diamagnetic cavity
boundary surface. It is also called contact surface, the ionopause or the tangential discontinuity. This boundary separates the purely cometary plasma
and the mass-loaded solar wind plasma. The basic physical mechanism of
its formation is due to the balance between the outward ion-neutral frictional force (due to the flow of neutrals past stagnated ions) and an inward
directed electromagnetic (J B) force. Here the mass loading term is less
important. The presence of another shock inside the cometary ionopause
has been suggested in order to decelerate the supersonic outward flowing

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cometary ions and divert them into the tail.

10.3.1.

Comparison with observations

The in situ measurements of Comets Giacobini-Zinner, Halley and Borrelly which provided detailed data, confirmed the large scale picture of the
solar wind interaction with comets at close heliocentric distances. Out of
the three comets, extensive and detailed in situ data exists for Comet Halley
due to six spacecrafts passing close to the nucleus of this comet.
The ICE spacecraft passed by Comet Giacobini-Zinner on Sept.11, 1985.
The observations indicated the prersence of a bow shock around 130,000 km
from the nucleus. The detection of the high energy particles and plasma
waves was an important result that came out of these studies. These high
energy ions are basically the ions that were picked up by the solar wind
magnetic field and accelerated as they are dragged by the solar wind. This
process generates plasma waves. The curling of the magnetic field was
also seen in the observations. The reversal of the magnetic polarity was
also seen from spacecraft measurements. Far from the nucleus, plasma had
typical solar wind speed of about 500 km/s. The density was around 5
ions/cm3 and an electron temperature of around 250,000 K. Around the
closest distance of the spacecraft to the nucleus of 7800 km, the flow speed
was about 30 km/sec, electron density of 600/cm3 and electron temperature
of 15000 K. The measured ions were mostly water-group ions, such as H2 O+
and H3 O+ .
While the bow shock of Comet Giacobini-Zinner was not well defined,
the presence of a bow shock at a distance 1 106 km from the nucleus
in Comet Halley was clearly identified by instruments aboard spacecrafts,
measuring plasma, magnetic field and plasma wave. The detection of bow
shock in Comet Halley has resolved the controversy about its existence. The
spacecraft measurements, has also given detailed information on the structure of the bow-shock. For example, the water group ions O+ , OH+ , H2 O+
and H3 O+ showed a sudden enhancement following the bow shock. Inside
the bow-shock, in the cometo-sheath region the flow speed was found to decrease continuously due to ion pick up and the plasma becomes more dominated by cometary ions. The phase space density distribution of cometary
H+ ions showed a shell-like structure at a distance of around 8 106 km
upstream of the bow-shock in Comet Halley. This pattern arises due to the
fact that the velocity distribution of pick up ions which should be in the
form of a ring with velocity component v = Vsw sin perpendicular to

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the interplanetary magnetic field and a drift velocity v11 = Vsw cos along
B and relative to the solar wind is unstable and leads to various plasma
instabilities. As a result of wave-particle scattering, the H+ ions diffuse
along the sphere transforming the ring-like structure to shell-like structure.
Many of these features have also been seen from Comet Borrelly from
measurements carried out with Deep Space 1.
The existence of cometopause at a distance of around 105 km came
from the observation that the density of the solar wind protons was found
to decrease rapidly approaching this distance, while the comet ion density
increased rapidly with 1/R2 radial dependence for R < 105 km (Fig. 10.6).
At a cometodistance 1.4 105 km there was also a sudden decrease of

Fig. 10.6 Number density profiles of water group ions and solar wind protons as measured by Giotto ion mass spectrometer (see Ip, W.-H. 1989. Ap. J. 343, 946).

electrons with energies 10 eV while the magnetic field strength increases

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from 6 nT to 26 nT. For radial distances < 2 105 km the dominant

ions change progressively from O+ , OH+ and H2 O+ to H3 O+ (Fig. 10.7).
The dominant ions inside 104 km are H2 O+ and H3 O+ which continuously
increase towards the nucleus as indicated by the models. The ions C+ and
S+ were also found to be very abundant.

Fig. 10.7 The variation of abundances of several species as measured by ion mass spectrometer on Giotto from Comet Halley. R is the distance of Giotto from the nucleus and
the time refers to UT at the ground station (Balsiger, H. et al. 1986. Nature 321, 330).

The Giotto measurements of magnetic field, plasma temperature and

plasma speed is compared with that of model calculations in Fig. 10.8 and
Fig. 10.9. There is overall agreement between the models and observations
The ion temperature dropped from 2600 K to 450 K at a distance of around
4700 km. These results confirmed the presence of tangential discontinuity.
The interesting result that Giotto magnetometer measurements showed is
that there was a dramatic drop in the magnetic field 50 nT to zero
at cometocentric distance 4600 km from the nucleus inbound. In the
outbound the magnetic field of zero rose to about 65 nT at distance of about

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Fig. 10.8 The Giotto measurements of variation of magnetic field is compared with
modeled results (Gombosi, J.I., De Zeeuw, D.L. and Haberte, R.M. 1996. J. Geophys.
Res., 101: 15, 233).

3800 km. The region bound by these two distances is devoid of magnetic
field. The upper limit for the magnetic field strength in the stagnent plasma
region can be estimated from balance between the magnetic pressure and
the solar wind ram pressure
i.e.,

Bs2
2
= nsw msw Vsw
2o

(10.7)

Using for solar wind number density nsw 5/cm3 and Vsw 400 km/sec,
the calculated value of Bmax 60 nT. This is what is observed.
The width of the field-free cavity is about 8500 km. The boundary of
the cavity separate the two regions of the plasma wherein the inner side
containing mainly pure cometary plasma while the outer region containing a mixture of cometary plasma and solar wind plasma. In essence the
outflowing cometary plasma hinders the flow of solar wind with its magnetic field inside this surface. The location at which the inner edge of the
ionopause occurs can also be estimated from the balance between the magnetic force and the ion-neutral drag force. This gives a distance 4335 km
for inbound and 3470 km for the outbound for the Giotto encounter.
These are in reasonable accord with the observed values mentioned above.
The general results of plasma measurements carried out in Comet Borrelly are quite similar to those of Comet Halley. The approximate composition as determined from the closest approach data is as follows: 63% OH+ ,

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Fig. 10.9 The Giotto measurements of variation of speed and temperature of ions are
compared with modeled results (Gombosi, J.I., De Zeeuw, D.L. and Haberte R.M. 1996.
J. Geophys. Res., 101:15, 233).

25%H2 O+ , 2.5%C+ , 2%N+ and 8%CH+

3.
10.4.

Instabilities and Waves

It was suggested that there could be some instabilities present in the

plasma due to the mass-loading of the solar wind by the newly created ions.
The nature of the pick up cometary ions by the solar wind depend upon
the orientation of the solar wind flow to the interplanetary magnetic field
(IMF)B. When the IMF is orthogonal to the solar wind Vsw , i.e. B Vsw the

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Vsw B motional electric field makes the newly created ions gyrate around
the magnetic field. In this case the anisotropy in their gyro velocities (as
they can have both the zero velocity and twice the solar wind velocity),
can give rise to three types of low frequency instabilities, namely the ioncyclotron instability, a parallel propagating nonoscillatory mode and a fluid
mirror instability. In the other extreme case, when the IMF is parallel to
the solar wind velocity vector i.e. Bk Vsw , there is no Vsw B solar wind
force acting on the cometary ions. For such a situation the ions form a beam
in the solar wind plasma frame moving at a velocity V sw relative to the
ambient plasma. This can lead to two types of instabilities, a right handed
resonant helical beam instability and a nonresonant instability. However
the coupling between the solar wind and the cometary ions becomes complicated if the solar wind flows obliquely to the magnetic field at an angle
. Therefore, in principle, various kinds of plasma instabilities and waves
could be generated due to the ion pick up by the solar wind, depending
upon the complex local conditions of the plasma. The in situ plasma and
magnetic field measurements of Comets Giacobini-Zinner and Halley by the
spacecrafts have shown the presence of a large number of waves of various
kinds. They are highly complex and difficult to interpret. Only a few of
these results will be mentioned here.
One of the main results that came out of the study of the Comet
Giacobini-Zinner by the ICE spacecraft is the detection of the water group
(16 to 19 amu) ion cyclotron frequency from spectral power analysis. This
has also been detected in Comet Halley observations. Several peaks with
cyclotron fundamental at 7 mHz and its harmonics at 14, 21, 29 and 39 mHz
has been seen in the cross-spectral densities of the solar wind proton velocity
and magnetic field. The fundamental mode at 7 mHz is linearly polarized
and the higher harmonics are either linearly or highly elliptically polarized.
The cometary influence extends to a distance of around 2 106 km.
Waves have been detected upstream of the bow shock for Comets
Giacobini-Zinner and Halley. A variety of polarizations have been detected
from circularly polarized waves propagating at large angles relating to the
ambient field to highly elliptical polarized waves. The detection of short
duration magnetic pulses during = 90 intervals was rather an unexpected result. The field variations have a duration of around 6 to 7 sec and
is comparable to the proton cyclotron frequency in the spacecraft frame.
These pulses are mostly transverse oscillations.
At distances 3 104 to 18 104 km from the comet the magnetic
field experiment detected mirror mode waves which are characterized by

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irregular dips in the magnetic field. Similar structures have been seen
from Giotto Spacecraft in Comet Halley and ICE on Comet GiacobiniZinner. Higher frequency whistlers have been seen near the bow shock of
Comet Giacobini-Zinner and it is an integral part of the magnetosonic wave.
Several mechanisms for the formation of whistlers have been proposed such
as through generation of dispersive whistlers derived from hybrid simulation
results, generation of pick up of heavy ions and protons at the distorted
steepened fronts of the magnetosonic waves and so on.
The waves of extremely low frequency (ELF) in the region 10 to 1500 Hz
and of very low frequency (VLF) in the region 103 to 106 Hz generated by
cometary pick up ions and photoelectrons are present in Comets GiacobiniZinner and Halley upto distances of about 2106 km from the nucleus. The
Comet Halley emission was about an order of magnitude more intense than
as seen from Comet Giacobini-Zinner. Some of the wave modes that has
been seen in comets are shown in Fig. 10.10. They show the electron plasma
oscillations (EPO), the ion acoustic waves, electromagnetic whistlers and
lower hybrid resonance (LHR) waves.
An indication of the presence of strong turbulence even upto distances
2 106 km from the nucleus came from the detection of strong wave
activity. In addition to high level plasma activity, large-amplitude magnetic
field variation were observed. The turbulence measured by Vega and Giotto
Spacecrafts of Comet Halley showed that the magnetic field fluctuations
were smaller compared to that observed in Comet Giacobini-Zinner. There
is a clear correlation between the magnetic field variations and solar wind
plasma measurements which suggest the waves are fast-mode magnetosonic
waves. The observed magnetic field turbulence spectrum follows a power
law spectrum with an index of about 2, which is sufficiently different from
the fully developed Kolmogorov spectrum with a spectral index of 5/3. This
indicates that the cascade has not progressed far enough.
The detection of strong turbulence has led to several theoretical investigations. Both analytical treatments and numerical simulations have been
applied to interpret these results. They could arise due to the presence of
cyclotron harmonic emission, which would add power at the higher frequencies; or if ions have a finite temperature, it will shift the wave frequencies to
higher values or due to non-linear effect of the waves and so on. It is quite
possible that several processes could lead to a smooth power law spectrum.
It is found that resonant wave-particle interactions and ion-shell formation
can lead to a wave power law spectrum with an index of around 2.0.
Though a large number of substructures have been identified in the in

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Fig. 10.10 Several wave modes seen in Comet Giacobini-Zinner in the upstream and
down stream are shown. This includes electron plasma oscillations (EPO), ion acoustic
waves, electromagnetic whistler modes and lower hybrid resonance (LHR) waves (Scarf
F.L. et al. 1987. Astr. Ap. 187, 109).

situ measurements, the mechanism of formation of such structures is not

clear.
10.5.

Acceleration of Cometary Ions

The possibility that cometary ions could be accelerated to high energies in the coma due to the turbulent plasma environment came from the
analogy with the diffuse shock acceleration at the Earths bow shock. The
existence of such accelerated ions in Comet Giacobini-Zinner came from
the observations carried out with the ICE spacecraft. The measurement
showed large flux of cometary ions of about 100 keV even upto distances
106 km from the nucleus. Large anisotropy in their distribution was
also detected. The in situ measurements of Comet Halley confirmed the
presence of appreciable fluxes of energetic cometary ions in the coma, but

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it extended even beyond 100 keV and upto about 0.5 MeV.
The maximum energy that a newly formed ion can have in the rest
frame of the spacecraft is given by
1
2
Emax = mi (2V )2 = 2mi Vsw
sin2
(10.8)
2
where 2V is the total velocity comprising of the drift speed V and roughly
an equal amount of gyration speed. VSW is the solar wind speed and is
the angle between the solar wind velocity and the interplanetary magnetic
field. For Vsw ' 400 km/sec, the maximum energy Emax that water ions
can have 60 keV corresponding to = 90 . There should be a sharp cut
off in the energy distribution beyond this value. However the observations
indicating that the energy spectra extended upto 0.5 MeV clearly showed
that significant ion acceleration must have occurred. The value of = 90
or 0 correspond to the extreme cases of velocity vector of the ions in the
direction of the solar wind (Emax ) or in the opposite direction (Emin ) and
should therefore lead to anisotropies in the energy distribution.
The possible mechanisms for the acceleration of ions has led to several
studies of wave-particle interactions. The cometary ions could be accelerated through diffuse shock acceleration process near the bow shock. This
process is basically related to random multiple scattering of charged particles across the shock front, separating the supersonic and subsonic sides, a
form of first order Fermi acceleration. Another mechanism is the stochastic acceleration process, a form of second order Fermi acceleration process.
Here the mechanism is the scattering of the particles by the waves in the
turbulent cometary plasma. In the diffuse acceleration process, the accelerated ion population builds up ahead of the bow shock with a characteristic
length scale given by K/Vsw where K is the diffusion coefficient of the
medium normal to the shock. For the case of ion acceleration at the bow
shock of Comet Halley, the estimated distance is 106 km. The diffuse
shock acceleration process is more important in this region and for energies 100 keV. For energies > 100 keV and for distance > 5 106 km
far from the bow shock, the acceleration through stochastic process or the
second-order Fermi acceleration process is of major importance. Support
for the stochastic acceleration process also seems to come from the observations that can be fitted well with an exponential velocity distribution of
cometary ions. Other mechanisms that have been considered for ion acceleration process include the lower hybrid turbulence that could be generated
by the comet ion pick up process as well as by the bow shock formation
and ion cyclotron wave absorption.

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The presence of intense electron plasma oscillations and ion-acoustic

waves in the Comets Giacobini-Zinner and Halley indicate that electron
heating and acceleration should take place. Some of the processes considered for electron heating are ion acoustic wave instability, cross-field
streaming instabilities, lower hybrid wave acceleration and so on.

10.6.

Large Scale Structures

Different kinds of plasma processes must be taking place in the ion

tail of comets. This is evident from the photographs of bright comets
which show a wide variety of unusual large scale dynamical phenomena.
A wide variety of plasma tails can be seen from the Atlas of Cometary
Forms. Many of these interesting phenomena appear to be controlled to
a large extent by the microscopic plasma physical processes arising out of
the comet-solar wind interactions. There are many other features which
arise due to the dominance of the solar wind. Therefore any change in the
solar wind property in a small or on a large scale is reflected directly in
the behaviour of the cometary plasma. Some of the characteristic features
arising out of these processes are given in Table 10.2. It should be noted
that most of the observed features are transient in nature. Since the ion
tail is basically a plasma column of large extent and is also bright, it gives
a splendid opportunity for the study of spatial and temporal variations. It
can also help in distinguishing the phenomena connected with the processes
taking place inside the tail like instabilities etc. from those introduced by
the fluctuations in the solar wind.
Table 10.2
events.

Plasma process and the possible associated

Physical process

Lead to observed features

Change in the solar

wind conditions

Changes the orientation of

the ion tail, bends the tail

Development of
instabilities

Enhancement of ionization,
flares, condensations, filaments,
rays, helices, waves, etc.

Magnetic field lines

disconnected

Disconnected tails

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Tail rays or streamers

The filametary structure in the ion tails of comets is quite common and
is also very conspicuous (Fig. 1.18). The shape of these streamers appears
to show the importance of magnetic fields. Since the CO+ ions present
in the ion tail follow the direction of the magnetic field, the streamers are
made visible through CO+ emission. These rays going in the anti-solar
direction grow with time and can extend from smaller lengths of about 103
km to longer lengths of about 106 km. The rays are distributed almost
symmetrically around the comet tail axis. They also seem to turn towards
the main tail axis. The time scale for coalescing process is around 10 to
15 hours. Since the time of formation of a new streamer is about one hour,
usually streamers as many as 20 to 25 can be seen at any given time. These
streamers do not interact with each other. They appear to originate from
a small volume very close to the nucleus, at a distance of the order of
103 km from the nucleus. In addition to seeing the streamers originating
from the coma, streamers starting from the tail have also been noticed.
Since these rays do not originate from the ionized region, the mechanism
of formation of these rays has to be different. Two possibilities have been
suggested either they are produced by nonlinear compressional waves or
the cometary ions trace the magnetic field lines. Observations appear to
show the first explanation to be unlikely although there are problems with
the second explanation. The ion stream could also arise due to the effect
of magnetic sector boundaries in the IMF (Sec. 10.6.6) The IMF following
the sector boundary reconnects at the front side of the ionosphere. This
can lead to ion streamers. In the coma, in addition to magnetic lines
of force, neutral sheets or surfaces also curl around and their behaviour
will be similar to the observed reversal of directions in the interplanetary
medium. It has been suggested that the streamers represent the enhanced
plasma which is confined to these neutral tubes or surfaces. These ions are
concentrated in the neutral zones as a result of the field gradients on either
side of the neutral regions. Also these neutral regions prevent the field lines
of opposite polarity merging with each other leading to annihilation. These
neutral tubes are nearly cylindrical, centred on the tail axis and when seen
edge-on, they appear as rays. They appear symmetrical about the tail
axis and this is consistent with the observations. It is quite possible that
strong shock waves in the sunward direction can generate keV electrons
and energetic protons. These high energy electrons streaming along the
magnetic field lines can result in high ionization in a short time scale which

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can give rise to streamers.

10.6.2.

Knots or condensations

The plasma tails are filled with structures such as bright knots or condensations which are basically ion concentrations. With the use of time
sequence photographs, it is possible to follow these knots as a function of
time for a period of a few hours to a day. From such measurements, the velocity and acceleration can be determined. Their velocities lie in the region
of around 20 km/sec near the head to around 250 km/sec at distances far
from the head. This corresponds to a value of (1 - ) of around 100 with
wide variation. Several attempts have been carried out for an understanding of these results. In particular whether the observed motions are the
mass motions or some form of disturbance traveling down the tail. Even
though the collision mean free path for the particles is large, it is still a
reasonable approximation to treat the interaction between the solar wind
and the cometary plasma as a fluid-like interaction. Based on such a hypothesis, several other mechanisms for the observed acceleration have been
suggested. One suggested process is that the acceleration will result when
the plasma is squeezed out of the flux tubes by the magnetic pressure gradients. Another point of view is that the enhancement of the momentum
transfer takes place due to some form of instability setting in the plasma. It
is not clear at the present time whether the observed motions are the mass
motions or some form of disturbance propagating down the tail. Doppler
measurements carried out in the near-nucleus region of plasma tail indicate
speeds of around 30 km/sec and extend to distances of around 3 105 km.
The derived acceleration is found to increase with distance. Therefore it is
likely both mass motion and waves are present in the plasma tail of comets.
10.6.3.

Oscillatory structure

The photograph of Comet Kohoutek taken on 13 January 1974 when it

was at r = 0.58 AU and = 0.81 AU, clearly showed the presence of a
wavy structure in the ion tail, moving approximately at a speed of about
235 km/sec. (Fig. 1.16). The feature appeared to be a helical structure.
The radius and the wavelength of the structures are about 2.3105 km and
1.4 106 km respectively. The wavy structure had an extension of about
3.6 106 km and was about 1.6 107 km away from the nucleus. These
oscillations have been interpreted in terms of kink instability based on

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the studies of the Earths geomagnetic tail. The theoretical work developed
for the Earths geomagnetic tail has been successfully applied to the comet
tails. In brief, an azimuthal component of the magnetic field is produced, in
a cylinder of plasma when a current flows through the longitudinal magnetic
field. This finally gives rise to a helical field. The phase speed of the helical
kink turns out to be simply the Alfven speed of the tail plasma, which is
given by
C

B
(4)1/2

(10.9)

where B is the magnetic field and is the mass density. For a number
density of CO+ ions of 10 to 103 /cm3 , the magnetic field lies in the range
of
100 B 1000.
10.6.4.

Swan-like feature

Another large scale dynamical structure in the tail of Comet Kohoutek

can be seen in the photograph of 11 January, 1974 (Fig. 1.17). This is
generally termed as Swan-like feature because of its appearance. The
size of the feature is estimated to be about 5 106 km and is situated
at a distance of about 15 106 km from the nucleus. The feature was
found to move away from the nucleus with an apparent speed of about 250
km/sec. The Swan feature is not a mass flow but rather a propagating
hydromagnetic wave phenomenon. In fact it could be the kink instability
in an advanced stage of growth.
10.6.5.

Bend in the tail

The changes in the solar wind conditions can reflect directly in the
observations of ion tails. This was established for the first time, based on
the photographic observations of Comet Bennett. It was shown that the
kinks observed in the tail of this comet were correlated with the solar wind
events as observed from the satellite measurements.
A striking example of this type can be seen from the photograph of
Comet Kohoutek taken on 20 January 1974, where a large bend can be
seen. This is shown in Fig. 10.11. It is interesting to investigate whether
this bend is correlated with the solar wind properties for that date. The
properties of the solar wind are obtained by the observations made by

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Fig. 10.11 Photograph of Comet Kohoutex taken on January 20, 1974 which shows the
large scale bending of the tail. (Brandt, J.C. and Chapman, R.C. 1981. Introduction to
Comets. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press). Illustration credited to Joint Observatory
of Cometary Research, NSA.

the Earth orbiting Satellite IMP-8. These observations have been used in
conjunction with the theory to predict the nature and structure of the ion
tail projected on to the sky for the day of the observation. There was a good
agreement between the expected and the observed comet tail configurations.
These results clearly showed that the observed large-scale tail curvature
coincided with the compression region of a high speed solar wind stream.
Generally a high speed solar wind stream causes enhanced geomagnetic
activity which usually shows up in the geomagnetic records. A geomagnetic
storm was actually detected on January 24 to 27, corresponding to the
Comet Kohoutek observations. Figure 10.12 shows schematically the tail
configuration and the bend. The direction of the solar wind is shown by
the arrows. It can be seen that in region A, the tail has the same direction
as the direction of the solar wind. This means that the tail has taken the
equilibrium position. In region B, the flow of the solar wind is across the
tail and has not yet adjusted to the direction of the solar wind. On the
other hand the segment C is well aligned with the head of the comet, as the
tail has not yet been affected by the solar wind. This is a striking example

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Fig. 10.12 Schematic representation of Fig. 10.11. The left portion shows overall kink
and the right portion shows some details. The inferred solar wind direction is shown by
arrows. (Adapted from Jockers, K. 1981. Icarus, 47, 397).

which clearly shows that the comet tails are very effective for monitoring
the changing conditions of the interplanetary plasma.
10.6.6.

Disconnection events

Another interesting and characteristic feature quite often seen in the

plasma tail of comets is the disconnection events which have been noted
since early times. The photograph of Comet Morehouse shows the abrupt
disconnection of the tail as shown in Fig. 10.13. This is a common property of all comets. The disconnection events appear to be cyclic in the
sense that after a tail gets disconnected a new tail appears to form and this
process seems to repeat itself. A possible mechanism for such phenomena

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Fig. 10.13 Photograph of Comet Morehouse showing a tail disconnection event. Left
and right photographs refer to September 30, 1908 and October 1, 1908 respectively.
(Niedner, M.B. and Brandt, J.C. 1979. Ap. J. 223, 671).

can be understood from Fig. 10.14. The explanation is essentially related

to the presence of magnetic sector boundaries in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). A sector boundary is defined as the boundary between a
region in which the field lines are directed primarily towards the Sun (in the
ecliptic plane) and a region in which the field lines are directed primarily
away from the Sun (in the ecliptic plane). The two regions with opposite
magnetic field polarity are separated by a thin layer of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS). When the comet ionosphere crosses the magnetic sector
boundary of the IMF at which the magnetic field direction reverse by 180o
i.e. HCS, it disconnects the existing tail and it will move in the anti-solar
direction. A new tail will then form with the reconnection of the field lines
with the opposite field orientation until a new magnetic sector comes along.
The process is repeated. Therefore if a bright comet is observed for a long
time, it is possible to observe many events as described above. In the reconnection phase, the magnetic energy may be dissipated in the form of
an increase in brightness or ionization or flares etc., and it may show up
in the observations. There is some observational evidence to suggest that
these things do happen. Comet Halley showed a disconnection event on
March 8.4, 1986. The presence of magnetic sector boundary at this time
was verified from observations of Vega 1 and Vega 2 spacecrafts. Comet
Hyakutake also showed a spectacular disconnection event on March 24.6,

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Fig. 10.14 Process of formation of disconnected plasma tail of a comet due to the passage of an interplanetary sector boundary. Tail ways are shown by the shaded portions.
(Niedner, M.B. and Brandt, J.C. 1979. op. cit.).

1996. This was also in agreement with the calculated position of the magnetic sector boundary. Therefore all the observations are in agreement with
the magnetic sector boundary reconnection model.
10.7.

X-rays

X-ray emission is generally associated with a high temperature plasma of

about 106 K or so. Therefore the detection of X-rays from Comet Hyakutake
with ROSAT satellite in 1996 was a great surprise. The motivation to
look for X-rays in Comet Hyakutake appear to have come from a study
of the possible production of X-rays as a result of high speed collision
between interplanetary dust particles and the dust particles in the comet.

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Comet Hyakutake was considered to be a favourable comet for the possible

detection of X-rays as the comet was very bright and came very close to the
earth. Strong X-ray emission was indeed detected for the first time from this
comet. Following the detection of X-ray from Comet Hyakutake, ROSAT
archival data base was searched for the possible presence of other comets
with X-ray emission and several comets were found. In recent times, many
more comets have been detected in the X-ray region from X-ray satellites.
Therefore X-ray emission can be considered to be a common feature of all
comets.
Several characteristic features associated with X-ray emission from
comets have been seen. X-ray images appears to show similar spatial morphologies, which is cresent shaped extending upto about 105 km with the
brighter peak displaced toward the Sun (Fig. 10.15). The X-ray emission

Fig. 10.15 Shows the images of Comet Hyakutake taken on 2628 March 1996. The
first two are the X-ray images taken with ROSAT. The third image is in the visible
light with X-ray emission contours superimposed. The mark + denotes the location
of the nucleus and the direction of the Sun is towards the right (Lisse, C.M. et al. 1996.
Science, 274, 205).

is confined to the cometary coma. In the case of Comet Hyakutake the

location of the emission peak from the nucleus was about 2 104 km.
These give an indication of the possible encounter of solar wind with the
extended cometary atmosphere. The X-ray emission was not associated
with extended dust or plasma tails. The X-ray emission was also found to
be variable. The observed total luminosity of Comet Hyakutake was about
4 1015 ergs/sec for an aperture radius at the comet of 1.2 105 km. In
the case of Comet Levy the observed soft X-ray luminosity in the energy
range 0.2 to 0.5 keV was about 2 1016 ergs/sec. Observations of several comets have shown that total X-ray luminosity correlates with the gas
production rate. The time variation of X-ray emission show a correlation

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with solar wind proton flux and oxygen ion flux, but no correlation with
solar X-ray flux. Longtime monitoring of rapid changes in gas production
and the observed X-ray flux in comets (such as an outburst) has shown a
direct link betwen the two. Earlier X-ray observations carried out at low
energy resolution could not resolve the possible presence of emission lines.
However with the availability of higher resolution instruments, the spectrum was found to be dominated by emission lines from highly charged C,
N and O and not by continuum (Fig. 10.16).

Fig. 10.16 X-ray spectrum of Comet C/1999S4 (LINEAR) observed with Chandra Xray Observatory (crosses). The six-line best-fit model spectrum is shown as solid line
(Lisse, C.M. et al. 2001. Science 292, 1343).

Any physical mechanism proposed to explain the observed X-ray emission in comets has to be consistent with all the observed characteristics of
this emission. These include thermal bremsstrahlang associated with collision of solar wind electrons with neutral gas or dust, scattering of solar
X-rays by cometary small dust particles, charge exchange of solar wind
heavy ions with cometary neutrals, K-shell ionization of cometary neutrals
by electron collision etc.
In the Thermal bremsstrahlang mechanism, the electrons of solar wind

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are deflected from the nuclei of atoms on collison and give rise to continuum
radiation. For such a process the electron energies have to be larger than
100 eV (i.e. T>106 K). In the K-shell mechanism the collision between
a fast solar wind electron and an atom can remove the orbital electron
from the inner shell of the atom. However in these mechanisms the expected luminosity are smaller by a factor of around 100 to 1000 compared
to observations. This is due to the fact that flux of high-energy solar wind
electrons near comets are not enough. Also X-ray emission has been observed upto larger distance from the nucleus ( 105 to 106 km) beyond the
bow shock and the energies of solar wind electrons at these distances is only
around 10 eV. In addition the presence of multiple emission lines indicate
non-viability of continuum or K-shell line models.
There are also difficulties associated with mechanisms involving dust
models. The scattering of solar X-ray radiation by cometary dust particles
of sizes 1 m in size cannot produce the observed X-ray luminosities.
This problem can be overcome by involving the presence of small dust particles of size of the order of the wavelength of observed X-ray emission,
10100
A, which can scatter the solar X-ray radiation efficiently. The
abundance of such dust particles in comets is not known. However there
was some indication of the presence of such dust particles in Comet Halley
from Vega flyby spacecraft. Other problems associated with dust particles
are X-ray emission correlates with gas production rate, time variation of
X-ray emission correlate with solar wind ion flux etc. In view of these considerations the charge exchange collisions of highly charged solar wind ions
with cometary neutral species and the collison of high energy solar wind
electrons with cometary neutrals are plausible processes. Charge exchange
mechanism produce lines while electron neutral collision produce a continuum. In both of these mechanisms, neutral species in the cometary coma
is the target.
The heavier minor species in the solar wind exist in highly charged
states such as O7+ , O6+ , N6+ , C5+ , Ne8+ , Si9+ etc. In the charge exchange
mechanism, these highly charged ions charge exchange with cometary neutral species and produce ions in an highly excited state. A typical example
of such a process is,
O6+ + H2 O O5+

+ H2 O+

Here O6+ ion in collision with an abundant neutral molecule such as H2 O

produce O5+ in an excited state denoted as ? and H2 O+ ion. Other
abundant neutral molecules can be OH, CO etc. The excited state of the

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ion O5+ decay spontaneously giving rise to photons in the X-ray region.
It is possible to make an estimate of the X-ray power density for the case
of a single collision with the solar wind ion in the coma from a simple
expression,
Px = nsw usw nn .

(10.10)

where nsw , usw and nn represent solar wind proton density, solar wind speed
and density of the neutral species respectively. The parameter includes all
other quantities partaining to solar wind, atomic and molecular details. The
variation of neutral density of the species with r in the coma for a spherical
symmetric case is given by nn = Q/(4r2 un ) where Q is the production
rate of the specie. Integration of equation (10.10) over the observed volume
of the neutral species result in the X-ray luminosity which is roughly within
a factor of 2 to 3 of the observed X-ray luminosity. The X-ray luminosity
is also proportional to the gas production rate which is in agreement with
the observations.
The cometary gas density is high close to the nucleus and hence collisions are frequent. This results in solar wind ions being converted to a
low charged state ion and therefore X-rays cannot be excited. This could
explain the observed crescent - shaped X-ray emission. The model spectra
based on charge exchange mechanism were in good agreement with the low
resolution cometary X-ray emission.
For a better understanding of the X-ray emission including the observed
X-ray line emissions, it is necessary to invoke detailed Magneto Hydrodynamic models (MHD) for the interaction of the solar wind with the
cometary gas which allows variation in plasma density, temperature, velocity etc. The variation in the neutral density of species such as H2 O,
CO2 , CO, OH etc. can be included through Hasers model. The details of
the charge-exchange mechanism such as, the abundance of various ions and
its variation and the cascading process leading finally to X-ray emission
should be an integral part of this study. Such sophisticated models have
been carried out to calcuate the expected X-ray emision around a comet.
The simulated X-ray emission are found to be in good agreement with the
observed images (i.e. isophotes). The X-ray line emission spectra can also
be calculated. These are in good agreement with the observed spectra
(Fig. 10.16). Therefore the observed characteristics of X-ray emission from
various comets can be explained based on charge-exchange model.

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Summary

The existence of solar wind came from the studies of the orientation
of ion tail of comets, long before its detection by spacecrafts. The whole
problem of comet-solar wind interaction is a highly complex one. The exact nature and the location of the different discontinuities depend upon the
various physical processes that can take place during the interaction. What
happens in a particular situation depends upon the complex interaction of
the plasma, turbulence, solar activity and so on. However the large scale
structure as predicted by the MHD calculations like bow shock, ionopause,
magnetic cavity and so on have been confirmed from the in situ measurements of Comets Giacobini-Zinner, Halley and Borrelly. This shows that
the mechanism of interaction between the solar wind and cometary plasma
giving rise to various structures is fairly understood at the present time.
The measurements also showed the plasma to be highly complex in showing
the presence of strong turbulence, various instabilities, waves, high energy
particles and so on. Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain
the origin of these observed features. Strong X-ray emission a is common
feature of all comets.
All the properties of the ion tail that have been discussed so far can be
classified as belonging to the typical comets. In these comets the iontails are more or less similar and behave in a certain manner except for the
presence of certain characteristic features in the tail in some cases. The
major aim has been to understand the gross behaviour of such typical
comets.
Problems
1. Take for the velocity of the solar wind v = 450 km/sec and the proton
density n = 5/cm3 . Calculate the magnetic field required to counteract
the solar wind pressure.
2. Does the magnetic field exist in comets? Can you suggest some method
to probe the magnetic field associated with a comet?
3. Calculate the Alfven speed in the tail of comets.
4. Discuss the relative importance between cometary plasma and laboratory plasma

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References
The evidence for the existence of solar wind is discussed in this paper
1. Biermann, L. 1951. Zs. f. Astrophysik 29, 274.
For a complete theoretical discussion of the solar wind, refer to
2. Parker, E.N. 1963. Interplanetary Dynamical Processes. New York:
Interscience Publishers.
The phenomena of dynamical aberration is discussed in the following papers.
3. Belton, M.J.S. and Brandt, J.C. 1966. Ap. J. Suppl. 13, 125.
4. Brandt, J.C. and Mendis, D.A. 1979. In Solar System Plasma Physics,
Vol. II. eds. C. F. Kennel, L.J. Lanzerotti and E.N. Parker. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company p. 253.
5. Hoffmeister, C. 1943. Zs. f. Astrophysik 23, 265.
The Wind-Sock theory for the ion tail is discussed here.
6. Brandt, J.C. and Rothe, E.D. 1976. In The Study of Comets, eds. B.
Donn. M. Mumma, W. Jackson, M.F. AHearn and R. Harrington,
NASA SP 393, Washington D.C. p. 878.
The basic idea of the solar wind interaction is given in this paper.
7. Alfven, H. 1957. Tellus 9, 92.
The theoretical model of the Comet-Solar Wind interaction is from
8. Wegmann, R. et al. 1987. Astr. Ap., 187, 339.
Later work
9. Gombosi, T.I., De Zeeuw, D.L. and Haberli, A.M. 1996. J. Geophys.
Res., 101, 15, 233.
10. Ip, W. -H. 2005. In Comets II, eds. M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and H.A.
Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 605.
The confinement of ions very close to the nucleus was discussed by
11. Wurm, K. 1963. In The Moon, Meteorites and Comets, eds. B.M. Middlehurst and G.P. Kuiper, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press
p. 575.
The following atlas gives cometary plasma tails of various forms.
12. Rahe, J. Donn, B and Wurm, K. 1969. Atlas of Cometary Forms,
NASA SP-198, Washington D.C. GPO.
A good discussion of the in situ plasma measurements can be found in the
following papers:
13. Flammer, K.R. 1991. In Comets in the Post-Halley Era. eds. R.L.
Newburn, Jr. et al. Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 1125.

comets

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14. Tsurutani, B.T. 1991. In Comets in the Post-Halley Era. eds. R.L.
Newburn, Jr. et al. Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 1171.
15. Ip,-W.H. and Axford, W.I. 1990. In Physics and Chemistry of Comets,
Springer Verlag, p. 172.
The electron temperature is discussed in the paper
16. Eberhardt, P. and Krankowsky, D. 1995. Astron. Astrophys., 295,
795.
Model for Disconnection event was proposed in the following paper
17. Niedner, M.A. and Brandt, J.C. 1978. Ap. J., 123, 655.
18. Brandt, J.C., Caputo, F.M., Hoeksema, J.J. et al. 1999. Icarus, 137,
69.
Possibility of detection of X-ray from comets is discussed in the paper
19. Ibadov, S. 1996. Adv. Space Res., 17:(12), 93.
Discovery of X-rays from Comet Hyakutake is in the following paper
20. Lisse, C.M. et al. 1996. Science, 274, 205.
For later work, refer to the following papers
21. Cravens, J.E. 2002. Science, 296, 1042.
22. Lisse, C.M., Cravens, T.E. and Dennerl, K. 2005. In Comets, eds. M.C.
Festou, H.U. Keller and H.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson,
p. 631.
23. Wickramsinghe, N.C. and Hoyle, F. 1996. Astrophys. Space Sci., 239,
121.

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CHAPTER 11

Nucleus

Though the nucleus is responsible for most of the observed phenomena,

its nature is the least understood. As the nucleus cannot be observed
directly from the Earth because of its small size, the information with
regard to their possible nature, structure and composition has to come
from indirect means. The flybys to Comets Halley, Tempel 1, Wild 2 and
Borrelly have given new insights into this area.
11.1.

Morphology

Several surprising results came out on the surface characteristics of the

nuclei of comets from spacecraft flybys. The spacecrafts Giotto, Vega 1
and Vega 2 were the first to take the images of the nucleus of the Comet
Halley. Based on different aspects seen by the three spacecrafts, the actual
three dimensional shape of the nucleus was constructed. It clearly showed
the nucleus is not spherical in shape, but highly irregular. It resembles
more like a peanut or a potato. The surface has many features such as
valleys, hills and craters. The nucleus was also found to be large as well
as quite dark in nature. The salient feature was that the gas emission was
not uniform over the entire surface of the nucleus but comes out as discrete
jets. Due to rotation of the nucleus the jets will become active only when
they are exposed to the solar radiation. The jets cover around 10% of the
surface of the nucleus.
The close-by images of Comet Borrelly by Deep Space 1 mission showed
the nucleus to be shaped like a foot print (Fig. 11.1). The images also
showed jets as was seen in Comet Halley. The terrain appeared to be
highly complex with some craters. They also show bumps, troughs and
other features. The nucleus of Comet Wild 2 observed in stardust mission
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was found to be oblate. It contains depressions ranging in size up to about

2 km across. Some of the depressions are not circular and have complex
structures. They could have been formed by impact, sublimation, ablation
or a combination of all of these processes.
The images of Comet Tempel 1 taken by Deep Impact showed the presence of circular depressions and terrains. One dramatic feature seen was
the presence of layers over the entire surface of the nucleus of the comet
(see Fig. 11.8). Such layers are also found in Comets Borrelly and Wild 2
based on the images taken by the earlier spacecrafts.
The Comets Borrelly, Wild 2 and Tempel 1 belong to the same group of
Comets, namely Jupiter family, but their appearances are vastly different,
as can be seen from Fig. 11.1. This could either be connected with the
processes that could have taken place on the surface itself or could possibly
be due to different internal histories.

11.2.

Theory of Vapourization

When the solar radiation impinges on the surface of the nucleus, part
of the energy is absorbed and part of it is reflected. The reflected part
depends upon the albedo of the nucleus. The absorbed energy gives rise to
the surface temperature which sublimates the material and also gives rise
to the thermal emission. The absorbed energy also depends upon the angle
between the incident radiation and the normal to the surface.
The amount of energy radiated from the surface is dependent upon the
temperature, which in turn is related to the chemical composition and the
structural properties of the nucleus. The sublimation of the gases depends
upon the latent heat and its variation with temperature. The penetration of
the heat flow inside the nucleus also depends upon the conducting properties
of the material. The presence of dust in the coma can also have an effect
on the vapourization of the volatile components. Therefore the amount of
volatile constituents that come out of the surface of the nucleus is a very
complicated function involving many unknown factors. Hence, until we
have better ideas with regard to the above processes, one has to resort to
simplifying assumptions in writing down the equation for the energy flow.
The temperature of the nucleus is determined by the balance between
the amount of absorbed and the emitted energy. The energy balance equation for the simple model of a spherical nucleus which takes into account
the thermal re-radiation and the heat used to transform the vapourizing

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Fig. 11.1 Comparison of the images of nucleus of Comets Tempel 1 (upper right), Wild 2
(upper left) and Borrelly (bottom) taken from spacecrafts. The morphological structure
of each of these comets is entirely different (Thomas, P.C. et al. 2007. Icarus, 187, 4).

ice into gas for the steady state condition can therefore be written as
F (1 Av )
cos z = (1 AIR )T 4 + Z(T )L(T ).
r2

(11.1)

Here F is the solar radiation at 1AU. Av and AIR are the bond albedo
of the nucleus in the visible and infrared region and r is the heliocentric
distance. Z(T ) and L(T ) represent the vapourization rate of the gas in
molecule/cm2 /sec and the latent heat for sublimation in ergs/molecule. T

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is the surface temperature and z is the solar zenith distance. The vapourization rate Z(T ) can be deduced by relating it to the equilibrium vapour
pressure of ice. Under the equilibrium conditions the number of molecules
coming out of the nuclear surface will be balanced by the number hitting the
surface. The number of molecules hitting the surface for such a situation
is equal to 41 N v. Therefore
1
Nv
(11.2)
4
where N is the gas density and v is the mean speed for the Maxwellian
distribution of velocities which is given by

1/2
8kT )
v=
(11.3)
m
Z(T ) =

Here m is the average molecular weight of the gas. Using the above relation
for v and with the use of the relation P = N kT, Z(T ) can be written as
Z(T or r) =

P
.
(2mkT )1/2

(11.4)

The total production rate of the molecule is given by

Q(r) = S < Z(r) >
where < Z(r) > represents the production rate averaged over the solar
zenith distance z and S is the surface area of emission. The integration over
z can be avoided under some simplifying assumption. For a non-rotating
nucleus of radius rn , the cross section for the absorption of solar energy
is rn2 , while for a fast rotating nucleus the incident energy is uniformly
distributed over the entire surface 4rn2 . The corresponding value of <
cos z > is 1 and 1/4 for the slow rotator and fast rotator models respectively.
The equations show that even the very simple energy balance equation
requires the specification of the six parameters, namely Av , AIR , L, P ,
and S. Here represents the geometrical factor related to cos z. Since
it is a multivariable problem, it is necessary to make some assumptions
to limit the number of free parameters. This depends upon the problem
under investigation. It then fixes certain parameters and others are derived
from comparing with observations. This procedure is just a method of
simplifying the problem and therefore the results have to be weighted in
terms of the assumptions made in the problem.
Since H2 O is the dominant component of the nucleus of a comet, the
values for L and P corresponding to H2 O are generally used. The vapour

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pressure can also be calculated from Clasius-Clapeyron equation


P = Pr exp

L(T )
RT

1
1

Tr
T



where Tr and Pr are the reference point. The vapour pressure in general
is very sensitive to temperature. Therefore, the general variation of the
production rate of H2 O and OH as a function of the heliocentric distance
should reveal something about the vapourization of ice from the nucleus
of a comet and should in turn give information about the overall nature
of the nucleus of a comet. A simultaneous solution of Eqs. (11.1) and
(11.4) iteratively will give the unknown Z(T ) and T , for assumed values of
the parameters that enter in the above two equations. The results for the
variation of Z as a function of the heliocentric distance for different cases are
shown in Fig. 11.2. The curves depend upon the values of Av and AIR . The

Fig. 11.2 The vapourization rate Z, for various snows as a function of the heliocentric
distance. The distance after which the vapourization becomes negligible is denoted as
r0 . (Delsemme, A.H. 1982. In Comets, ed. Wilkening, L.L. Tucson: Univ. Arizona
Press, p. 85).

curves are almost the same if Av = AIR . For unequal values of Av and AIR
the maximum difference in the results arises in the shift of the curves in log
r by about 0.2. Figure 11.2 shows r2 dependence in the beginning and
then shows a rapid fall in the sublimation rate of water for distances between

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2 and 3 AU. The calculated behaviour of the curve is basically related to

the steep dependence of vapour pressure on temperature. The sublimation
rate is nearly proportional to the impinging energy if the temperature is
greater than a certain critical value. This is the case for small values of r
and hence Z varies as r2 . For distances greater than a certain value, the
sublimation rate falls down steeply with temperature and this gives rise to
the observed effects. The cometary observations also show a similar cut-off
around these distances, after which they are not generally seen. This effect
is particularly so in the case of short period comets where the cut-off is
around r 3 AU. These observations are in striking agreement with the
expected curve for the sublimation of H2 O. Therefore the observations by
itself seem to indicate that H2 O may be the dominant constituent of the
nucleus. In addition, the vapourization theory gives the total production
rate of rough order with the observed rates of several comets where the
water controls the sublimation process.
Based on the above model, it is rather difficult to explain high volatiles
that has been seen in some comets at large heliocentric distances of around
3 AU, where it is unlikely that water will evaporate. This led to the suggestion of Clathrate Hydrate model. The clathrates are basically loose crystal
lattices of H2 O in which molecules like CH4 , CO2 , etc are loosely packed.
These molecules are not chemically bound but they are bound by weak Van
der Waals forces. The cut-off distances for such types of clathrates lie in the
range of about 5 AU or so. Therefore the comets which have been observed
beyond r >
3 AU are likely to arise out of this structured ice material. This
was a significant step in the understanding of the cometary nuclei. In this
connection it is interesting to note that OH has been detected in Comet
Halley at r = 4.9 AU with logQ(OH) 29 and in Comet Hale-Bopp at
r = 5.13 AU with log Q(OH) 27.19.
In the derived production rate of various volatiles shown in Fig. 11.2
the value for the albedo for the nucleus of pv 0.7 was used. However extensive observations carried out on Comet Halley followed by other comets
indicated that the albedo of the nucleus is quite low and is around 0.04.
The effect of this low albedo for the nucleus on the production rate of H2 O
show a change in slope in the region of around r = 4 to 6 AU for H2 O
production. Beyond this distance, production rate of H2 O decreases but is
still not negligible. Therefore there is still some water coming out of the
nucleus at large distances.
Although clathrate hydrate model was in conformity with earlier
cometary observations, later laboratory studies indicated a major difficulty

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in their formation. These experimental studies showed that clathrate hydrates is produced under high pressure conditions and hence not applicable
to comets, which are produced at low pressure and temperature. Besides,
the abundances of the observed species are quite high and is not possible
to trap so much in the clathrate hydrate icy matrix. This has led to a
new model where water-ice is most likely to be present in amorphous form.
Amorphous ice exists at lower temperatures of around 77 K or less. The
study of solar nebular models have shown that these conditions exist at
distances > 7 AU. Hence interior of comets is most likely to have amorphous ice, as comets were formed under low temperature and low pressure
conditions.
Amorphous H2 O - ice can trap large amount of volatiles and when
heated, their trapped volatiles are released. For temperature starting
around 90 K, amorphous form of ice changes over to crystalline form with
the release of energy. This corresponds to distances of around 8 to 20 AU
where large amount of traped gases may be released. In this connection
it is interersting to note that volatile species of various kinds were seen in
abundance from Comet Hale-Bopp beginning at distances of around 7 AU.
These are most likely to be produced by amorphous to crystalline H2 O - ice
phase transitions rather than produced by sublimation due to solar heating.
The early results of the vapourization of H2 O from the nucleus had
met with reasonable success in explaining the gross observed nature of
the light curves of various comets. However observations have shown that
the light curve for pre-and post-perihelion passages are not symmetrical
in shape and gas comes out in jet form at some discrete active regions
on the nucleus. The active areas are hardly a few percent of the surface
area of the comets. The use of constant values of Av , AIR , L and P in
modelling means that the material property of the nucleus is the same for
all comets. Several attempts have been made to refine the models that take
into account factors like, thermal properties of the surface layers, rotation
period of nucleus, the effect of diurnal heating and cooling individually or
in combination. Though these studies have met with partial success, these
simple models have been quite useful for an understanding of the general
trend as well as qualitative study of Comets.
Refined Models
The striking feature of a comet is their varied features along the orbit
of a comet. Hence complicated models have to be considered which take
into account several processes simultaneously. Some of the processes con-

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sidered are, diurnal temperature variation over the surface of the nucleus,
heat conduction to the interior through the entire nucleus, possibility of
the outer dust mantle enveloping the icy nucleus, cometary ice being in
amorphous state which can lead to crystallization, poracity, radioactive
heating from the short lived isotope 26 Al. Since half life of 26 Al is less
than about 0.7 million years, it would have decayed during the early stages
of the solar system, within few million years and thus providing a heat
source. The initial mass fraction of 26 Al in the solar nebula 7 107 .
In comets it could be smaller on the average by an order of magnitude, as
the time of cometary formation did not exceed a few million years. The
change over from amorphous to crystalline state could provide additional
source of energy. Therefore there are three sources of energy available to
comets; namely solar radiation, radioactivity and process of crystallization.
When the comets are near the sun, solar radiation dominates the other
two sources. On the other hand, the energy source through radiactive decay is important that are far from the sun. However crystallization from
amorphous ice can occur at any stage in the cometary evolution once the
threshold temperature is reached.
Heat could flow inwards or outwards from any region of the nucleus.
The effect of heat and gas diffusion in the nucleus results in chemically
differentiated layers. In particular the top layers of the nucleus should
contain mostly least volatile material followed by layers of water ice and
dust and the deeper layers should contain dust, ices and most volatiles such
as CO and CH4 .
The built up pressure from the gases released from the interior of the icy
nucleus, forces the gas to flow towards the surface. The flow of the gas drags
the dust particles from the icy solid matrix. It is possible that the built in
pressure could be high enough to make cracks in the porous matrix leading
to out-gassing. Large size particles reaching near the surface may lead
to formation of a dust mantle resulting in diminishing cometary activity.
Therefore the observed activity of a comet is a resultant effect of several
physical processes involving the structure of the nucleus, heat conduction
and energy sources. Several attempts have been made to study the nuclei
of comets taking into account all these details. The model considered is
a porous agglomerates made up of amorphous ice, dust and volatiles such
as CO, CO2 , HCN, N2 etc. Such a model results in explaining the overall
observed activities of comets. The thermal evolution and the resulting
pattern in the activities from the nucleus of a fragile and porous comet
leads to the structured nature of the nucleus of comet as shown in Fig. 11.3.

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This is quite different from that of a solid body of a nucleus made up of ice
sublimating from the surface due to solar heating as in the earlier models.

Fig. 11.3 Schematic representation of the layered structure of a cometary nucleus with
pristine composition deep inside and the modified layers arising as a result of various
physical processes taking place (Prialnik, D. 1999. Earth, Moon and Planets, 77, 223).

The analytical expression for the vapourization of water from an icy

nucleus can be written as
m 
 n k
r
1+
Z = Zo
ro
 m 
 n k
r
r
= 7Zo g(r)
g(r) =
1+
ro
ro


r
ro

(11.5)

where ro = 2.808 au, m = 2.15, n = 5.093 and k = 4.6142. The value of is

chosen such that z = zo for r = 1 AU, which gives = 0.111262. As will be
discussed later, the vapourization from an icy type of nucleus can explain
in principle the observed nongravitational forces in comets (Sec. 11.10).

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11.3.

Physics of Comets

Outbursts

Outbursts have been seen quite frequently in comets. It is basically related to a sudden increase in the production of volatiles from the nucleus.
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann is well known for its large outbursts and
flares up frequently. These outbursts can brighten the comet by a factor
of 100 or more compared to the quiescent brightness. Initially, the comet
looks star-like in appearance. After the outbursts, a halo forms and eventually it fades away leaving behind the original nucleus. The whole process
might take around 3 to 4 weeks. The outbursts from Comet SchwassmannWachmann have been seen regularly from heliocentric distances of around
5 to 7 AU. Comet Halley showed an outburst when it was at r = 14 AU.
It is rather difficult to understand such a phenomena based on the sublimation of H2 O from the nucleus, as the production rate of H2 O falls down
steeply for r >
3 AU. A number of suggestions and ideas have been proposed to explain the origin of these outbursts. It has been suggested that
exothermic chemical reactions involving free radicals or pockets of volatile
gas stored beneath the surface takes place until the pressure would build
up which leads finally to explosions. The phase change from amorphous
to crystalline ice at temperatures above 140 K is an exothermic process
giving about 24 cal/gm, which is a substantial amount of energy and could
trigger the outbursts. Since the phase change is critically dependent upon
the temperature, the outburst should depend on the heliocentric distance.
Therefore crystallization of amorphous ice appears to be the best mechanism for explaining the appearance of outbursts in comets. The three
physical processes of interest are crystallization, conduction and sublimation and their relative time scales. For understanding the resultant effect
of these processes inside a porous nucleus, which are complicated in nature,
it becomes necessary to resort to numerical methods.
When the surface of the nucleus is heated due to solar heating, the heat
wave moves inwards. This results in amorphous ice to crystallize liberating
trapped gases. Part of the released gas move inwards into the colder regions
and eventually condense at different location inside the nucleus depending
upon the temperature in that region. The recondensation process results
in the release of heat which in turn affects the chemical composition of its
surroundings. During the next perihelion passage the heat wave generated
reaches these regions and is used to sublimate condensed gases rather than
the crystallization of amorphous ice. This is the process by which alternative layers of crystallization and amorphous ice are created. Such layers

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extend from about 10 metres to about a few hundred metres below the surface of the nucleus. When the heat wave from the surface reaches to some
of these layers the trapped volatile species are suddenly released leading to
pressure build-up. These gases move to the surface through pores, cracks
etc. This gives rise to an outburst. The resulting production rate of different volatiles could be vastly different. This could explain the observed
activities in comets (Fig. 11.4).

Fig. 11.4 The production rate of volatiles based on model calculations for Comet
9P/Tempel 1 is plotted as a function of time measured from the perihelion point (Prialnik, D. 2005. In Asteroids, Comets and Meteors, IAU Symposium No. 229, eds, Lazzaro,
D.Ferraz-Mello, S. and Fernandez, J.A., Univ. of Cambridge Press, Cambridge, p. 153).

Model calculations have also been carried out to long time scales to understand the outburst seen in comets at large heliocentric distances. These
results indicate that such bursts are related to fine-tuning of time scales
of re-condensation of volatiles and crystallization of amorphous ice. It is
possible to attain a temperature 200 K in a narrow region and for a brief
period of time which can lead to sudden release of trapped gases which is
seen as an outburst. It is also possible to get repetitive outbursts if phase
transition time scale is comparable to diffusion time scale of moderately
volatile gases.

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11.4.

comets

Physics of Comets

Albedo and Radius

The dimension of the nucleus of a comet cannot be obtained directly

as it cannot be resolved. The general method which is commonly used is
from the photometry of the comet at far off distances from the Sun. At
these distances the comet is more or less stellar in appearance. This comes
about due to the fact that at these distances, the temperature of the nucleus
will be so low that the sublimation of the gases from the nucleus cannot
take place. Therefore one is essentially seeing the nucleus of the comet.
Hence the observed radiation at these distances essentially comes from the
reflection of the incident solar radiation by the nucleus of comet. From
such photometric observations, the radius of the nucleus R can be obtained
from the relation
R2 = r2 A1 ()1 100.4[V (Vc 5 log )]

(11.6)

where () is the phase function according to Lamberts Law, A is the

albedo for the nucleus, V and Vc are the absolute magnitudes of the Sun
and the comet respectively. Equation (11.6) has been applied to several
comets using photometric magnitudes and a reasonable range of values for
the albedo of the nucleus. However, it is possible to get simultaneously the
values of radius and the albedo of the nucleus from the following simple
physical considerations.
The photometric observations of comets made at great distances from
the Sun give only the total brightness which is AS where S is the effective
cross section of the nucleus for the reflection of the solar radiation. It can be
estimated from the observed magnitudes. It is also possible to get the value
of the quantity (1 A)S from the theory of vapourization of ice-water from
the nucleus when the comet is near the Sun wherein the vapourization is
maximum. The integration of Eq. (11.1) over the nucleus gives the relation
F (1 Av )S
= 4(1 AIR )ST 4 + 4SZL.
(11.7)
r2
For reasonable values of the albedo Av and for the heliocentric distance less
than about 0.8 AU, the radiative contribution term in the above equation
can be neglected. Therefore Eq. (11.7) reduces to
(1 Av )S =

4SZLr2
QLr2
=
F
F

(11.8)

where Q = 4SZ represents the production rate of water which can be obtained from the observed production rates of OH or H in comets (Chap. 6).

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The value of L, the latent heat for vapourization of water is 11500 calorie/molecule for T = 200 K. From a knowledge of AS and (1 Av )S it is
then possible to get the albedo and radius from the following equations:
S = (1 Av )S + AS

(11.9)

and
Av =

Av S
.
Av S + (1 Av )S

The method is valid if the effective area is roughly the same for the
reflected light and for the vapourization equilibrium. However, there could
be a difference in the areas in a real situation. In addition, there is some
difficulty in separating the contributions to brightness from the nucleus and
coma. The quantity (1-A)S can also in principle be determined from the
infrared observations of the nuclei of comets. To a first approximation,
(1-A)S is directly proportional to the thermal emission in the 1020 m
region provided the vapourization process from the nucleus does not take
a significant fraction of the absorbed energy.
Even at large heliocentric distances a faint coma is still present. Therefore direct photometric observations have the problem of separating the
light from the nucleus from the surrounding coma radiation. The coma
contribution can be minimized with the use of high spatial resolution observations of the nuclei of comets. In this approach the brightness of the
nucleus is observed as a delta function over a slowly varying coma contribution. Therefore the brightness distribution of a comet can be represented
as
B() = a[1/ + b()]

(11.10)

Where is the projected distance from the nucleus. The first term in equation (11.10) represents the variation of the coma brightness for a constant
source with inverse square dependence of space density. The delta function
() represent the contribution arising from the nucleus, while a and b are
constants. A fit to the observed brightness variation will give the contribution from the nucleus which can be used to get the radius of the comet for
an assumed value for the albedo. If the rotational light curve is available it
is possible to get the semi axes for the nucleus.
The direct determination of the size of the nucleus of a comet was made
possible by the study of Comet Halley. The images taken by the spacecrafts

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directly give the projected dimension. Based on different aspects seen by

the three spacecrafts, Vega 1, 2 and Giotto, it is then possible to reconstruct
the actual three dimensional shape of the nucleus. Figure 11.5 shows one
best image obtained from Giotto. It clearly shows the irregular shape of the
nucleus. Other comets which have been studied with spacecraft are Borrelly,
Wild 2 and Tempel 1 etc. The albedo can be estimated from a knowledge of
the area of the nucleus and the observed photometric magnitudes (equation
11.9).
The radius and albedo of cometary nuclei for comets are given in Tables 11.1 and 11.2. There is some variation in the observed radius, while
albedos have low values. Low value of albedo indicate that the cometary
nuclei are very dark.
Table 11.1
nuclei.

Sizes of cometary

Comet

abc
(km km km)

Halley
Tempel 2
Borrelly
Tempel 1
Wild 2

7.65 3.61 3.61

8.2 4.9 3.5
4.0 1.6 1.6
14.4 4.4 4.4
1.65 2 2.75

Table 11.2

Albedo and radius of cometary nuclei.

Comet

Geometric albedo

Radius(km)

Eucke
Tempel 1
Borrelly
Neujmin 1
Halley
Hale-Bopp
Swift Tuttle
IRAS-Araki-Alcock
Arend-Rigaux

0.046
0.05
0.03
0.03
0.04
0.04
0.02
0.03
0.04

2.3
3.1
10.6
30
11.8
3.5
4.6

Lemy, P.L., Toth,I., Fern

andez, Y.R. and Weaver, H.A.,
2004, In Comets II, eds. M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and
H.A. Weaver, Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson p. 223.

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Fig. 11.5 Composite image of the nucleus of Comet Halley made from several images
obtained from Halley Multicolour Camera on board Giotto Spacecraft (Courtesy Keller,
H.U., Copyright Max-Planck - Institut f
ur Aeronomie, Lindau, Germany).

11.5.

Mass, Density and Surface Gravity

Mass
It is rather difficult to make an estimate of the mass of the nuclei of

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comets. A rough estimate can be made from a knowledge of their sizes and
densities.
Another method that has been generally used for getting the mass of the
nucleus is through change in the orbital period caused by non-gravitational
force arising from the sublimation of water ice from a rotating nucleus. This
force arising from the outflow of the material is related to the mass of the
nucleus of the comet through Newtons second law of motion, F=ma. This
method has been applied to several comets. The derived masses lie in the
range of around 1 to 5 1013 kg. The derived mass for Comet Tempel 1
from the same method is (5.8 3.0) 1013 kg.
The study of the ejecta plume created by the impactor in Comet Tempel
1 by the Deep Impact mission has been used to make an estimate of the local
gravity at the impact site. This is used for making an estimate of the bulk
density for an assumed shape and a uniform mass distribution inside the
nucleus. The derived mass is 4.5 1013 kg. This value based on direct observations is consistent with the mass derived above from non-gravitational
force modelling. This therefore gives credibility to the indirect method
of estimating the mass of the nucleus of comets through non-gravitational
force modelling technique.
The perturbation produced by a close encounter of flyby spacecraft with
a comet could in principle be used to extract the nuclear mass. However
the expected perturbation is below the detectable limit of the present day
instruments.
The discovery of satellites around asteroids has raised the prospect of the
likely presence of satellites around cometary nuclei. The main advantage
of a binary system is that it is possible to derive the mass of the system
using Keplers laws from the observed orbits. However the detection of a
satellite companion to cometary nucleus is difficult because of its small size
and also due to the presence of coma even at large heliocentric distances.
If and when cometary binaries are detected, it will give a direct method of
estimating the mass of the nuclei of comets.
Density
The determination of bulk density of the nucleus of a comet is important
as it can give information about the structure of the nucleus. It can be
estimated provided the mass and the total volume (including voids and
pore spaces) of the nucleus are known.
Volume can be estimated from direct spacecraft imaging or from telescopic observations that can yield the appropriate radius and axial ratios

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of individual nuclei. Spacecraft imaging has been carried out for several
comets such as Halley, Tempel 1, Wild 2, Borrelly etc.
The charge-coupled device (CCD) photometry of nuclei when they are
far from the sun (and presumably inactive) provide an estimate of their
brightness. It is possible to make an estimate of the radius of the nucleus
and hence volume for a typical cometary albedo of 0.03 - 0.04.
The estimated bulk density lies in the region of around 0.2-0.8 gm/cm3 .
The density of the fully compacted comet material consisting water-ice,
organics and dust is expected to be in the range 1.2 < compact < 1.65
gm/cm3 . Therefore the results appear to indicate a somewhat lower value
for the bulk density of the nucleus of comets. This indicates that the nucleus
could be fluffy. The estimated bulk poracity of the nucleus is about 0.3 to
0.6.
Surface Gravity
The impactor from the Deep Impact spacecraft that collided with Comet
Tempel 1 made a crater and ejected the material giving rise to an ejecta
plume. The ejecta plume was imaged continuously from the flyby spacecraft at a distance of around 700 km. These images show clearly that the
ejecta cone remained attached to the surface throughout the encounter.
This interesting observation indicates that the formation of the crater was
controlled by gravity.
The images of the ejecta plume taken by the spacecraft showed the
expansion of the base of the conical solid ejecta with time. The particles
forming the solid ejecta follow paths in the gravitational field of Comet
Tempel 1 at any given time. Making few assumptions such as, the cone is
nearly axially symmetric, scaling relations derived from laboratory studies
for gravity dominating cratering is valid and the properties of ejecta flow
could be extrapolated to this observed impact, it was possible to make an
estimate of the strength of gravity from the observed expansion of the base
of the conical ejecta. The estimated local gravity at the impact site of
Comet Tempel 1 is about gnuc =3.4 104 m/sec2 .

11.6.

Rotation

The rotational state of the nucleus of a comet is important for an understanding of the physical properties of the nucleus of a comet and its
surface. The evolution of the spin state and the nucleus gives information

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about the changing pattern of the observed activities of a comet. It also

plays a key role in a better understanding of the activity of the nucleus
of a comet resulting due to gas evaporation from the nucleus, generally
called non-gravitational force. These studies are being carried out observationally to deduce the rotation period of the nucleus and the orientation
of the spin axis of comets and its interpretation in terms of physical and
dynamical models.
The time period of nuclear rotation can be estimated from some timedependent property associated with the comet. It could be the observation
of a certain repetitive feature, sequence of images of the nucleus, from an
analysis of modelling of light curves or the non-gravitational force and so
on.
The successive expanding halos with velocities of about 0.5 km/sec seen
in the photographic observations of several comets have been interpreted
on the basis of the rotation model for the nucleus. Parabolic envelopes
have also been seen in the coma of comets. With the assumption that these
arise out of the repetitive ejection of material from a single active area, it
is possible to make an estimate for the rotation period of the nucleus. The
procedure is to get the time at which the material was ejected, called the
zero time. If the zero time can be found from concentric halos, then the
time interval between the two zero times gives the rotation period. From
the measured diameters of the halos or from the latus recta of the parabolic
envelopes, the rotational velocities of a large number of comets have been
determined. This method is generally known as zero age method. The
basic assumption involved in the halo method is that the halo structure
arises mainly due to the rotation of the nucleus.
Many comets seem to show broad, fan-shaped coma coming out of the
central condensation and in the general direction of the Sun. The width
appears to change from comet to comet and with time. These have been
interpreted in terms of anisotropy in the out-gassing. This can clearly be
seen from the densitometer tracings of the inner part of the Comet PonsWinnecke which are shown in Fig. 11.6. These have been interpreted in
terms of the orientation of the spin axis of the nucleus.
The continuous monitoring of continuum or molecular emission lines
over an extended period of time can give information about the periodicities connected with the rotation of the nucleus. The rotational light curves
derived from photometric observations when the comet is far off from the
sun can be used to extract the shape and the rotational period of the nuclei of comets. The idea being that the periodic temporal variation of the

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Fig. 11.6 The densitometer tracings of the photograph of June 25, 1927 in the inner
part of the fan of Comet Pons-Winnecke are shown here. The jet near the nucleus in the
sunward direction and the curvature effect as one goes outwards can be seen. The circled
dot denotes the direction of the Sun. (Sekanina, Z. 1981. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet Sci.,
9, 113). Reproduced with permission from Annual Reviews Inc.

brightness is interpreted in terms of the rotation of an elongated body.

At present observations are carried out at visible and infrared wavelength
regions for producing light curves. High spatial resolution observations
carried out with HST at various times can be used to derive the flux contribution from the nucleus and hence the rotational light curve. The time
period can be extracted from the light curve through various methods such
as Autocorrelation analysis, period dispersion minimization method etc.
The derived rotational time period for Comet Tempel 1 is 41.27 h. Based
on various methods, the time periods of rotation of many comets have been
determined. Unfortunately there is lot of variation in the derived periods
for the same comet. The diversity in the derived values are illustrated with
two examples.

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For Comet Encke, the zero age method gave a value of 6.5 hrs. The periodic variation in the photometric magnitude gave a value of 22.4 hrs. The
photometric data obtained near aphelion could be satisfied with periods of
22.6 hrs, 15.1 hrs,11.1 hrs or 7.5 hrs. Later studies have put some doubt
on 15.1 hrs period. It is possible that the observed periods may represent
harmonically related periods. If this is the case, then the observed periodicities could relate to the basic period of 7.4 h. However it is not clear
whether this is the case.
For Comet Halley several values have been derived. The zero age
method gave a period of about 10 hrs. The most direct evidence came from
the morphology of sun ward jets. A rotational period of around 52 hours
was estimated from the processing of spiral jets seen in the photographs
taken during the 1910 apparition. The comparison of Vega 1 and Vega 2
camera observations gave a rotational period of 5254 hours. However the
images of features like jets near-nucleus show a period 2.2 days. A time
period of about 7.4 days was obtained from the time series studies of the
narrow-band photometric observations of the coma. The same time period
was also indicated by the morphology of jets of free radicals, Lyman
emission and the 18 cm OH line, but nothing around a period of 2.2 days.
Therefore there is conflicting results derived from various methods. Images
taken from Vega 1, Vega 2 and Giotto spacecrafts could refer to different
viewing geometries and timings of the nucleus of Comet Halley that might
complicate the interpretation of the observed images. But on the whole
there appears to be two rotational periods corresponding to 2.2 and 7.4
days.
For a non-spherical nucleus there could be several possible rotation
states. It can rotate around the long or short axis. It can also have nutation motion. The rotation could be in its lowest rotational state energy
or in an excited state. Depending on the state of the nucleus, it can have
one or two time periods and their harmonics. Several attempts have been
made to understand the observed periodicities of Comet Halley in terms
of rotational, precessional or nutational motion of the nucleus. From a detailed model study of the nucleus of Comet Halley, it has been possible to
understand the observed time periods. In this model the nucleus is considered to be a prolate spheroid with dimensions of 17 8.5 8.5 km.
It takes into account five active areas on the surface of the nucleus that
are active only when they are exposed to the sun and provide torques to
the nucleus. The model can explain reasonably well the ground based data
as well as the interpretation of visible data from spacecraft. The resulting

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model indicate that long axis of the nucleus precess around the rotational
angular momentum vector in 3.69d at an angle of 66 . In addition the long
axis rotates around its own axis with a period of 7.1d.
A rotation period of 26 h has been deduced for Comet Borrelly based
on ground based and HST observations. A linear jet emanating from the
nucleus was seen from the Deep Space 1. Several observations about this
feature indicate that the jet is along the rotation axis of the nucleus and
also spinning close to its lowest energy spin state.
Based on the above brief discussion, it is evident that the periodicities
depend upon the state of the nuclei. In particular, on the shape, activity
and their location, jets, how the gas comes out and so on. This leads to the
complex nature of the periodicities in the observed spectra than indicated
by the assumed simple models. Hence the interpretation of the observed
periodicities is a difficult matter and is comet dependent.

11.7.

Nucleus Composition

The major goal of cometary studies is to determine the chemical composition of the nuclei of comets. Therefore the evolution of the activity of a
comet along its orbit is important for an understanding of the chemical nature of the nucleus. In view of this, extensive studies have been carried out
with regard to the variation of gas production ratio of species as a function
of the heliocentric distance for various comets. The observed production
rates of various species are found to vary with heliocentric distance and
from comet to comet. Therefore the coma abundances of species cannot
directly reflect the composition of the nucleus of a comet. This problem
has been investigated based on the model for the nucleus.
As discussed earlier the structure of the nucleus of a comet is a complicated function of various physical processes that could take place inside
the rotating porous nucleus containing amorphous ice and volatiles. These
result in structured layers with different composition. The top layers containing the least volatile material and the deepest layers containing the
most volatile species. This structured layer nucleus can be used to calculate the production rate of the species and the integration over the entire
orbit will give the total amount of material ejected during one orbit of the
comet. The deduced abundance ratios for each specie can then the compared with the abundance ratios for the same specie in the nucleus. The
results of such studies have shown that the abundance ratios of the ob-

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served species in the coma integrated over the entire orbit of the comet is
a better representation of the composition of the nucleus of a comet. This
implies that one has to take into account the change in coma composition
with heliocentric distance.
Comet Hale-Bopp was a bright and active comet which made it possible
to study this problem in greater detail. The comet was observed over a large
range of heliocentric distances of 1 to 7 AU. The expected abundances in
the coma from the structured layer chemical model that takes into account
the gases arising from, the surface of the nucleus (sublimation), the interior
of the porous nuclei and the distributed source, can be calculated. These
results can be compared with the observed ratios to deduce the composition
of the nucleus. A mixture composed of 35% amorphous H2 O, 7%CO2 ,
13%CO (50% trapped in the amorphous ice) and 45% dust give a good fit
to the observed data as can be seen from Fig. 11.7. The fit to the observed
data will be much better if the distributed source of CO were subtracted.
The deduced abundance ratio for the nucleus is similar to the expected
abundance ratios from a condensable component of molecules at a lower
temperature from a mixture of solar abundance elements.

11.8.

Mass Loss

The volatiles sublimating from the nucleus of a comet, eventually leave

the system. Therefore the mass loss of volatiles in comets can be used to
make an estimate of the lifetime of a comet. For this purpose, the observed
mass loss rate of water from the nucleus of a comet per revolution may be
used. For Comet Borrelly, the total amount of water sublimated from the
nucleus during an apparition is around 1.1 1010 kg and the estimated
mass of the nucleus from non-gravitational force modelling is around 1 to
5 1013 kg. Therefore the comet can last for about 1000 to 5000 passes.
Taking a typical value of 5 yrs for the time period for short period comets,
the observed mass loss rates indicate that the lifetime of a short period
comet is limited to about 5 103 to 3 104 yrs.
When most of the volatiles are lost from the nucleus, it might go into
an extinct state. It is possible that some of them may be in the asteroidal
belt. As more and more volatiles sublime, the very low tensile strength
material of the nucleus may become more fragile leading to disintegration
of the nucleus into large number of pieces, which then takes on their own
path.

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Fig. 11.7 Mixing ratio Q(CO)/Q(H2 O) is plotted as a function of the heliocentric distance for Comet Hale-Bopp. The dashed line is the model fit. The model fit will be much
better if the distributed source is subtracted from the observations (Huebner, W.F. and
Benkhoff, J. 1999. Space Sci. Rev., 90, 117).

11.9.

Structure

There is no direct method of knowing the internal structure of the nucleus. Therefore one has to infer the possible nature of the structure of the
nucleus from the observed characteristics of comets. The observational fact
that the splitting of the nuclei is quite commonly seen in comets implies
that the nuclei should be quite brittle. Otherwise it will not break that
easily. The important point is that the splitting process does not totally
destroy the nucleus. Comets split into several components when it passes
within the Roche limit of the planet. The Roche limit is defined as the distance from the planet at which a smaller body like a comet which is porous

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and with weak tensile strength will be torn apart due to tidal forces. The
classic example is the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 which came with in 0.001
AU of Jupiter in 1992 and disintegrated into 21 pieces due to tidal forces
(Figs. 1.8, 1.9). The splitting phenomenon also gives a chance to compare
the different split components with the original nucleus and through this
one may be able to get some information about the changes with depth.
The splitting of Comet West into four components (Fig. 1.7) has been analyzed in some detail. The components are observed to separate out with
extremely small velocities of the order of one meter per second. After their
initial velocity they are all subjected to non-gravitational separation forces
produced as a result of the jet action resulting out of vapourization of ice
(Sec. 11.10). The observations can be fitted very well with such a physical model. Comet LINEAR (1999S4) split up into several pieces during
its passage around the sun in 2000. The observations of several other split
comets, which have different time-period can also be explained in a similar
manner. These results show that the different pieces coming out of comets
of extreme ages show the same behaviour with regard to the vapourization
process. The splitting of the nuclei of comets appear not to depend upon
whether the comet is of short period or long period or on their orbits or
happens before or after perihelion etc. The splitting of comets also appears to be more or less random in character. The outburst seen in many
comets indicate the nucleus could be fragile as well as porous. In general
the new comets appear to exhibit more activity than short-period comets
at large heliocentric distances. This may indicate that the outer layers of
new comets may be extremely loose with more volatile material contained
in it or there could be a halo of volatile material around the nucleus.
The erosion of the nuclear surface can take place during its long exposure
at far off distances from the Sun due to the bombardment of cosmic rays,
the solar wind etc.
The gross material strength of comets can be obtained from the estimates of the tidal forces acting on the Sun grazing comets, split comets
5
and from other considerations. The gravitational compression force ( <
10
2
dynes/cm ) is quite small and cannot compress the icy material of the
nucleus. The tensile strength against the tidal disruption of Sun grazing
comets indicates a value in the range of 103 to 105 dynes/cm2 . Similar order of strength of the material in the nucleus is estimated from the period
of rotation of the nucleus. These values are small and they indicate the
material to be weak. The strength of the material can also be estimated
based on the study of meteor trajectories as they plunge into the Earths

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atmosphere since they are believed to be cometary debris (Chap. 13). They
also give value of about 103 to 105 dynes/cm2 . The estimated values for
the tensile strength for cometary material in the nucleus may be compared
with the values for solid water-ice and rocky material which is 4 106
dynes/cm2 . It shows the cometary material to be of low material strength.
In addition to this, the particles collected at high altitudes appear to be
fluffy. The estimated low bulk density for the nuclei of comets indicate the
material to be fulffy and loosely packed in the nucleus.
There are also other types of observations which can give some clue to
the structure of the nucleus. It is well known that comets go around in
their orbits many times. These observations show that only a thin layer
of the material comes out of the nucleus keeping the core of the nucleus
intact. More support for this comes from the Sun grazing comets which
survive even after such an encounter. Also the jet force arising out of the
vapourization of the gases modifies only the trajectory of the comet and it
does not destroy the nucleus as a whole.
All these observations appear to show that the nucleus cannot be composed of a cluster of small particles termed as the sand-bank model. In
the sand-bank model the particles are independent of each other but they
follow similar orbits around the Sun. In this case there is no real body at
the centre although there is a high concentration of particles at the centre. The images of the nucleus of Comet Halley, Tempel 1, Wild 2 and
Borrelly taken from spacecrafts have clearly shown the nucleus to be a one
solid chunk. The images have also given enormous information about the
surface morphology and topology of the nucleus of comets.
Modelling cometary nuclei which can reproduce the observed characteristic behaviour of comets can also provide internal properties of a comet.
The earlier model based on the assumption that the solar radiation is the
only source of energy responsible for the observed cometary behaviour has
been superseded by more sophisticated models. This is due to the fact that
the cometary nucleus likely to contain amorphous ice and its subsequent
crystallization could provide an additional source of energy. In addition,
there could be another source of energy arising from short-lived radionucleide 26 Al. Models which take into account these three sources of energy,
namely solar radiation, through crystallization process and radioactive decay and the high poracity of the nucleus have been considered. These
studies indicate the stratified structure of the nucleus (Fig. 11.3).
Comets are formed as a natural product in a contracting solar nebula.
The resulting nuclear structure could be aggregates of smaller icy planetes-

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imals. This concept has led to models such as fluffy aggregaate, primordial
rubble pile and icy-glue. The collisional evolution appears to have played
a role as well for the cometary nuclei. Infact all the evidences seems to
indicate that the structure of nuclei of comets is processed rubble pile of
smaller ice planetesimals of previous generation. Therefore the general feeling at the present is that the processed models such as fluffy aggregates or
the collisionally evolved rubble pile models are the best representation of
the interior structure of a cometary nucleus.

Fig. 11.8 Schematic diagram showing the persisting layers that have been seen on the
surface and deeper layers of Comet Tempel 1 based on the images taken by Deep Impact
spacecraft. Such features has also been seen in Comets Wild 2 and Borrelly (Belton,
M.J.S. et al. 2007. Icarus, 187, 332).

The highest spatial resolution images of Comet Tempel 1 obtained from

Deep Impact showed clear evidence for the presence of layering over the
surface of the comet (Fig. 11.8). Such layering structures are also present
in the earlier images of Comet Borrelly and Wild 2. However the layering
present in Comet Tempel 1 is very conspicuous. The appearance of such
a feature on a large scale in three comets belonging to Jupiter family of
comets has led to the suggestion that layering could be a common feature
in the internal structure of these comets. These observations have been

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interpreted in terms of a new proposed model called talps or layered pile

model. In this model the interior of a cometary nuclei consists of a core,
overwhich a randomly staked layers are piled up (Fig. 11.8). This model
can explain several observed characteristics of comets. The consequence of
such a model is that the nuclei of Jupiter family of comets are primordial
in nature and the structure of the nucleus has not changed much from the
time of their formation.

11.10.

Non-gravitational Forces

The orbit of a comet can be computed by well-known methods based on

Newtons law of gravitation. The accuracy of the determined orbit depends
upon the number of observations available for the comet. The orbit of shortperiod comets can be determined accurately as they can be observed many
more times than that of long-period comets. The orbit of a comet is generally perturbed strongly by the planets as they enter the inner part of the
solar system. The perturbation induced due to such an encounter can be
incorporated in the orbit calculation and these complications have become
easier to handle with the availability of high speed computers. However
in spite of such accurate orbit calculations, it has been noticed that they
seem to differ from the observed position of comets at each revolution. The
well-known comet for which this is striking is the Comet Encke, discovered
in 1786 and having a period of 3.3. years. It persists in returning at each
revolution about 2 21 hours too soon. This was noticed by Encke himself as
far back as 1820. The deviations from the observed position of comets are
typically a fraction of a day and is more in some comets. Observationally
it is found that out of several comets studied some came earlier than the
predicted time and others later than the predicted time. This means that
some are accelerated and the others decelerated, which demonstrated conclusively that there was an additional nongravitational force acting on the
comet which was not included in the orbit calculations. It was noticed from
observations that this nongravitational force decreased substantially with
an increase in the distance between the comet and the Sun. Enckes first
suggestion that the observed deviation could arise from a resisting medium
was not in conformity with the observations. However the basic model
based on the sublimation of gases from the icy conglomerate nucleus has
been able to explain the observations reasonably well. Refinements have
been considered to this model due to the presence of complex features on

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the surface of the nuclei of comets.

The equation of motion of a comet in the rectangular coordinate system
used in the orbit calculation procedure can be written as
d2 r
r
R
= 3 +
(11.11)
dt2
r
r
Here is the product of the gravitational constant and the mass of the Sun.
The term on the right-hand side of Eq. (11.11) takes care of the planetary
perturbations i.e., R is a planetary disturbing function. The above equation
was generalized to include nongravitational forces as
r
R
d2 r
= 3 +
+ F1 r + F2 T + F3 N.
(11.12)
dt2
r
r
Here F1 , F2 and F3 represent the additional acceleration components, F1
is along the radius vector defined outward along the Sun-Comet-line, F2 is
perpendicular to r in the orbit plane and towards the comets direction of
motion and F3 normal to the orbit plane. r, T and N are the three unit
vectors along the three direction of forces. Since the nature of F1 , F2 and
F3 was not known, one can write
Fi = Ai f (r)

(11.13)

and to see what form of f (r) can remove the observed discrepancy. The
component of the force F3 is generally present for active comets, but it
is difficult to determine a meaningful solution due to its periodic nature
and also the average non-gravitational acceleration is determined from the
solution over three or more apparitions. Therefore for most of the comets
the value of A3 is put equal to zero. The change in the semi major axis introduced due to the radial and transverse perturbing acceleration (RP , TP )
is given by the equation


da
2
P
=
(e sin )RP + TP
dt
r
n(1 e2 )1/2
where n, e, and r represent the orbital mean motion, eccentricity, true
anomaly and the heliocentri distance respectively. P presents the orbital
semi-latus rectum, a(1e2 ). The derived empirical function f (r) was found
to agree well with the form g(r) given by the Eq. (11.5). Knowing the
function f (r), the constants Ai can be calculated. These nongravitational
parameters are actually obtained from the least square fit to the definitive
orbit of the comet. Therefore the empirical work on the nongravitational
force has been put on a firm basis based on a physical model. In recent
years the expression (11.5) has been used in all the orbit calculations.

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These ideas fit in well with the matter ejected from a rotating icy model
of the nucleus which can be understood from Fig. 11.9. When the solar
radiation impinges on the nucleus, the material evaporates from the surface
and moves out in the direction of the incident radiation. This results in a
jet action, a force pushing the comet away from the Sun. If the nucleus
is rotating then there will be a time delay between the heating and the
ejection of the gas from any point on the surface. If the rotation is in the
same direction as its motion around the Sun, the delayed jet action will
have a forward component which will increase the orbital period of the com
et (Fig. 11.9(b)). As a result it will go into a higher orbit and so it will show
up later than the predicted time. On the other hand, if the nucleus rotates
in the opposite direction to the motion around the Sun (Fig. 11.9(c)) the
jet action will have a backward component. This will reduce the period
of the comet and hence it will show up earlier than the predicted time.
Therefore, depending on the direction of rotation of the nucleus, some of
them will be accelerated and some will be retarded, which is consistent with
the observation.

Fig. 11.9 The result of outguessing on the cometary nucleus: (a) the nucleus does not
rotate; (b) the nucleus rotates along the direction of motion around the Sun. The jet
force is also along the direction of motion increasing thereby the period of the comet;
(c) the nucleus rotates in the opposite direction to the direction of motion around the
Sun. The jet force is now in the opposite direction to its motion resulting in a decrease
in the period of the comet.

It is now possible to make a meaningful comparison of the nongravitational parameters A1 and A2 for different comets as they represent the
relative mass loss rates. However, there was still a major problem requiring the outguessing to be much higher than what was known at that time
based on the line emission of C2 and CN in the visual region of the spectrum
(Chap. 6). Otherwise the jet force was not enough to exert an adequate
force on the comet. This problem was resolved with the discovery of the

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presence of a huge halo of hydrogen gas around Comet Bennett in the 1970s
through the detection of the Lyman line radiation (Chap. 6). The observed decrease of nongravitational effect with an increasing distance from
the Sun can also be explained based on the vapourization model. The
nongravitational parameter indicates that about 1% of the material is lost
from each comet in one revolution which is consistent with other estimates
(Sec. 11.8). To take care of the active emission areas from the surface of
the nucleus, an effective sublimation rate Z(z, r) (molecules/cm2 /s) at a
heliocentric distance r and the Suns local zenith angle z is defined as
Z(z, r) = Z0 (r)G(z, r)
where Z0 is the sublimation rate at the subsolar point and G(z, r) ( 1) is
the relative sublimation rate at the Suns Zenith angle z. If there are several
sources then it has to be averaged to get the rotation-averaged acceleration.
The transverse component given by the parameter A2 is quite sensitive
to the effects of episodial events in the orbital motions of comets. The
determination of non-gravitational parameters require at least three consecutive apparition and in addition at least three independent values of the
parameters A2 is required for the study of temporal variations. This limits
the study to short period comets for which astrometric observations have
been made for 5 or more apparitions. Such observations have been used to
determine the values of A1 and A2 for a large number of comets. These have
been used to understand the diurnal effects and seasonal effects in comets.
Diurnal effect refers to the short term variations arising due to outgassing
from uneven exposure of individual sources to sunlight caused by the rotation of the nuclei. Seasonal effects are the long term variations associated
with producing the asymmetric curve in the production rate with respect
to perihelion.
The non-gravitational parameter for the Comet Kopff which was positive before 1930 changed over to negative value around 1940. On the other
hand for Comet Halley the value of A2 has not changed over a long time
period. This indicate that Comet Halley has been out-gassing at almost
the same rate over this long period of time.
In the discussion so far, it has been generally assumed that the parameter representing the component of the force normal to the orbital plane, A3
is equal to zero. This is due to fact that the introduction of the parameter
A3 did not seem to improve the orbital solutions implying that it is hard
to extract the value of A3 i.e. essentially indeterminate. Therefore A3 is
the least understood parameter and it requires further study. With this

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in view, several attempts have been carried out, in recent years, to detect
the contribution from the normal component of the transferred momentum. Using various mathematical techniques, the three non-gravitational
parameters A1 , A2 and A3 have been derived for a number of comets. The
results are rather consistent in showing that the value of A3 is not large.
Therefore with the availability of accurate values for the parameters A1 ,
A2 and A3 representing the component of non gravitational perturbation
in the radial, transverse and normal directions it may be possible to study
the time evolution of the orbits, precession of the spin axis, wobbling and
so on.
All the studies carried out so far for the last two decades or so, were
based on the symmetric models for the non-gravitational effects in the equation of cometary motion. The implicit assumption in the symmetric model
is that the non-gravitational effects are the same on either side of the perihelion position. However, in a real situation the non-gravitational effects
are more of perihelion asymmetrical in nature. The evidence for such an
effect comes from the non-random distribution of the active regions on the
surface of the nucleus and the observed asymmetrical nature of the light
curve of comets, which basically reflect their out gassing histories. Therefore the results based on symmetrical non-gravitational acceleration model
is being questioned. However, it should be noted that the symmetric models have been very successful in providing accurate ephemerides but the
derived physical properties of comets should be taken with caution. Therefore attempts are being made to take into account the asymmetrical nature
of the non-gravitational force in comets by considering the out gassing as
accurately as possible.
An approach that has been attempted is a slight modification of the
symmetrical non-gravitational acceleration model. In this procedure the
possible asymmetry in the out-gassing is taken into account by shifting the
time (DT) for a few days before or after perihelion passage so that it coincides with the maximum value of the water vapourization curve. DT=0
corresponds to the symmetric case. Therefore the expression for the asymmetric non-gravitational acceleration model at any time t is given by g(r0 ),
where r0 = r(t0 ) = r(t DT ). The new calculations are similar to the
symmetric model case except that the function g(r0 ) is evaluated for the
heliocentric distance corresponding to the time t DT , rather than for t
itself. The time shift DT is varied till a best fit to the anisotropic observations is found and this in general agrees with the shift seen in the maximum
of the light curve from the perihelion. It is found that the asymmetric

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model appears to provide better orbital solution compared to symmetric

models. The new approach is being applied to the study of several comets.
The results based on a few comets have shown that the radial and transverse non-gravitational parameters derived from non-symmetric models are
different from symmetric models and hence in their inferred physical properties. Over long periods of time the value of DT may change its value
and sign. The value of DT is about 40d for Comet dArrest and is also
stable over many observed apparitions of the comet. On the other hand for
Comet Giacobini-Zinner DT = + 14 days during 19591973 and - 13 days
during 19721987. For comet Halley DT = + 20 days and this is consistent
with the post-perihelion peak observed in the light curve. There are some
comets which show long term non-gravitational effect to be irregular as well
as the value change rapidly. These could be understood in terms of forced
precession model of a rotating non-spherical cometary nucleus.
Since the non-gravitational force is the resultant effect of the redistribution of the momentum that is transferred to the nucleus by the sublimating
gas, it is a complicated function of several factors like shape, structure,
nature and areas of active regions, jets, direction of the ejection of gas and
so on of the nucleus. The resultant effect is to complicate the rotational
as well as the orbital motion of the nucleus of a comet, which shows up as
peculiarities in the observations (Fig. 11.10). It also depends upon sudden
activation or deactivation of discrete emission centres in the nuclear surface.
All these complicated effects which varies from comet to comet and
affect the non-gravitational perturbations have to be considered for getting
accurate orbit of comets.

11.11.

Ortho to Para Ratio of Molecules

The nuclear spin of two similar atoms in a molecule such as H2 , give rise
to segregation of rotational levels of the molecule depending upon the total
nuclear spin angular momentum (I). Therefore it was postulated based on
Quantum Theory the existence of two forms of molecular hydrogen called
Ortho - H2 and Para -H2 and got experimental confirmation of this prediction, a great success story. Later work found that in ortho - H2 , the two
hydrogen atoms spin in the same direction (I=1,) and have rotational
levels with odd J values. In para - H2 , the nuclei of two hydrogen atoms
spin in the opposite direction (I=0,) and have rotational levels with even

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Fig. 11.10 A composite figure showing the light curves of Comet SchwassmannWachmann 2 for the period from 19291987. The negative times correspond to the
inbound orbit and positive times to outgoing orbit. The long-term variations as well as
erratic behaviour can be seen (Sekanina, Z. 1993. Astron. Astrophys. 271, 630).

J values. Radiative and collision transition betwen the rotational states of

ortho and para molecules are strongly forbidden.
The H2 O molecule also exists as ortho - H2 O(I=1) and para - H2 O(I=0)
depending upon whether hydrogen nuclear spins are in parallel or in antiparallel state with statistical weight of (2I+1). The lowest rotational level
of ortho - H2 O is higher than the lowest level of para - H2 O by 24 cm1 .
Therefore the ratio between the total populations of ortho - H2 O and para
- H2 O states depend upon the temperature called the Spin temperature.
This temperature refers to the temperature for a given ortho to para ratio
under local thermodynamic equilibrium.
In thermal equilibrium the ortho-to-para ratio (OPR) can be determined
from the rotational distribution of the molecules

i.e.,



P
(2J + 1) exp Eo
kT i
h
OP R =
.
P
(2Ip + 1) (2J + 1) exp Ep
kT
(2Io + 1)

Here o and p refer to ortho and para rotational levels. J and E refer
to rotational quantum number and energy of the levels respectively. The
above equation can be evaluated as a function of temperature using energy

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level diagram of H2 O molecule. The results are shown in Fig. 11.11. For
high temperatures the population ratio of ortho-to para H2 O approach the
statistical weight 2I+1 which is 3 for H2 O. As can be seen from the figure,
the statistical equilibrium value of OPR=3.0 is achieved for temperatures
greater than around 60K. For lower temperatures the OPR is less than the
statistical equilibrium value.

Fig. 11.11 The time dependent Ortho to Para ratio is shown by the solid curve. The
observed ratio for H2 O in various comets is also shown (Bonev, B.P. et al. 2007. Ap.
J., 661, L97).

Since the nuclear spin conversion in H2 O is forbidden during radiative transitions or non-destructive collisions, the OPR formed at a particular temperature is essentially frozen-in and OPR is believed to remain
the same throughout the coma. Therefore the observed OPR should give
an indication of the spin temperature that existed when water molecule
was formed and hence the location in the solar system where comets were
formed. Therefore ortho-to-para abundance ratio of cometary H2 O could
give information about the region of formation of comets in the solar system about 4.6 Gyr ago. In view of this, the determination of ortho-to-para
ratio of H2 O in comets is of particular interest.
The first determination of ortho-to-para ratio of H2 O was for Comet

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Halley in 1985-86 based on the observed lines of ortho and para in the
2.9 m spectral region. Since then OPR ratio of water has been determined
for a large number of comets. This is determined from a comparison of the
observed spectra with the synthetic spectra based on fluorescence model.
The molecules NH3 and CH4 which exhibit ortho and para states and
whose lines lie in the radio and infrared spectral regions have also been
used to determine the OPR in comets. Although OPR ratio of NH3 can be
determined directly from their observed spectral lines, it is more advantageous to get this ratio from the study of NH2 molecule whose lines are quite
strong and lie in the visible spectral region. As a typical case, a comparison
betwen the observed spectra and the best fit synthetic spectra for NH2 is
shown in Fig. 11.12 for Comet Ikeya-Zhang.

Fig. 11.12 Comparison between the observed and modeled spectra of NH2 A (0, 9, 0) X (0, 0, 0) band in Comet Ikeya-Zhang for April 19, 2002. The best fit for OPR of NH2
is 3.22 for the model spectrum indicating spin temperature of 32 K for NH3 (Kawakita,
H. et al. 2004. Ap.J., 601, 1152, Reproduced by permission of the AAS).

The observed OPR of NH2 is used to get the OPR of NH3 with the
assumption that NH2 is the major photodissociation product of NH3 and
the application of nuclear spin selection rule to photodissociation reaction
of NH3 into NH2 and H is valid. The spin temperature determined from
the study of H2 O, NH3 and CH4 for several comets are given in Table 11.3
and shown in Fig. 11.11 for H2 O. The striking feature of Table 11.3 is the

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grouping of the observed spin temperature of H2 O, NH3 and CH4 around

30 K with some scatter, even though the observations refer to different
heliocentric distances, gas production rates or the orbital period of comets.
This indicate that the spin temperature appears to reflect the temperature
of the region of formation of these molecules and hence of comets. If the
spin temperature reflect the place of formation of comets in the solar nebula,
then one expects spin temperature of Jupiter family of short period comets
(originally in the Kuiper Belt region which is farther than 30 AU in the
solar nebula) must be smaller than Oort cloud comets (originally in the
region of giant planet region of 530 AU from the sun). However the spin
temperature of these two types of comets indicate that both Oort cloud
comets and Jupiter family comets were formed under similar conditions
in the solar nebula and hence have a common origin. This is possible if
the cometary material had originated from a presolar molecular cloud at
30 K. Even though the observed spin temperature of H2 O, NH3 and CH4
of comets cluster around 30 K, there are deviations as well. Of particular
interest is Comet Wilson and other comets whose OPR of H2 O is close to the
statistical equilibrium value of 3(spin temperature is >
50 K). These have
raised the question of the real meaning of the observed OPR of molecules
in comets and the corresponding spin temperature.
Although the nuclear spin conversion is forbidden, the constancy of
nuclear spin temperature over large time scales is not clear at the present
time. Some laboratory studies have indicated that the radiative nuclear
conversion time for H2 O is much larger compared to that of CH4 . Also if
equilibrium took place within the coma, the spin temperature should vary
with heliocentric distance of the comet. On the other hand if equilibrium
took place inside the nucleus, the nuclear spin temperature should vary with
the orbit of the comet. i.e. the spin temperature should differ between short
period and long period comets. Therefore laboratory study of cometary
analogs can help in a better understanding of the conditions under which
nuclear conversion can take place. This in turn can help in clarifying to
what extent the observed spin temperature represents the formation history
of comets.

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Table 11.3

375

Nuclear spin temperature in comets.

Comet

H2 O

Halley
Wilson
Hale-Bopp
Hartley 2
Lee
S4 LINEAR
A2 LINEAR
WM1 LINEAR
Ikeya-Zhang
NEAT
MACHHOLZ
Tempel 1
Enake

292
> 50
282
363
30+15
6
30
23+4
3

31+11
5
>34

NH3

26+10
4
27+3
2
25+1
2
30+5
3
32+5
4
31+4
2
24 2

33

CH4

33+2
1

Orbit
OC
OC
OC
JF
OC
OC
OC
OC
OC
OC
OC
JF
JF

Kawakita, H. et al. 2006, Ap.J., 643, 1337. Bonev,

B.P., Mumma, M.J., Villanueva, L. et al. 2007,
Ap.J., 661, L97. Kawakita, H. et al. Icarus 2007,
127, 272. OC (Oort cloud); JF (Jupiter family)

11.12.

Binary Systems

The discovery of binaries among Asteroids, Near Earth Asteroids,

Transneptunian objects and Trojan Asteroids have raised high prospects
of finding satellite around cometary nuclei. The detection of a satellite
around the cometary nucleus will be of great significance as it will provide
a direct method of getting the mass of the cometary nucleus. If the mass is
known and size can be determined by an independent method, the density
of the material can be determined. This will give an insight for an understanding of the properties of the nucleus such as, poracity, structure of the
nucleus etc. However in a real situation, detection of a binary is a difficult
task as the nucleus itself is small and in addition coma is present even at
large distances. Hence, so far there is no definite observational evidence for
the existence of satellites around cometary nuclei.
There are several possible scenarios for the formation of a satellite
around a cometary nuclei. Capture of an external object is highly unlikely process. The nucleus can fragment and the pieces can assemble to
reform into a satellite. It could also bi-furcate into two co-orbiting bodies.
The splitting of cometary nuclei is a common phenomena. So the fragments can be produced. However due to non-gravitational force, the fragments may drift apart quite fast and not allowing for the formation of a

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stable binary configuration. Even if a satellite can form, its motion around
a non-spherical rotating and an active cometary nucleus could be highly
complex. Therefore the detection of a satellite around a cometary nuclei is
a real challenge from the observational point of view.
11.13.

Summary

The vapourization theory of water from the nucleus could explain reasonably well the visibility of comets at around the heliocentric distances
of 3 AU. However, it had difficulty in explaining comets seen at distances
much beyond 3 AU. This led to clathrate model. Such a configuration is not
practicable as it can be produced only at high pressure conditions, which
is not the case in the case of comets. The working model at the present
time is that the nucleus contains amorphous ice, and release energy when
it crystalizes. Consequently, the repetition of heating and cooling processes
inside the nucleus creates a layered structure with different compositions.
The most volatiles lie in the near central regions and less volatiles near
the surface layers of the nucleus. This model can reasonably explain all
the observed activities of a comet such as bursts, random or repetitive,
outbursts at large heliocentric distances etc. The flybys to several comets
have given surprising results with regard to the morphological structure of
the nucleus. The tensile strength of the nucleus is quite low and hence it
is fragile. Therefore the nucleus can break up easily, which has been seen
in several comets. The ortho-to-para ratio of several molecules indicate a
formation temperature 30 K which implies that comets are formed in the
low temperature region of the solar nebula. The surface gravity of Comet
Tempel 1 has been determined for the first time from the observation of
ejecta plume. The non-gravitational force which arise due to the net transfer of momentum to the nucleus, is a complicated function which depends
upon the shape, active areas and their location, rotation, jets, outbursts
etc. of the nucleus. Similarly all these effects has influence on the nuclear
rotation giving rise to one or several time periods for the rotation of the
nucleus of a comet.

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Problems
1. Do you expect the vapourization rate of gases from the nucleus to be
constant at every revolution around the Sun?
2. Consider a nucleus made up of ice 1 km in radius, with mass loss rate
of 108 gm/sec and a period of 5 years. If the comet is assumed to be
active for about a year at every revolution, how much does the nucleus
shrink per revolution? What is the lifetime of the nucleus?
3. A comet of radius 1 km is moving with an orbital velocity of 60 km/sec
at 1 AU. Calculate the amount of out-gassing required if the gas comes
out at 1 km/sec from the sun-lit hemisphere of icy nucleus so that the
non-gravitational forace is about 1% of the orbital force.
4. How do you reconcile the fact that the nucleus contain mostly water
but the observed geometrical albedo for Comet Halley is 0.04.
5. If the nucleus of a comet was made up of 80% CO2 and rest is made up
of other molecules like H2 O, CO and others, what will be the scenario
of such a comet?
6. What are the consequence if the nucleus is a hard solid body instead
of fragile and fluffy in nature?

References
The following papers cover morphology of comets
1. Brownlee, D.E. et al. 2004. Science, 304, 1764.
2. Britt, D.T., Boice, D.C., Buratti, B.J. et al. 2004. Icarus, 167, 45.
3. Thomas, P.C., Viverka, J., Belton, M.J.S. et al. 2007. Icarus, 187, 4).
The following paper gives a good account of the vapourization theory
4. Delsemme, A.H. 1982. In Comets ed. Wilkening, L.L. Univ. Arizona
Press, Tucson, p. 85.
A good account for later work is given in the following papers:
5. Meech, K.J. and Svoren, J. 2005. In Comets, Eds. M.C. Festou, H.U.
Keller and W.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 317.
6. Prialnik, D., Benkhoff, J. and Podolak, M. 2005. In Comets, Eds, M.C.
Festou, H.U. Keller and W.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson,
p. 359.
A good summary of albedo and radius of comets is given in the following
paper:

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7. Lamy, P.L., Toth, I., Fernandez, Y.R. et al. 2005. In Comets, eds.
M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and W.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 223.
The mass and density is covered in the following papers.
8. Davidson, B.J.R. and Gutierrez, P.J. 2006. Icarus, 180, 224.
9. Richardson, J.E., Melosh, H.J., Lisse, C.M. et al. 2007. Icarus, 190,
357.
10. Weissman, P.R., Asphang, E. and Lowry, S.C. 2005. In Comets II,
eds. F.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and W.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press,
Tucson, p. 337.
First direct determination of the surface gravity of Comet Tempel 1, is in
the following paper.
11. AHearn, M.F., Belton, M.J.S., Delamere, W.A., et al. 2005. Science,
310, 258.
The rotation of the nuclei of comets is covered in the following paper
12. Samarasinha, N.H., Mueller, B.E.A., Belton, M.J.S. et al. 2005. In
Comets, eds, M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and W.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 281.
The following papers refer to nucleus composition
13. Huebner, W.F. and Benkhoff, J. 1999. Space Sci. Rev., 90, 117.
14. Huebner, W.F. and Benkhoff, J. 1999. Earth, Moon and Planets, 77,
217.
For structure, outburst etc. of cometary nuclei, see papers
15. Belton, M.J.S., Thomas, P, Veverka, J., et al. 2007. Icarus, 187, 332.
16. Prialnik, D., Benkhoff, J. and Podolak, M. 2005. In Comets, eds. M.C.
Festou, H.U. Keller and W.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson,
p. 359.
The existence of non-gravitational force in comets was proposed for the first
time in a classic paper by
17. Whipple, F.L. 1950. Ap.J. 111, 375.
For a good summary of non-gravitational forces in Comets, refer to:
18. Yeomans, D.K., Chodas, P.W., Sitarski, G. et al. 2005. In Comets,
eds. M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and W.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press,
Tucson, p. 137.
The first determination of Ortho-to-Para ratio is in the following papers:
19. Mumma, M.J., Weaver, H.A. Larson, H.P. 1986. Science, 232, 1523;
Astron. Astrophys., 187, 419.
For later work, refer to the following papers:

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20. Bonev, B.P., Mumma, M.J., Villanueva, L. et al. 2007. Ap.J., 661,
L97.
21. Kawakita, H., Russo, N.D., Furusho, R. et al. 2006. Ap.J., 643, 1337.
22. Kawakita, H., Jehin, E., Manfroid, J. et al. 2007. Icarus, 187, 272.
A good account of binary systems is in the following paper
23. Noll, K.S. 2006. In Asteroids, Comets and Meteors, eds. D. Lazzaro, S.
Ferraz-Mello and J.A. Fernandez, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 301.

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CHAPTER 12

Origin

There are many ideas and hypothesis with regard to the origin of comets.
Some of these date back to Laplace and Lagrange. Dynamical simulations
in conjunction with available observations, although scarce, have given new
insights into this area of study. Some of these aspects will briefly be discussed in this chapter.
12.1.

Evidence for the Oort Cloud

During early times, the emphasis in the study of comets was mainly
on the determination of their orbits. This resulted in the accumulation of
a lot of data with regard to the orbital characteristics of comets, which
gave an insight into some of the physical problems. One such fundamental
aspect, which came out of these studies - namely, nongravitational force has
already been discussed in the previous chapter. Another significant result
refers to the problem of the origin of comets themselves. Several general
characteristic properties can be noted just from the stability of comets.
The long-period comets, mostly in parabolic orbits, appear to come from
all directions in the sky. The short period comets, have low inclination to
the ecliptic plane and have a strong association with the planetary system.
Any reasonable theory of the origin of comets has to explain these features.
Various concepts, ideas, hypothesis and theories, have been put forward
over the years discussing the merits and demerits of interstellar vs solar
system origin of comets. Therefore the whole subject was in a confused
state. In a classic paper, Oort in 1950 proposed the unification of the
origin of comets within a reasonable and consistent framework. This has
given rise to a rapid development of the subject and a better understanding
of the whole phenomena.
381

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Table 12.1 Distribution of original values of
semimajor axes, a(AU).
1/a
0.00005
0.00015
0.00020
0.00025
0.00050

>

Number of comets
0.00005
0.00010
0.00015
0.00020
0.00050
0.00075
0.00075

10
4
1
1
1
1
0

Oort, J. 1950, Bull. Astr. Inst. Netherlands

11, 91.

Even with limited observational material available on about 19 longperiod comets at that time, Oort showed that a simple plot of the number
of comets versus the inverse of semi major axis, 1/a (equivalent to orbital
energies) of the original orbit gave a conspicuous peak near value zero (i.e.
nearly parabolic orbits) (Table 12.1). The original orbit refers to the orbit
of the comet before it enters the planetary system.
The peak observed in the 1/a distribution cannot be due to chance but
represents the real characteristic property. This is based on the fact that
the observed dispersion in 1/a is much smaller than it would have been
if it had passed through perihelion passage once. Even one passage can
bring in a dispersion in 1/a which is much larger than the observed values.
Therefore most of the comets must have come into the solar system for
the first time, generally called new comets. Most of these comets appear
to come from the region of say 30,000 to 50,000 AU. This led Oort to
recognize the existence of a spherical cloud of comets around the Sun at
this distance but still gravitationally bound to it. This is generally called
the Oort cloud. It should be pointed out that as far back as 1932, Opik
had suggested the possibility of the presence of such a cloud surrounding
the solar system. With more accurate and high precision data available
in recent years on a large number of comets the idea proposed by Oort
has been confirmed and all the results deduced earlier based on the limited
data remain more or less the same. It is remarkable that such an important
work came out, based just on 19 cometary orbits. Figure 12.1 shows the
histogram of the number of comets versus the original 1/a values based on
comets with well-determined orbits. The observed distribution has a sharp

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peak of comets at near zero. The figure also shows a continuous distribution
of tightly bound orbits. Most new comets have aphelion distance of around
50,000 to 100,000 AU. The corresponding major axis is around 25,000 to
75,000 AU. More recent determination give a value for the semi major axis
of about 36,000 AU. These distances are almost comparable to the distances
of nearby stars. Oort recognized the fact that the peak in Fig. 12.1 should
be the source of long period comets, a gravitationally bound spherical cloud
of comets at distances greater than 104 AU from the sun. Recent simulation
studies have shown that the inner part of the Oort cloud at distances of
around 300010,000 AU may also be the source of long period coments.

Fig. 12.1 A histogram of the number of comets plotted as a function of the original
inverse semi major axes for the observed long-period comets. The sharp peak of comets
near zero value of original 1/a represent the new comets from the Oort cloud. (Marsden,
B.G., Sekanina, Z. and Everhart, E. 1978. A.J., 83, 64).

Oort made an estimate of the total number of comets in the Oort cloud
to be about 1.9 1011 based on the observed flux of dynamically new
comets for an influx rate of about 1 comet per year within 1.5 AU from the
sun. More recent dynamical models gave a value for the number of comets
in the Oort cloud to be in the range of (0.4 to 1.3) 1012 . The present day
mass for comets with a > 20,000 AU and H (absolute magnitude) < 11 is
around 7M and the total present day mass of the Oort cloud is estimated

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to be around 38M .
Cometary fading
It is observed that the number of returning comets after the Oort cloud
spike decreases more steeply compared to the expected rate based on models which takes into account planetary and stellar perturbations. This is
generally known as Cometary Fading. Dynamical model calculations have
shown that this effect cannot be attributed to modelling effect, but must
be due to the intrinsic property of the comet. Three possibilities have been
suggested. They are disruption or splitting process due to low tensile
strength of the nucleus, loss of volatiles called Extinct State or formation of non-volatile mantle on the surface of the nucleus called Dormant
State of the comet. Dynamical calculations once again seems to rule out
the extinct and dormant state of the comet for the observed cometary fading. Therefore more likely that the catastrophic splitting of comets is the
dominant physical loss process for the observed cometary fading. Therefore comets after few passes through the solar system are split up into a
large number of smaller bodies which then move independent of each other.
Such a process might have resulted in well known Kreutz group of comets
containing more than few hundred comets.

12.2.

Evolution and Properties of Oort Cloud

The transformation of comets from the Oort cloud to the observable

comets can be understood in a quantitative fashion in the following manner. Due to stars perturbation, many comets leave the cloud for ever and
some others enter the planetary system. Among these some may happen to
come close and are observable as new comets. When a fraction of these
comets encounter the planets, particularly Jupiter, they are perturbed and
leave the system altogether after their first encounter. Some of these get
caught in the solar system, and are seen as long-period comets. By repeated
encounters with the giant planets, enough of them are progressively transferred from long-period orbits to intermediate-period orbits and finally into
short-period orbits. A large number of investigations have been carried out
for an understanding of some of these problems through analytic, semianalytic and numerical calculations. With the availability of high speed
computers, the Monte Carlo approach has been used to simulate the dynamical evolution of comets in the Oort cloud, wherein it is possible to

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investigate the effect of varying initial conditions. The idea is to consider a

large number of comets in the Oort cloud and study their time evolution by
taking into account the perturbations due to various sources. The orbits of
comets could be followed until they escape from the system in a hyperbolic
orbit. It is the cumulative effect of the changes in the comets orbital energy
during each passage through the planetary system which is important in
deciding the fate of the final orbit of the comet. Due to large computer time
involved, some approximations have to be made to obtain results within a
reasonable length of time.
The results of Monte Carlo simulation for 105 hypothetical comets gives
a good match to the observed distribution in 1/a. (Fig. 12.1). On the average a long-period comet with perihelion distance < 4 AU makes around
five passages through the planetary region before taking on some final state
with a mean life time of about 6 105 years. In addition to the perturbing forces normally considered, arising due to planetary encounters and
passing stars that continually change the orbital elements of comets, other
type of perturbing forces have been shown to be important. One is due
to the existence of Giant molecular clouds with a typical mass 3 105
M and radius 20pc respectively. The Giant Molecular Cloud encounters are rare with the mean interval of about 3 to 4 108 yr. This has
been shown to be a major perturber of the orbits of comets in the Oort
cloud. Just as stars passing the Oort cloud perturb the orbit of comets,
in a similar way the distribution of stars in the Galaxy can also have a
major perturbing effect on the orbits arising due to tidal distortions. This
arises due to the gradient of the gravitational force in the solar neighborhood which is slightly different at the position of the Sun and the comet.
As a result the galactic acceleration is different at the two locations which
leads to a net tidal force acting on the comet with respect to that of the
Sun. This effect has been taken into account in a more realistic manner
in recent dynamical calculations. The relative importance of various perturbers for the net influx of comets can be seen from Table 12.2. The
results are for a radial distribution of comets in the Oort cloud of the form
n(r) r3 and normalized to unity for the influx rate caused by random
passing stars. For ranges around 7 103 aoriginal 4 104 AU of
the Oort cloud the effects of forces other than planetary perturbations are
important.
The structure and stability of the Oort cloud has also been studied
based on the N-body simulation with the inclusion of various perturbations.

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Table 12.2 Influx rate of comets from
the Oort clouds.
Perturber

Relative
number

Random stars

1.0

Intermediate size
molecular cloud

124

Vertical galactic tidal force

1.72

Close stellar passage

(D = 104 AU)

62.1

Adapted from Fernandez, J.A. and

IP.W.-H. 1991. In Comets in the Post
Halley Era. eds. C.L. Newburn et al.
Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 487.

This approach tries to simulate the actual physical system, wherein the
interaction of all the bodies is taken into account. It is possible to study
physical processes through this approach, such as the exchange of energy
and angular momentum between the cloud and the stars and so on. A
comparison of the mean square velocity of the cloud with the escape velocity
at any particular layer would show whether it can escape from the system.
The results show that the inner regions are stable, while the outer layers
can escape from the system.
The dynamical half-life of comets in the Oort cloud due to the effect of
passing star is estimated to be about 3 Gyr at 25,000 AU. It is around 1
Gyr at 50,000 AU. The effect of Giant molecular cloud on the Oort cloud is
comparable that of passing star. The resultant effect of stellar perturbation
is that, around 5% of comets should survive at 50,000 AU for 4.5 Gyr.
Similar is the case at 30,000 AU. This indicates that the comets in the
outer region of the Oort cloud decrease with time. One way to replenish
is by capture of comets from interstellar space. This is a highly unlikely
process as it involves a three body gravitational interaction for dissipating
the excess hyperbolic energy. The other possibility being that the supply
of comets is provided by the inner regions of the Oort cloud. However it
is not at all clear at the present time whether the comets are depleted at
such a rate from the outer regions of the Oort cloud that it requires to be
replenished in view of several simplifying assumptions made in the model
calculations.

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Fig. 12.2 The results of Monte Carlo simulation showing the number of new long-period
comets entering the terrestrial planets region q < 2 AU from the Oort cloud. The spikes
represent the comet showers arising due to random stars penetrating the Oort cloud
(Courtesy Heisler, J).

Cometary Showers
The studies based on Monte Carlo calculations have indicated that influx of cometary flux from the outer regions of the Oort cloud could vary
roughly by a factor of 2 to 3. These are a sort of common phenomena.
Sometimes it is possible that the passing stars happen to penetrate the
Oort cloud, or the stars could be of relatively high mass, or pass the cloud
with small impact parameter. In these situations the orbit of comets could
be changed by a larger amount. The net effect will be to scatter more
long-period comets into the solar system, which will increase drastically
the observable comets giving rise to cometary shower (Fig. 12.2). Monte
Carlo simulations have been carried out for such situations to get an idea of
the expected results. The impact rate increases by a factor of around 300
for the case of star passing at a distance of to 3 104 AU from the Sun
and seems to last for around 2 to 3 106 years. The increase in flux rate
arises due to the fact that comets coming from the inner part of the Oort

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cloud have relatively shorter time periods compared to those coming from
outer regions and hence perturbed more due to planetary perturbations
and in turn make more revolutions. However such close stellar encounters
are quite rare and the frequency of occurrence could be perhaps once in 3
to 5 108 years or so. In a similar way, a sudden increase in the influx of
comets from the Oort cloud can increase by a factor as high as 103 for a
close encounter with a Giant molecular cloud (M 5 105 M ) or even
higher rate of influx for the penetrating Giant molecular cloud. But such
occurreness may occur at intervals of several times 107 years.
The distribution of comets is a complicated function of the various physical mechanisms which could operate on the Oort cloud. Therefore the
enhancement of ejection of comets could vary in a periodic fashion, random or in some complicated way, depending on the manner in which the
disturbances act on the Oort cloud. This could have catastrophic or moderate effects on the geophysical, biological or climatic changes on the earth.
They could possibly appear in terrestrial records. In view of these considerations, it has been suggested that the random cometary showers could
contribute substantially for the formation of craters on planets and the
Moon and also the biological extinction events on the Earth. Also the statistical study of the fossil records has been interpreted in terms of biological
extinction events that may be taking place with a time scale of approximately 26 106 years (Fig. 12.3). An interesting measurement was carried
out at the sea floor looking for iridium concentration for the period from
33 to 67 Myr ago. The results showed an increase by a factor of around 13
near the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (referring to 66 Myr). This can be
explained in terms of a strong comet shower which enhanced the iridium
concentration. The expected value from such a process agrees within a factor of two of the observed value seen at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary.
At present these may be considered as possibilities rather than evidence in
support of them, as more work needs to be done from both observational
and dynamical points of view.
The Oort cloud has been considered to be a cold storage place for longperiod comets without much happening until it is perturbed by a perturbing
force. In recent years, it has been suggested that during the life time of
the Oort cloud the outer layers of the cometary nuclei could be modified
due to various physical processes such as, bombardment by galactic cosmic
rays, solar wind, heating due to nearby supernova explosions, luminous
stars passing by, impact due to various debris and so on.

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Fig. 12.3 A statistically significant mean periodicity of ground 26 million years is indicated by the extinction records for the past 250 million years. (Raup, D.M. and Sepkoshi,
J.J. 1984. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 81, 801).

12.2.1.

Short period comets

The long-period comets, after random-walk through the planetary system, which reduces the semi-major axis of the orbit, could finally give rise
to short period comets. The important work of Everhart in 1972 showed
clearly that such a dynamical mechanism can be an efficient process. The
question to ask is whether such a mechanism can produce the number of
observed short-period comets.
Estimates of the expected number of short period comets from long
period comets by diffusion process has been made and it varies considerably. The dynamical calculations have shown that the ratio of the initial
population of near parabolic orbits to the number of long period comets
gravitationally bound to the system after N perihelion passages varies as
N1/2 . The ratio of the observed long period comets to short period comets
is 5 and hence N 25. This indicates that after around 25 passages or
so, around 90% of the original comets are lost from the system. It is quite
possible that some of the long period comets can be transformed into short
period comets after an unusually long number of revolutions. It is estimated
that around 2 103 revolutions are required for transforming a long period
comet to short period comet with P < 20 years. The transformation can

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also take place only over a restricted region, 4 < q < 6 AU and 0 < i < 9 ,
with an efficiency factor of one captured comet for about 102 long period
comets. In addition, other physical processes such as sublimation, breaking
of the nucleus and so on could also prevent the long-period comet turning into a short-period one. Therefore the existing dynamical calculations
show that roughly one comet out of a total of 103 comets can end up as a
short-period comet. Hence the major difficulty in the process of producing
long-period comets to short-period comets through diffusion process in the
solar system is that the resulting number of short-period comets are too
small compared to the observed number. Also the long-period comets tend
to preserve their inclination as they evolve into short-period comets, in contrast to those of observed short-period comets, whose orbits are confined

to inclinations <
30 or so. In addition, the original population of long
period comets with random inclinations would lead to a certain fraction of
short period comets with retrograde orbits, which is not seen. These are
some of the major difficulties and therefore it is necessary to consider other
mechanisms for the production of short period comets.
In order to produce low inclination, short period comets, the source
has also to be confined to a flattened disk of comets. This has led to the
hypothesis that the Trans-Neptunian population of comets could be the
source of short period comets. The possibility of the existence of such a
source of comets had been suggested by Kuiper in 1951. He postulated a
remnant of the accretion disk of planetesimals in the solar nebula, which
never managed to accrete into planets. This is now termed as Kuiper Belt.
The Kuiper Belt is also called Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt as Edgeworth had
shown the possible presence of comets beyond pluto in 1949. This idea
has been elaborated later on by several investigators and showed that such
a residual population of planetesimals could have remained bound to the
solar system. The short period comets produced from such a comet belt
are far more efficient than produced through long period comets from the
Oort cloud.
Detailed simulation studies have shown that Oort cloud is composed of
two parts, namely the spherical outer cloud and the inner cloud which is
flattened. The boundary between the two regions is around 20,000 AU.
Long period comets come from the the spherical distribution of the Oort
cloud, Halley type comets come from the inner flattened disk of the Oort
cloud and Jupiter family of comets come from the Kuiper belt. It now appears likely that most Jupiter family comets arise from the related structure
called the scattered disk.

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Extensive dynamical evolution studies over forward and backward in

time spanning up to 107 yr has been carried out. The comet was followed
until it became either an unbound system from the sun or a sun-grazer.
These studies show that around 92% of comets were ejected from the solar
system and around 6% of comets were destroyed by becoming sun-grazers.
It also showed that around half of the comets of sun-grazing type were of
Halley type of comets. The median life time of short period comets 4.5
105 yr and that of JFCs 3.2 105 yr. The distribution of comets
based on simulation studies is in agreement with the observed distribution
of Jupiter family of comets. These studies are consistent with the earlier
work in showing that Kuiper belt is the source of JFCs. Simulations also
indicate that JFCs and HTCs switch between them in about a dozen times
in a time scale of 4.5 105 yr.
Since the Kuiper Belt is believed to be the source of short period comets
(i.e. Kuiper Belt objects, KBOs) considerable effort went into looking for
KBOs and the first such object was discovered in 1992. Since then, large
number of transneptunian objects (KBOs) have been detected. The estimated number of KBOs of sizes 100 km with 30 < a < 50 AU is about
105 . Simulation studies for the dynamics of KBOs show that the orbital
characteristics of the scattered KBOs that enter into the solar system are
quite similar to those of Jupiter family comets.

12.3.

Origin of the Oort Cloud

The reservoir of comets generally called the Oort cloud is quite well
established. The observable long-period comets can be understood reasonably well, based on the time evolution of new comets coming out of the
Oort cloud. Therefore the origin of long-period comets essentially reduces
to the problem of the origin of the Oort cloud. Various hypothesis have
been proposed to explain the origin of the Oort cloud. They can all be divided roughly into two groups, interstellar and the solar system. The other
possibility of comets forming at the present location of the Oort cloud itself
is not feasible due to the extremely low densities, which make it difficult
for the growth of the particles.
If interstellar comets do exist and enter the solar system at times then
they should be seen with hyperbolic orbits. However, no such comet has
been observed for the last 200 years or so. This observation can be used to
put a limit on the number of interstellar comets in the solar neighborhood

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to be 104 AU3 . This shows that the number of interstellar comets

entering the solar system at the present time is not large. In addition,
capturing hyperbolic comets from interstellar medium is a highly unlikely
process as a third body is required to dissipate the excess kinetic energy
involved. It is quite possible that passage of the solar system through
a Giant molecular cloud or dense region might result in the capture of
comets leading to bound orbits around the Sun. One can also think of
other scenarios which could have given rise to the Oort cloud. Although
these are possible in principle, however there appears to be no concrete
viable models based on such mechanisms.
The other possibility that comets is of solar system in origin implying
that they were formed at the same time and as a part of the formation of
Sun and planets has received considerable interest and attention. On this
hypothesis, cometary material should be similar to that of the solar system
material. This is borne out by the measurement of the isotopic ratio of
12
C/13 C in comets 100, comparable to the terrestrial value of 89.
However, the formation of comets in the inner solar system is highly
unlikely due to the fact that the presently known chemical composition of
comets requires a temperature at the time of formation to be quite low
< 100 K to keep the volatiles like H2 O, CO2 , CO, NH3 and CH4 from

evaporating. This led to the other possibility that the comets were formed
in the outer parts of the nebula that formed the planets. The chemical
composition of the solar system bodies can roughly be divided into three
classes depending upon the characteristics of the elements present in them.
For example, gases such as hydrogen, helium and noble gases stay as gas
even at low temperatures, ice melts at moderate temperature and lastly
the terrestrial materials like silicon, magnesium, and iron melt at higher
temperatures. Table 12.3 shows the relative abundances of various elements in the solar system bodies. It is clear that Jupiter and Saturn were
formed mostly of the original solar material like the Sun, while Uranus,
Neptune and Comets were formed in the colder regions which account for
the icy material. Therefore, probably comets were formed beyond Saturn.
Additional evidence for the low formation temperature of T 35 K,
comes from the observation of S2 in comets. Additional support comes
from the study of ortho and para ratio of H2 O, NH3 and CH4 in comets
which indicate the temperature of formation of ice 35 K. Thus there are
several observational results which seem to show that comets are formed

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Table 12.3
Elements

Gaseous

Icy

Earthy

H
He
C
N
O
Mg
Si
Fe
etc.

393

Relative abundances of atoms by mass in the solar system.

Sun

Terrestrial
planets and
meteorites

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus, Neptune
and comets

1.0

Trace

0.9

0.7

Trace

0.015

Trace

0.1

0.3

0.85

0.0025

1.0

Trace

Trace

0.15

Whipple, F.L. 1972. In Motion, Evolution of Oribits and Origin of Comets eds.
Chebotarev, G.A. Kazimirchaka-Polonskaya, E.I. and Marsden, B.G. Dordrecht:
D. Reidel Publishing Company, p. 401.

far from the Sun and in the cooler regions of the solar nebula, placing them
beyond Uranus-Neptune zone, possibly the Kuiper belt.
In this connection it is interesting to note that Oort had proposed early
on that asteroid belt could be the source region for the long-period comets.
It was Kuiper who was the first to propose that due to the icy nature of
the comet, they are more likely to be formed in the region of orbits of giant
planets, a concept that has withstood over time.
The ejection of minor bodies appears to be a natural consequence of the
accumulation process of giant planets. Due to gravitational perturbations
of various planets, the orbit of some of these bodies can detach themselves
from the bound system. Monte Carlo simulations have demonstrated clearly
that such mechanisms can be present in the system. The results of such
calculations have shown that the planets tend to eject icy planetesimals
from their present zones to eccentric long period orbits with semi-major axis
103 AU. At these distances the perturbations due to stellar and galactic
sources tend to be important to push the orbits further into the region of
the Oort cloud and thus detaching them away from the zone of influence
of planetary perturbations. This can finally lead to a cloud with more
comets at its centre compared to its outer region, similar to the Oort cloud.
A typical result of the Monte Carlo calculations for the assumed initial
hypothetical comet distribution confined to the ecliptic plane is shown in
Fig. 12.4. They show the expected distribution in the plane perpendicular
to the plane of the Galaxy for different times. The comets are more or less

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randomized both in eccentricity and inclination in a time period of around

4.5 109 years and for distances beyond around 104 AU. It is also found
that relatively more icy planetesimals are ejected out of Uranus-Neptune
region compared to Jupiter-Saturn region. The dynamical calculations,
thus indicate that the Oort cloud can be produced as a natural by-product
of the various processes that could take place in the solar system during its
lifetime.

Fig. 12.4 The results of dynamical evolution of a cloud of comets ejected from UranusNeptune zone are shown projected onto a plane perpendicular to the galactic plane for
several time intervals. The dotted circle with a radius of 2 104 AU separates the inner
and outer Oort clouds (Duncan, M., Quinn, T. and Tremaine, S. 1987. AJ, 94, 1330).

The best way to study the structure of the Oort cloud is to directly
image the comets and make a statistical analysis. This is still a long dream
as the object would have a magnitude 42 in the inner region 3000 AU
and 60 magnitudes at around 20,000 AU in the Oort cloud that it will not

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be possible to detect them in the forceable future. It is possible in principle

to detect objects in the inner regions of the Oort cloud through occultation
of stars. This is again a long term goal. Therefore the only method that is
available at the present time is to study the orbital distribution of known
comets for inferring the structure of the Oort cloud. This is again a difficult
proposition as many new comets may not come within 10 AU of the sun
due to Jupiter, which can deflect many of them.
Until a few years ago the detection of objects in the Kuiper belt (
40 AU) was a distant dream. But not any more as several hundred objects
known as Kuiper belt objects have been detected. In the same spirit the
objects will be looked for in the inner region of the Oort cloud with the
hope of finding some in the not too distant future.
Although the presence of the Oort cloud is well-founded, questions pertaining to its origin, physics, dynamics, structure and stability are still
uncertain. One method to get some idea of the age of the cloud is through
the study of the isotopic ratios of elements. The 12 C/13 C ratio available
for comets indicates a ratio of about 100. This ratio is more like the solar
system value (89) rather than the average value of about 40 to 80 of the interstellar material (Chap. 5). This seems to show that comets were formed
out of the solar nebula material about 5 billion years ago.
Dynamical studies which take into account the various perturbations indicate that the Oort cloud can account for the observed long period comets.
The perturbation of the Oort cloud due to the encounter with Giant molecular cloud and galactic tidal force is found to be important, in addition to
planetary encounters and passing stars. The passage of a perturber close
to the Oort cloud can give rise to shower of comets. It can have severe
effect on the Earths environment, as revealed by the interpretation of geophysical, biological and terrestrial records. The formation of short period
comets from long period comets through diffusion process in the solar system has some difficulties, including accounting for the observed number
of short period comets. This has led to the hypothesis that the source of
short period comets may lie beyond the orbit of Neptune between 30 and
50 AU, probably the remnant of the non-accumulated material. This region
is generally known as Kuiper belt. As ejection of minor bodies appears to
be a natural consequence of the accumulation process of Giant planets, this
process could have been responsible for accumulation of comets during the
lifetime of solar system in the region of space, where one now finds the Oort
cloud.

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12.4.

Physics of Comets

Taxonomy

The general scenario that emerges from the study of origin of comets
is that, icy planetesimals (comet nuclei) reside mostly in the two regions
of the solar system, namely Kuiper - Edgeworth Belt and Oort cloud(OC).
The OC comets are the ones ejected from the giant - planet region of the
solar nebula (530 AU). OC comets include long period comets and dynamically new comets. The Jupiter-family of comets (short period and
Halley-type, JFCs) originate from Kuiper-Edgeworth Belt (>30 AU). Dynamical studies indicate that comets present in the Oort cloud originated
roughly in equal proportion from each giant planet and the Kuiper belt.
These studies have also shown the possibility of radial transport of material
inward and outward of giant - planet region during the formation period of
comets. During this time the nebular temperature was around 200 K near
Jupiter (5 AU) and around 30 K near Neptune (30 AU). These studies
indicate that JFCs should have been formed at lower temperature environment compared to those of long period comets. Therefore there would be
variation in chemical composition among these classes of comets as well as
differences in the same group. Therefore the study of the chemical composition of comets should give information on the proto-solar nebula chemistry
and in turn on the processes that could have taken place in the early solar
nebula.
The study of the molecular composition of volatiles in comets has helped
a great deal in this regard. The molecular composition of a large number
of comets derived from observations in the radio region has clearly shown a
wide variation in the observed chemical composition among comets. Table
12.4 give the average volatile composition of five OC comets which differ substantially from that of OC Comet 1999S4(LINEAR). The Comet
C/1999S4(LINEAR) is really an unusual comet. It is possible that the five
comets which have similar composition, except CO and CH4 , were formed
in the low temperature region, probably formed beyond 30AU from the sun,
while Comet S4(LINEAR) could have formed around 510 AU.
Extensive compositional surveys have been carried out on a large number of comets. One such survey relates to the study of the production rates
of C2 , C3 , OH, NH and CN in a homogeneous data set of 85 comets. It contained 39 Jupiter-family comets 8 Halley-type comets 8 dynamically new
comets and 27 long-period comets. Although the overall chemical com-

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Table 12.4

397

Composition of Oort cloud comets.

Comets

CO

CH4

C2 H2

C2 H6

HCN

CH3 OH

Average of
5 cometsa

1.8-17

0.5-1.5

0.2-0.3

0.6

0.2-0.3

LINEAR

0.9 0.3

0.18 0.06

<0.12

0.110.02

0.100.03

<0.15

a: Comets Lee, Hale-Bopp, Hyakutake, Ikeya-Zhang, McNaught-Hartley

Adapted from Mumma, M.J. et al. 2003, Adv. Space Res., 31, 2563.

position was similar in these comets, there was significant compositional

grouping of comets likely to be related to their place of formation. In particular, there was a depletion of production rate ratio of C2 /CN (carbon-chain
molecules) in a large number of short period comets belonging to Jupiterfamily. This led to the classification of comets into two groups called,
comets with typical mean values of C2 /CN ratio (0.06 0.10) and comets
with depleted abundance ratio of C2 /CN (-0.61 0.35). The results of
these studies also indicated that approximately one-half of Jupiter-family
of comets belongs to a typical class, while the rest of the comets belong
to the depleted class with varying degree of C2 /CN ratio. This has given
rise to a new terminology Comet Taxonomy in which comets are distinguished based on their carbon-chain production ratio, C2 /CN, as typical
or depleted. Most likely the depleted comets originate in the Kuiper belt.
This has direct relevance to the long standing question whether all or part
of Jupiter-family of comets come from the Kuiper belt. The depletion of
C2 /CN in some comets is attributed to primordial rather than due to evolutionary effect as no correlation with dynamical age was seen.
There are other types of observations which have direct bearing on the
primordial chemical composition of the solar nebula and in turn on the
formation sites of comets.
Deep Impact studies of Comet Tempel 1 and the studies of Stardust
samples of Comet Wild 2 have provided detailed mineralogical content of
dust particles in these comets. The presence of crystalline silicate and calcium - and aluminium - rich inclusions (CAIs) in the dust particles indicate
that they must have been formed at higher temperatures 1400 K or so.
Therefore these dust particles are believed to have been formed in the hotter and hence in the inner regions of the solar nebula. Since these dust
particles came from the icy comet that was formed in the Kuiper belt (outskirts of the solar system), this require mixing of material from the inner
regions of the solar system with that of Kuiper belt region.

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The enhancement of D,12 C13 C and 15 N13 C seen in the dust particles
from comets indicate that cometary material contain presolar material.
Therefore there is also mix of solar system material with that of interstellar and proto-stellar material. All these studies could provide clues to
the place of origin of comets in the solar system. They could also help in
the understanding of the physical processes that led to larger scale mixing in the solar nebula. These studies could in turn provide important
information with regard to the origin and evolution of the solar system.
12.5.

Summary

Oort showed from the study of 19 comets, the existence of gravitationally bound spherical cloud of comets at distances larger than 104 AU,
called the Oort cloud. The comets in the Oort cloud are perturbed by
various forces which make them leave the system. Some of them are captured by the solar system and it can account for the observed long period
comets. The formation of Oort cloud is by the accumulation of icy planetesimals ejected from the giant-planet region ( 530 AU). This is a natural
outcome of the various processes that could have taken place in the solar
system during its life time.
The diffusion process of long period comets in the solar system cannot
explain the observed number of short period comets. Therefore short period
comets is believed to come from a different source (>30 AU) called Kuiper
Belt. Large number of objects in this region, called Kuiper Belt objects
(KBOs) have been seen whose characteristics are similar to those of Juipter
family of comets. Therefore the general picture at the present time is that,
long period comets comes from the spherical distribution of the Oort cloud,
Halley type comets comes from the inner flattened region of the Oort cloud
and Jupiter family of comets comes from the Kuiper Belt. Therefore comets
are formed in the colder regions of the solar system which account for the
icy material. There is also evidence for the large scale mixing of the material
between inner and outer regions of the solar nebula.
Problems
1. How can one say from the appearance of a comet in the sky whether it
is a new comet coming from the first time or whether it is one which
has already been seen?

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2. What is Jupiters family of comets? What is the most probable origin

of these comets?
3. Is there any evidence that the Oort cloud was formed about 5 109
years ago? Can you think of some other process by which the Oort
cloud be of more recent origin, formed some 106 to 107 years ago?
4. Is there any way to test observationally the existence of the Oort cloud?

References
The basic idea of the cloud of comets is from the classic paper
1. Oort, J. 1950. Bull. Astr. Inst. Netherlands 11, 91.
Other relevant paper
2. Kaib, N.A. and Quinn, T. 2009. Science, 325, 1234.
Earlier references to the cometary clouds can be found in
3. Opik, E. 1932. Proc. Am. Acad. Arts and Sciences, 67, 169.
The best book on the origin of Comets is the following:
4. Bailey, M.E., Clube, S.V.M. and Napier, W.M. 1990. The origin of
Comets. Pergaman Press.
A good account of several aspects are given in the following papers:
5. Dones, L., Weissman, P.R., Levison, H.F. et al. 2005. In Comets,
Eds. M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and H.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press,
Tucson, p. 153.
6. Morbidelli, A. and Brown, M.E. 2005. In Comets, eds. M.C. Festou,
H.U. Keller and H.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, p. 175.
Papers pertaining to KBOs: First Detection
7. Jewitt and Luu, J. 1993. Nature, 362, 730.
The following paper may be referred for a good summary
8. Barucci, M.A., Doressoundiram and Cruikshank, D.P. 2005. In Comets,
Eds. M.C. Festou, H.U. Keller and H.A. Weaver, Univ. Arizona Press,
Tucson, p. 647.
For a discussion pertaining to Taxonomy see also Section 6.6

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CHAPTER 13

Relation to Other Solar System

Studies

Comets appear to have a close relationship with other objects of the

solar system like asteroids and meteorites. The meteor streams which often
appear in the sky are also believed to come out of the cometary material.
The study of the nature and composition of dust particles collected at high
altitudes through rockets and satellites indicates that they could be of extraterrestrial origin and are generally associated with comets. In recent
years comets have also attracted great attention in view of their possible
impact on the life of our planet. This has come about basically from the observation that the complex molecules of various kinds appear to be present
in the nuclei of comets. This in turn is related to the chemical composition
of the primordial material of the solar system. We would like to elucidate
some of these aspects here.
13.1.

Asteroids

The minor planets of the solar system were classified as objects having
dimensions less than Pluto. The Ceres which was discovered in 1801 was
classified as a minor planet. This was followed by the discoveries of other
minor planets called Pallas in 1802, Juno in 1804 and Vesta in 1807 and so
on. However, these objects turned out to be far fainter than expected as
their orbits are closer than Jupiters distance. It was realized that these are
of different kind of objects. Hence, minor planets are also called asteroids.
The largest concentration of asteroids is in the range of 2 to 3.5 AU, placing
them between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. This is generally called the
asteroid belt. There are two other minor concentrations of asteroids known
as Hildas and Trojans which are located at distances of around 4 and 5 AU
respectively. It is estimated that more than around 100,000 asteroids have
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been seen at least once. The computed orbits are accurately known for
a large number of asteroids. The period for most of the asteroids is in
the range of around 3 to 6 years. They revolve round the Sun in the same
direction as the principal planets. Most of them have orbits which lie nearly
in the plane of the Earths orbit and the average inclination is about 10 .
The average eccentricity of the orbits is around 0.15 with sharp cut offs on
either side.
Observing the light curve, it is possible to determine the rotation period
and shape of asteroids. The rotation period of most of the asteroids is of
the order of a few hours. For example the rotation period of Eros 5h
17m and that of Juno 7h 13m . The deduced mean geometrical albedo
of asteroids is rather low, 0.05 which implies that they are extremely
dark objects. The diameter of asteroids can vary from the lower set limit of
about 100 meters to about 1000 km as seen in the case of Ceres. Most of the
asteroids are found to be extremely irregular in shape. This indicates that
they were most probably produced out of the break up of some parent body.
In addition, the collisions of asteroids within the belt is quite frequent and
this leads to erosion and fragmentation.
Since 1965, space missions such as, the Mariner Series, the Vikings and
the Hubble space telescope have been used for the study of asteroids. The
two Martian satellites, Phobos and Deimos, two likely captured asteroids
have been studied in great detail. They are found to be approximately
elliptical in shape with radii of 13.5 10.8 9.4 km and 7.5 6.2 5.4
km respectively. The mass of Phobos derived from the perturbations of the
spacecraft is around 1.3 1019 gm. The estimated average density of Phobos and Deimos is around 2.0 gm/cm3 and the geometric albedo 0.06.
High resolution observations have shown many surface features, including
large craters. More recent spacecraft missions which passed by closer to
asteroids have given detailed information about their shapes, sizes and surface features. Table 13.1 gives a list of some of the spacecraft missions to
asteroids. The NEAR-shoemaker spacecraft after circling the asteroid 433
Eros for a year landed finally on this asteroid. The ultraviolet observations
carried out with satellites on a large number of asteroids show that the geometrical albedo decreases towards shorter wavelengths. For example, the
geometric albedo for Ceres at wavelengths 4300 and 2600
A is about 0.031
and 0.023 respectively. It is seen that the albedo of asteroids seem to be
almost in the same range as that of cometary nuclei.

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Table 13.1

comets

403

Spacecraft to asteroids.

Spacecraft

Name of the
asteroid

Diamension of
the asteroids
(diameter, km)

Remarks

Galileo

Gaspara

19 12 11

243 Ida Dactyl

56 24 21

Craters present,
S-type
Craters present,
S-type

253 Mathilda

52

433 Eros
(NEA asteroid)

34 13 13

Deep space 1

9969 Braille

2.1 1 1

Detected magnatic
field

Stardust

5535 Annefrank

6.6 5.0 3.4

Hayabusha

NEA 25143
Itokawa

0.5

Appear angular,
flat surfaces
Exhibit rocks
and boulders, smooth
areas, no impact
craters

NEAR-Shoemaker

Large craters
present, density
1.3g/cm3
C-type
Craters present
density 2.7g/cm3
S-type, landed on
Feb. 12, 2001

Infrared observations have given information about the surface composition of asteroids through the detection of characteristic bands of minerals.
The relative abundances of silicates like olivine, pyroxene, feldspar and so
on has been determined. Most of them fall broadly into two types with
respect to their chemical composition: the C type, the darkest asteroids
due to the presence of carbonaceous material and the S type which has silicates like olivine and pyroxene. The C type asteroids are more numerous
comprising around 60% of the observed asteroids.
The emission spectra of Trojan asteroid (624) Hektor is compared with
the spectra of cometary dust in Fig. 13.1. This emission spectra is similar
to the spectra of Comets Hale-Bopp and Schwassman-Wachmann.
The origin of asteroids is still not known but they could be of cometary
origin. The short-period comets after many revolutions could become inactive as most of the volatiles would have vapourized. Depending on the
presence or absence of volatiles, comets are called Dormant (the volatiles
are not coming out due to mantle formation) or Extinct (when volatiles

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Fig. 13.1 Comparison of the emission spectrum in the wavelength range of 5 to 40 m

of Comets Hale-Bopp and Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 with a Trojan asteroid Hektor.
There is similarity between them (Fernandez, Y.R. et al. 2007. In Asteroids, Comets
and Meteors, IAU Symposium 229, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 121).

have evaporated). Such residual nuclei of comets are indistinguishable from

those of asteroids. There are two other suggestions with regard to the origin of asteroids and are found in the belt itself. The irregular shape of the
asteroids indicates that they were produced due to the break up of some
parent body at its present location. There is the other possibility that the
material that exists in the present location, is the material that could not
have accreted into a planet due to some reason.
There are a number of asteroids with large orbital eccentricities and
they are found to come regularly to the Earth. Their perihelion lies interior
to Earths aphelion and are called Apollo objects, named after the first
object of this kind to be discovered. There is another class of asteroids
which includes those which have somewhat larger orbits with perihelion of
around 1.02 to 1.3 AU and are called Amor objects. In general these two
populations are not fundamentally different from each other and are often
called with a single population as Earth-approaching Apollo-Amor objects.
The mean dynamical life time of Earth-crossing objects is 107 to 108 yrs,
which is short compared to the age of the solar system. Therefore there
should be a constant source of these objects. Dynamical simulations have

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shown that the orbit of comets can evolve into asteroid orbits. Therefore
some of the asteroids can be extinct or dormant comets. It is likely that
the Earth-crossing asteroids are old and non-active comets. In fact, the
traditional distinction between asteroids and comets is becoming nebulous
at the present time, as some of the asteroids with comet like orbits could
be dormant comets. There are some asteroids which appear to be parent
objects to some meteor streams, for example the orbit of (3200) Phaeton
coincides with that of the Geminid Stream.
There could be comets which orbit in the main asteroid belt. An interesting example of this type is the Shoemaker-Levy 9 prior to its capture
by Jupiter. Before it was captured by Jupiter, it was located in the Hilda
asteroid zone. There could be other comets, in the Hilda group of asteroids.
The object 2060 Chiron discovered in 1977 was classified as an asteroid.
It has an orbital period of 51 years and eccentricity of 0.38. It has a semimajor axis of 13.7 AU which lies in between Saturn and Neptune. Suddenly
in 1988, brightness variations were seen and coma was formed and it was
detected. The emission bands of CN were also detected in 1990. Extensive
observations of this object indicated that Chiron is a comet. Calculations
based on the cometary nucleus model as discussed earlier (see Sec. 11.2)
can explain the observed out-gassing and indicated that it will last for a
long period of time.
The asteroid 4015 is an interesting object in which a comet nucleus has
become an asteroidal object. This object was discovered in 1979 and was
classified as an asteroid. When the accurate orbit of this object became
available, it was possible to identify an object during its earlier time in its
orbit. The object which had the same orbit as that of asteroid 4015 and
was identified in the Palomer sky survey images taken in 1949 was actually
a comet and called Wilson-Harrington. It had plasma tail at that time.
This is an example of a comet turning into an asteroid. This is now called
4015 Wilson-Harrington.
The other example is the object 7968 Elst-Pizarro (133/E-P) which
resides in the main asteroid belt but show recurrent comet-like activity,
such as showing temporary dust tail etc. The cause of such activity could
be that volatile regions may be located near one of the rotational poles of the
nucleus. When this region tilts towards sun, it is exposed to solar radiation.
This sublimes volatiles leading to comet-like activities. The cases of such
unusual behaviour could arise from population of asteroid-comet transition
objects. Therefore there may be large number of comets posing as asteroids
in the asteroidal belt. They could be there in dormant or extinct state. It

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is difficult to identify these objects. Even though cometary nuclei contain

much more ice than asteroids, it is likely that evolved comets may have
many characteristics similar to asteroids.
These studies seem to indicate that whether the volatiles are present or
not depend upon the dynamical life time, life time for the volatile component to disappear and on the processes that could have taken place inside
the nucleus. Hence, depending upon these factors it is possible to have
different situations.
Binaries
The search for satellites of asteroids (if any) dates back to 1801 and it
had been an unsuccessful one. The serendipitous discovery of a satellite
around the asteroid 243 Ida came from the images taken by the Galileo
spacecraft when the spacecraft visited 243 Ida in 1993. The satellite called
Dactyl is about 1.5 km across and orbits Ida at a distance of approximately
85 km with a period of 1.5 days. Both Ida and Dactyl are S - type asteroids.
This led to the detection of satellites around a large number of asteroids.
The advantage of a binary system is that it is possible to derive the system
mass from the observation of their orbits. But in practice it is rather
difficult to calculate the orbits because the data is limited. Hence the
orbits and the masses have been determined for a small number of binary
asteroids. For example, the estimated mass of (87) Sylvia, the main belt
asteroid, is around 14.78 109 kg and that of 243 Ida is around 0.042
109 kg. In the main belt the dominant process for the formation of
binaries is through collisions. Numerical simulations have shown that after
collision the fragment may be captured or the fragment may be re-accreted
around the remnant primary. The asteroid Sylvia has been found to be
a triplet system. Numerical simulations have shown that collisions can
produce triplets as well as binaries.

13.2.

Meteorites

The meteorites are extra-terrestrial bodies which survive the passage

through Earths atmosphere and fall to the ground. This is generally accompanied by a flash of light in the Earths atmosphere like that of a meteor.
Only the largest objects of some several tens of meters in diameter create
large impact craters when they hit the ground. Large number of meteorites
are known at the present time. Relatively more meteorites are found in

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Antartica as they are preserved over long periods of time. It is possible

that due to the fragmentation of the body as it passes through the Earths
atmosphere, it may be scattered over hundreds of kilometers on the Earth.
Since early times, meteorites have been studied extensively as they were
shown to be extra-terrestrial in origin. Also, these are only extra-terrestrial
objects that were available for laboratory investigation for a long time.
Large number of meteorites have been studied over the years with regards
to their structure, morphology, chemical composition, origin etc. The two
meteorites of particular interest are the Murchison and Allende meteorites.
Murchison meteorite fell near Murchison in Australia in September 1969.
Allende meteorite fell near Pueblito de Allende in Maxico in February 1969.
Since Murchison and Allende meteorites were very large in , large amount
of material were available for laboratory investigation. Hence extensive investigations of various kinds were carried out in the laboratory on these two
meteorites. The great advantage being the material from these meteorites
were picked up soon after their fall and hence the contamination is minimal.
A detailed analysis of the chemical and mineralogical composition of
several meteorites indicate that they can broadly be classified into three
groups. They are iron, stony-rion and stony meteorites (Table 13.2). The
iron meteorites are essentially pieces of metal containing Fe-Ni alloy. The
Stony-iron contains mixture of stony material and metallic iron. The stony
meteorite consists of mostly silicate type of material (They are generally
mistaken for terrestrial rocks). Stony meteorites are further classified into
two types, chondrites and achondrites. The most common form of stony
meteorite is the ordinary chondrite in which mm size spheroidal globules
called chondrules are present. Chondrules are essentially silicate mineral
assemblages which had an independent existence prior to the formation of
the meteorite. The sub-group in chondrites is called carbonaceous chondrites which are darker stones containing relatively high carbon content.
They are also well known for having mm sized refractory inclusions (CaAl-rich inclusions). The mineralogy in dominated by oxides and silicates.
The stony meteorite without chondrites are called achondrites and are relatively rare. The chondrites have a composition which is similar to that of
the photosphere of the sun, for all but the most volatile elements. This suggest that chondrites are the materials that formed at the same time as the
sun from the solar nebula and since then, they have undergone very minimal chemical modification. The idea of primitive character of chondritic
meteorites is also strengthened by their radiometric age, which is roughly
the age of the solar system. On the other hand, achondrites differ in com-

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position considerably from that of the sun. The percentage fall of these
types of meteorites are around 94% stony (chondrites, 86%; achondrites,
8%), 5% iron and 1% stony-iron.

Table 13.2

Main meteoritic groups.

Group

Main Characterization

Main Components

Iron meteorites

More than 90% metal

Nickel-Iron

Stony meteorites:

More than 75% stony material

(i) chondrites

chondrules

Silicates, solar
in composition except
volatile elements

(ii) Achondrites

No chondrules

Silicates, differ
from solar
composition

Olivine in Fe-Ni
alloy network

Olivine, metal

silicate and metal

grown together

silicate, metal

Stony-Iron meteorites:
(i) Pallasites
(ii) Mesosiderites

Meteorites are classified into two groups depending on their presumed

origin. They are called as Primitive meteorites and Differentiated meteorites. The primitive meteorites are not subjected to high temperature and
high pressure environment. Therefore the material remain the same from
the time of formation. However differentiated meteorites contain highly
processed material as a result of internal heating. They could also be the
fragments of differentiated parent bodies. Most of the stony meteorites are
primitive. Iron and stony-iron are differentiated meteorites. Most likely,
the iron must have originated from the metallic core of the parent body
and stony-iron must have come from the layers between the core and the
mantle composed of silicate materials. This is possible if the bodies in the
asteroid belt could differentiate and due to collisions many of them could
be fragmented.
Large number of minerals of various types has been identified in meteorites. The important minerals are olivine and pyroxene. The sulphide in
chondrites is almost always FeS(troilite). In addition a variety of organics

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have been identified in Murchison meteorite. Several of these are common

with biological systems
Presolar Grains
Interesting results came out of the study of anomalous isotopic composition of several elements in meteorites. These anomalies have been seen
mostly in inclusions. Here the isotopic anomalies refer to values in comparison to that of average solar system isotopic composition for a given
element. In particular, the noble gases are so rare, any deviation from the
average value can be quite significant.
It is hard to explain these observed isotopic anomalies in terms of the
local production mechanisms such as irradiation, mass fractionation process
or known radioactive decay. Hence, these anomalies represent materials
(grains) injected into the solar system from nucleosynthetic sites. These
are generally called as presolar grains.
Presolar grains detected in meteorites are mostly carbon bearing,
namely diamond, graphite and silicon carbide (Table 13.3). Diamond particles are more abundant than those of presolar graphite and SiC particles.
The isotopic ratio of 12 C/13 C determined from single SiC grains has values
around 40 to 70 (Fig. 13.2). Spherical graphite grains show variation in
12
C/13 C ratio of around 2 to 6000 as compared to the solar value of 89
(Fig. 13.2).
The source of some of the presolar diamond particles could be supernovae (Table 13.3). This comes from the fact that Xe isotopes 134 Xe, 136 Xe
and 124 Xe, 126 Xe present in diamonds is produced by the r -and p - processes
respectively. The presence of isotopic signature of s - process elements in
SiC grains suggest that around 99% could arise from AGB stars. The rest
of 1% SiC grains called X - grains appear to have come from supernova
ejecta. Isotopic abundances of carbon in presolar spherical graphite particles has indicated the complexity of the grain in showing that contributions
can come from various stellar sources such as Wolf-Rayet stars, supernova,
AGB (Asymptotic Giant Branch) atmospheres etc. This can be seen from
the distribution in 12 C/13 C ratio as shown in Fig. 13.2.
Figure 13.3 shows a section of a spherical grain from the Murchison
meteorite. It shows clearly the presence of a TiC at its centre. It is clear
that TiC must have acted as a nucleus for the graphite to condense. The
spherical graphite grain with TiC at its centre clearly indicates that it

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Fig. 13.2 Shows the distribution of the isotopic ratio 12 C/13 C in the atmosphere of
Carbon Stars and presolar SiC and graphite grains seen in meteorites. The dashed line
refers to the solar system value of 89. The source of presolar SiC grains is consistent
with that of carbon stars. The presolar graphite grains appear to come from various
sources (Whittet, D.C.B. 2003. Dust in the Galactic Environment, Institute of Physics
Publishing, Bristol).

is presolar graphite grain. It must have originated from a carbon star.

Presolar oxide grains have also been identified in meteorites. PAHs have
been detected in samples of Allende and Murchison meteorites. Many of
the meteorites show enhanced D/H and 15 N/14 N ratios in bulk samples.
The primary carrier of these anomalous ratios are the organic compounds.
FeS grains in meteorites are also presolar in origin. Oxide grains are
likely to have been produced in oxygen-rich environment. Hence, pre-solar
grains formed in a distant environment could have been incorporated into
the solar nebular material with normal isotopic composition, out of which

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Table 13.3

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411

Presolar grains detected in meteorites.

Composition

Diameter (m)

Origin

C(diamond)
SiC
C(graphite)
SiC (type X)
Al2 O3 (corundum)
Si3 N4

0.002
0.3 - 20
1 - 20
1-5
0.5 - 3
1

SN
AGB, Nova
AGB, SNII, Nova
SN
RG,AGB
SN II

Hoppe, P.M. and Zinner, E. 2000. J. Geophys. Res., 105,

10371: Reproduced by permission of American Geophysical Union.

the planetary bodies of the solar system were formed. The volatiles of the
pre-solar inclusions could have been lost during the process of accretion
into the bodies.
Comets can in principle, explain the origin of primitive meteorites, but
not the processed mateorites which have gone through thermal evolution.
Hence fragements of asteroids may be a better source of observed meteorites.
The similarity between the meteorites and asteriods comes primarily
from their composition, which is reflected in their emission spectrum of
these objects. Figure 13.4 shows the emission spectrum of Trojan asteroid Hektor and two meteorites ALH 77003 and Tagish Lake. There is a
great similarity between Hektor and Comets Hale-Bopp and SchwassmannWachmann 1. These studies indicate that C type asteroids could possibly
be the source of carbonaceous chondrites while S type asteroids may be the
source of some stony meteorites.

13.3.

Meteor Streams

Another interesting aspect, presumably associated with the cometary

dust particles, is the meteor showers seen in the sky. The small particles
comprising the meteor streams revolve round the Sun, producing meteor
showers whenever their orbit crosses the Earth orbit. They are actually
made visible as they burn away in the Earths atmosphere. Many of the
meteor showers are seen regularly at specific times of the year (Fig. 13.5).
The most spectacular display in the sky ever recorded is that of the Leonid
meteors which were seen in the month of November of 1833. In a span of
a few hours, roughly about 20,000 meteors appear to have been seen. At

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Fig. 13.3 A transmission electron micrograph of a thin section of presolar graphite grain
from Murchison meteorite. The long nucleus at its centre is in TiC crystal of 0.07 m in
size. This must have acted as a nucleation centre for graphite to condense (Bernatowicz,
T.J. 1997, In From Stardust to planetesimals, eds. Pendleton Y.J. and Tielens A.G.G.M.,
ASP Conf. Ser., 122, p. 227: By kind permission of the Astronomical society of the
Pacific Conference services).

the present time several hundred meteor streams exist in the solar system.
What is of interest of course is the orbital characteristics of these meteors.
From the observed direction and velocity, it is possible to get the orbit of
the individual meteors in the Swarm.
It has been found that the elements of orbits of many of the meteor

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Fig. 13.4 Comparison of the emissivity in the wavelength range 5 to 40 m of two

meteorites ALH 77003 and Tagish Lake with the Trojan asteroid Hektor. There is
similarity in the curves (Emery, J.P., Cruikshank, D.P. and van Cleve, J. 2006. Icarus,
182, 496).

showers are very similar to those of the orbits of the known comets. In
1866, Schiaparelli showed that the Perseids shower had the same orbit as
the Comet Swift-Tuttle. The showers Eta Aquarids and Orionids have the
same orbit as Comet Halley and can be seen during the months of May and
October. Of course, not all the meteor showers have been identified with
the individual comets. Conversely, not all the known comets are associated
with the corresponding meteor streams. Since the association between the
two is well established only for a few cases out of a large number of known
comets (Table 13.4) and meteor streams, at first sight these results might
cast some doubt on the real association between the two. This could arise
partly due to inaccuracies in the measured parameters of the orbit of the
meteor stream. A more important reason could be that the dynamical
evolution of the meteor stream could have modified the orbit such that it is
different from that of the parent comet. Therefore a simple comparison of
the two orbits may not be appropriate. On the other hand, the position of
the perihelion of the comet and the meteor shower is a better indication of
the real association as has been shown to be true for a large number of cases.
Therefore, on a closer examination, the association between the comets and

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Fig. 13.5 A typical hourly rate of meteors seen throughout the year as observed by
the Ottawa Meteor radar. The top figure represents total echo count and the bottom
curve is for echos having duration 8 secs. The peaks represent showers corresponding
to Q (Quadrantid), Y(Lyrid), E( Aquarid), AZ (Arietid-Zeta-Perseid Complex), D(
Aquarid), P (Perseid), O (Orionid), L(Leonid), G(Geminid) and U(Ursid) (McIntosh,
B.A. 1991. Comets in post-Halley Eta, eds. R.L. Newburn, Jr., Kluwer Academic
Publishers, p 557).

the meteor showers seems to be real. Let us first examine the formation
of a Swarm of particles from a comet in a qualitative manner. The dust
particles coming out of the nucleus are carried away by the gas. Since
the flow of the dust from the nucleus is maximum near about the time of
perihelion passage, it is also the place where most of the dust is introduced
into the meteor stream. Each of these dust particles becomes independent
and the orbit of these particles differs from that of a comet. The orbit of the
dust particles depends upon its velocity and the effect of radiation pressure.
This varies with the size of the particles and their physical properties. Very
small size particles are blown out of the system. The particles both lead and
lag behind the comet and eventually lead to a continuous belt within a few
revolutions of the period of the comet. The various particles in the meteor
stream are subjected to various dispersive and degenerative effects, like
gravitational perturbation by the planets, collisions and radiation pressure
and so on. Therefore the orbit of these particles evolves into orbits which
are difficult to predict. This may result in the orbit of particles in the
meteor stream quite different from that of the orbit of the parent body. In
fact the perturbations could disrupt the orbits of the particles such that it
may make them sway away for crossing the Earths orbit. This can possibly

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explain rather poor association between the comets and the meteor showers.
But from the good correlation between the perihelion, it can be inferred
that the meteor streams are of cometary origin.

Table 13.4

Comets and their associated showers.

Comet

Associated shower

period of
visibility

1P/Halley

Aquarids
Orionids
Perseids
Draconids
Leonids
Ursids
Lyrids

April 19 - May 28
Oct.2- Nov.7
July 17 - Aug.24
Oct 6 - 10
Nov 14 - 21
Dec 17 - 26
April 16 - 25

109P/Swift-Tuttle
21P/Giacobini-Zinner
55P/Tempel-Tuttle
8P/Tuttle
1861 G1

It is interesting to see from Fig. 13.5 that some profiles have two maxima and others have one. This could be related to the fact that the orbital
parameters of the particles released from the comet before and after perihelion passage could differ slightly, which is a function of the mass and
ejection velocity of the particles. This difference increases with time possibly leading to two streams close to each other.
A very interesting study pertains to Comet Tempel-Tuttle and its associated Leonid meteor streams covering the meteor data over the period 902
to 1969. The comet and the meteor showers have roughly the same period
of about 33 years. The comet itself does not appear to have been observed
prior to 1366, although the Leonid meteors have been recorded even upto
the year 902 A.D. From the presently known orbit of the Comet TempelTuttle, the orbit could be extrapolated backwards in time and the dates
around which the meteor showers must have taken place can be calculated.
A comparison of the calculated and the observed dates for the period between 902 to 1997 is shown in Table 13.5. The agreement between the two
suggests that most of the particles of Leonid showers are from the Comet
Tempel-Tuttle.

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Table 13.5 Computed and observed dates of Leonid
Meteor Showers.
Computed
(Based on Tempel-Tuttle orbit)

Shower maximum
time (observed)

902 Oct 12.7

1035 Oct 13.2
1202 Oct 18.7
1366 Oct 22.4
1538 Oct 25.0
1625 Nov 7.5
1799 Nov 12.5
1866 Nov 13.7
1900 Nov 15.7
1932 Nov 16.5
1969 Nov 17.0
1997 Nov 17.4

Oct 13
Oct 14
Oct 18
Oct 21,22,23
Oct 26
Nov 4,5,6
Nov 11,12
Nov 14.1
Nov 15-16
Nov 16-17
Nov 17.4

Yeomans, D.K. 1981. Icarus 47, 492.

13.4.

Particles Collected at High Altitudes

Particle collection at high altitudes of the Earths atmosphere is another way of studying extraterrestrial dust particles and their possible origin. Various methods have been used for the collection of particles based
on recoverable rockets, balloons and aircraft. These particles are generally called Interplanetary dust particles (IDPs). The extensive collection
of IDPs from the rarefied air in the stratosphere is carried out with NASA
U2 aircraft, which flies at a height of about 20 km. The particles collected
from these flights are subjected to a thorough laboratory investigation, not
only to isolate the terrestrial contamination but also to study the morphological, structural and chemical properties of individual IDPs, in spite of
their small size. Large number of the particles can be attributed either
to rocket exhaust or to other known particle types. Many other particles
cannot be explained as contamination from known causes and they could
be extraterrestrial in origin. Roughly all these particles can be classified
into three categories; 60% as chondritic, 30% as iron-sulfur-nickel and 10%
as mafic silicate types. The chondritic particles are aggregates of small size
grains of about 1000
A. The size of the particles varies from 4 to 25. The
grains are highly porous as well as compact. The elemental abundances
of Fe, Mg, Si, C, S, Ca, Ni, Al, Cr, Mn and Ti in the first category of
particles are in close agreement with the bulk compositions of chondritic
meteorites. The abundances of C, S, Na and Mn indicate that the particles

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are volatile rich in composition and also have a black appearance because
of the high content of carbon. The composition of iron-sulphur-nickel type
of particles is similar to that of meteoritic triolite. The silicates are olivines
and pyroxene. Evidence for the extraterrestrial origin of these dust particles comes from several sources. The direct proof for the extraterrestrial
nature comes from the observations of the presence of solar noble gases, the
deuterium enrichment (i.e. large D/H ratio) and the presence of solar flare
tracks in mineral grains within the particles. Their extraterrestrial nature
is also indicated by the presence of 10 Be, which is produced by cosmic ray
bombardment.
The infrared transmission spectra between 2.5 and 25 m of a large
number of chondrites type of IDPs shows the presence of a strong 10 m
silicate absorption feature and possibly the 3.4 m feature. They can be
classified into three groups as olivines, pyroxene and layer-lattice silicates.
Particles in the olivine and pyroxene group are mostly crystalline in nature
rather than amorphous. The carbonaceous material typically present is
around 28% of the particle by mass. Carbonates are the important secondary material in layer-lattice-silicate IDPs, due to the presence of their
characteristic feature at 6.8 m. The Raman spectra of several IDPs show
double peaks at 1360 cm1 and 1600 cm1 , (7.38 and 6.25 m). These
are due to C - C vibrations of carbon. They are characteristic of aromatic
molecular units smaller than 25A. This indicates the presence of PAHs of
some kind.
The infrared spectra of two Pyrrhotite - rich grains from IDPs are shown
in Fig. 13.6. They show a strong and broad feature around 23.5 m which is
identified with FeS stretch feature (troilite). This is similar to circumstellar
feature. Iron sulphide was also identified in the dust component of Comet
Halley during the spacecraft encounters.
The major form of non-crystalline silicate in IDPs are the GEMS (Glass
with Embedded Metal and Sulphides). The sizes of GEMS is around 0.1
to 0.5 m in diameter. It contains nanometer sized FeNi metal and Fe rich sulphide grain embedded in silicate grains. The bulk composition of
GEMS are approximately chondritic for the major rock forming elements.
The chemical and mineralogical information indicate that pyroxene-rich
IDPs and olivine IDPs are from comets (Fig. 13.7). The overall properties
pertaining to the physical and chemical nature of these particles strongly
suggest that many of them are of cometary origin containing possibly some
component of presolar origin. Supporting evidence comes from the presence
of meteor showers as well as the factual information that the vapourized

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Fig. 13.6 Infrared Spectra of IDPs (U2012A-2J and L 2011 B6), Herbig Ae/Be stars
(AB Aur and HD 163296) and FeS (troilite). The residual spectra for AB Aur and
HD 163296 is shown after subtracting the best model fit from the observed spectra. The
dust components used in the model are, glassy silicate, forsterite, carbonaceous material,
metallic iron and water ice. The mineral of U2012A-2J is dominated by pyrrhotite and
that of L2011 B6 by low-NiFi-Sulphides (Keller, L.P., Hony, S., Bradley, J.P. et al. 2002.
Nature, 417, 148).

material of the comet at each apparition is dispersed into the interplanetary

medium, some of which may find its way on to the Earth.
FeS grains seen in IDPs, meteorites, comets, young and old stars indicate
the similarity among them.

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Fig. 13.7 Histograms comparing the submicrometre-scale distribution of Fe/(Fe + Mg)

in IDPs with Comet Halley dust. The horizontal scale range from 0 to 1. (a) Chondritic porous pyroxene IDP U222B28 which contains abundant Mg-rich silicates, mostly
enstatite (Mg SiO3 ) and some forsterite (Mg SiO4 ) result in large Fe/(Fe +Mg) data
points near zero. (b) Halley(PUMA) mass spectrometry data (Bradley, J.P., Snow, T.P.,
Brownlee, D.E. and Hanner, M.S. 1999. In Solid Interstellar Matter: The ISO Revolution, eds. L. dHendecourt, C. Joblin and A. Jones, Springer-Verlag, p. 297: with kind
permission of Springer Science and Business Media).

13.5.

Primordial Material

The material out of which the Sun and the planets were formed does not
refer to the original material present at the time of formation of the universe
about 13 109 years ago, but rather to the modified material which existed
around 4.5 109 years ago. During all these times, the interstellar material
was being constantly enriched with heavier elements through the element
building in stars followed by ejection of this material into the interstellar

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medium. The same process has been happening since the formation of the
solar system to the present time. It is not clear at present at what time in
the history of the universe the Oort cloud was formed and hence its chemical composition is also not known. This will in turn be reflected on the
original chemical composition of comets. For example, if the comets were
formed along with other solar system bodies about 4.5109 years ago, they
would have the same composition as that of the solar system material. But
on the other hand, if they were formed more recently they would have a
different composition reflecting the contemporary interstellar abundances.
One method to get information about the possible nature of the primordial
cometary material and hence the time scale or the age is through the study
of the isotopic ratios of various elements. As is well known, the relative
abundances of various isotopes preserve the life history of the formation
process and hence help in understanding the nature of the original material. The isotopic ratio of several elements has been determined for comets
(Table 5.4). The measured isotopic ratios are 12 C/13 C 90, 14 N/15 N
300, 32 S/34 S 22 and 16 O/18 O 450 and is similar to terrestrial values
of 89, 270, 24 and 500 respectively. Therefore the nature of the material at
the time of formation of the Oort cloud is similar to that of the primordial
cometary material.

13.6.

Chemical Evolution

The origin of life on Earth has intrigued mankind since early times. In
the standard scenario, the production of organics is the starting point of the
whole complex process, as all life on Earth is composed of organic material.
It is remarkable that relatively only a smaller number of organics appears
to have been used in forming life system among a variety of organics that is
possible. The compounds of major interest are those normally associated
with water and organic chemistry in which carbon is bonded to itself and
to other biogenic elements. The biogenic elements, H, C, N, O, S and P,
are generally believed to be essential for all living systems. In 1953, Miller
showed that when gaseous mixture of NH3 , CH4 and H2 O is subjected
to an electrical discharge, it produced various kinds of organic molecules
including amino acids. This remarkable experiment showed for the first
time the possibility of synthesis of organic molecules from a mixture of
simple gases in the presence of an energy source. This led to the suggestion
that a similar type of process could have taken place in the early stages of

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the earth leading to organics, the basic ingredient for the formation of life.
However, studies have indicated that these simple molecules are unlikely
to be present as major constituents in the early atmosphere as they are
most probably photolyzed in a time scale of year or so. In addition, other
studies indicate that the early Earths atmosphere contained mostly CO2 ,
H2 O and N2 , which makes it difficult for the formation of organics. The
existing observations show that the amount of organics in the solar system
objects seems to increase with distance from the Sun. Therefore, it is
intriguing that the organics necessary for chemical evolution is found in
the outer solar system, whereas water, an essential ingredient for the life
formation, is found in the inner solar system. This led to the suggestion
that the organics might have been transferred from outer to inner regions
of the solar system by some means, possibly through comets. Therefore
the general conclusion is that it is highly unlikely that the biogenic could
have formed on the Earth itself and therefore it had to be transported to
the Earth through some means. The early chemical evolution was then
believed to be followed by biological evolution, finally leading to life on the
Earth. Even though this scenario is being taken as a working model, it is
not at all known at the present time, how the whole process can take place
in such a manner.
In recent years, the possible role of comets during the early chemical
evolution on the Earth has been put forward. This is basically related to
the fact that molecules of various complexities have been seen in comets.
In particular, observations of Comet Halley showed for the first time the
presence of organics in comets through the detection of CHON particles.
The composition of these grains showed that they are made up of highly
complex organic molecules of various kinds. Comet Halley observations
indicated the possible presence of Phosphorus in the mineral core of the
particles. Therefore, all the biogenic elements (H, C, N, O, P and S), essential for living system, have been detected in comets. The direct evidence
for the existence of building blocks of life in comets came from the detection
of Glycine (an amino acid) for the first time in Comet Wild 2. There are
several ways in which the organic material could have been incorporated
into comets. It could have been incorporated directly at the time of formation from the material in the solar nebula which is a typical interstellar
cloud. More than 150 molecules have been detected in interstellar clouds,
most of which are organic in character. Therefore, organics in comets could
be interstellar in origin.
There are several observations to show that the earth does seem to

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receive cometary material, such as meteor showers, dust particles collected

at high altitudes, sedimentation at deep sea, cratering rates and so on.
Geological evidences also indicate that comet collision with earth must have
been high during earlier times. Therefore, the influx of cometary material
could have injected large amounts of simple and complex organic molecules
on the Earth. Particularly, the molecules accreted during the early times
of planet formation when the comet collision was high could have triggered
the chemical evolution cycle on the Earth. However, it is not clear whether
these complex molecules could survive during the time of impact. This
depends to some extent on the dynamics of the process.
At the present time there is evidence for the presence of some form of
life on the Earth on or about 3.5 109 yrs ago. For times earlier than this,
it is anyones guess. Is it then possible that the organic molecules pouring
from comets on to the Earth, particularly during the early times, might
have started the whole cycle of chemical evolution, finally leading to the
origin of life on the earth?
It is interesting to note that the presence of Glycine in comets and its
delivery to objects indicate that the building block of life is pervasive in
the universe which support the hypothesis that life is a cosmic phenomena.
In fact earth is most likely place as it had liquid water, proper oxidation
- reduction ratio and right chemistry to get the whole process started. This
suggestion has been further extended to the possibility that some sort of basic primitive cells themselves could have come from the cometary material
on to the Earth. It is interesting to see the similarity of the relative abundances in comets and in living organisms as shown in Table 13.6. In this
connection it is also interesting to see the extreme conditions under which
microorganisms can exist. It is indeed remarkable that many microorganisms have been found to be able to survive under extreme environmental
conditions, such as boiling water, freezing water, irradiation etc. They seem
to adapt themselves to these environments and they are able to survive and
grow. But one basic limitation is that they require liquid water. It has been
suggested that 26 Al present in the early stages of solar system, which has a
half life less than 0.7 million years, would have decayed within a few million
years of formation of the solar system giving heat that could have melted
the cometary material. Therefore it appears that comets could have played
an important role in the process of chemical evolution, which finally led to
life on Earth. However, many of the evidences brought forth to arrive at
this conclusion have not yet been firmly established.

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Table 13.6
cometsa .

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423

Relative abundances in life and in

Element

Bacteria

Mammals

Comets

Hydrogen
Oxygen
Carbon
Nitrogen
Sulphur
Phosphorous
Calcium

63.1
29.0
6.4
1.4
0.06
0.12
-

61.0
26.0
10.5
2.4
0.13
0.13
0.23

56
31
10
2.7
0.3
0.08b
-

a. In %
b. (0.08) is the cosmic abundance.
Delsemme, A.H. 2000. Icarus, 146, 313.

13.7.

Terrestrial Water

It is interesting that around 70% of the Earths surface is covered with

water (sea water, oceans). The origin of this terrestrial water has been the
subject of investigation for a long time. There is no general agreement on
this issue at the present time. It might have come from the earth itself or
it could have come from an external source such as comets.
As mentioned earlier, water could have been released by the earth itself.
This refers to the accumulation of primordial water from the solar nebula
adsorbed on to the grains when it was formed from the accreting disk. The
amount of water accreted by the earth may be around 13 earth oceans
of water. However the accretion process leading to the formation of the
earth passed through several violent events, during which it could have also
been melted in the final stages. It is not clear as to what fraction of the
accumulated water was retained by the earth during the accretion process.
The other suggestion is that the ocean water on the earth could have
come from the accumulation of the material from comets when the impact
rate was much significant in the past during the formative stages of the
earth. The D/H ratio of Jupiter and Saturn most probably representing
the material referring to solar nebula gas has a value 2.1 105 . This is
consistent with D/H ratio derived from the solar wind implanted into lunar
soil. The D/H ratio derived from three Comets Halley (3.2 10 4 ), HaleBopp (3.3 104 and Hyakutake (2.9 104 ) 3 104 . Therefore the
D/H ratio of these comets is about two times that of terrestrial water D/H

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ratio (1.5 104 ). Several laboratory studies have shown that D/H ratio
in sublimating ice can increase or decrease with time depending upon the
fractionation process (such as ion-molecule reaction etc) and on the nature
of the material. It is possible that comets which contributed water to earth
may be different from the comets for which D/H ratio has been measured.

13.8.

Impact of Outside Bodies

The impact of outside bodies in the solar system is a natural phenomena.

This becomes obvious from the craters seen on the surface of planets and
their satellites, including the earth. The minor bodies which impinge on
the objects in the solar system are the comets and asteroids. But in recent
years the distinction betwen comets and asteroids is becoming nebulous as
many asteroids are extinct comets or dormant comets. There is also a group
of short period comets which come close to the earth. The impacting body
possess tremendous amount of energy and can cause devastigating effect
on the object being collided. In this connection it is interesting to know
whether there is any evidence for such a process to have taken place on the
earths surface. The impact could have moderate or catastrophic effects on
the geophysical, biological or climatic changes on the earth. They could
possibly appear in terrestrial records.
There are several craters present on the earths surface like, crater in
Arizona, U.S.A. which is approximately 1.2 km in diameter and 100 meter
deep. This crater is believed to be due to the impact of a iron meteoroid of
size 30 metres moving with a speed of about 20 km/sec about 50,000 years
ago.
The Tunguska event of 30 June 1908 in Central Siberia in which all the
forest trees near Tunguska river were flattened upto about 30 to 40 km was
by a shock wave. This shock wave was created by the incoming object which
did not survive to hit the ground but exploded at an altitude of about 8
km. For many years, the cause of this event was considered to be a comet.
However it is likely that stony-iron meteorite must have been responsible
for this event as minute fragments of iron -nickel were found in the areas.
The diameter of this stony-iron material could be around 60 meters.
Many meteorites survive through the earths atmosphere and fall on the
earths surface. They are generally identified due to their characteristic appearance. There are some meteorites which are destroyed before they reach

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the earths surface. Two well known meteorites of this type are the Murchison and Allende meteorites. Before they could reach the earths surface,
they exploded and shattered into pieces whose remnants were recovered.
Both the meteorites are carbonaceous chondrites.
As mentioned already, fossil records suggest the presence of biological
extinction event repeating on the earth with a period of around 26 my. It is
suggested that cometary showers impinging on the earth could have caused
such phenomena.
The credibility for the hypothesis that outside bodies impinge on the
earth came when 20 pieces of Comet shoemaker-Levy 9 pierced through
Jupiters atmosphere during the period from July 17 to 22, 1994. This
is indeed an historical event that was witnessed from earth. Therefore it
is possible that such an event can happen on the earth in the future and
hence poses danger to earth. Therefore efforts are made to see how to
prevent such an event taking place on the earth. For this purpose the sky
is being monitored continuously to look for objects which might come close
to the earth, catalogue them and keep track of these objects. Some of them
are Near-Earth Object Survey, the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking. The
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are defined as asteroids and comets which have
perihelion distances of 1.3 AU or less. The total number of NEOs/NEAs is
estimated to be around 7001300.
The only way to avoid the collison is to destroy the object or change
its track. Several suggestions have been put forward which can achieve
these objectives. One suggestion is to explode the object. But one problem
with this approach is that it would shatter the body into pieces, some of
which might still head towards the earth. This is blast-and-hope strategy
i.e. nothing comes towards the earth. Another way is to land a spacecraft
on the surface of the object in order to gently push it off the course. This
involves a rather complicated manovering. Another suggestion is to push a
heavy object near the incoming object for long enough time that it could
produce sufficient gravitational tug to change its orbit. Similarly, solar
radiation pressure beaming on the object may be used to alter the orbit of
the incoming object.
All these suggestions require a spacecraft to be put out there at the
right time, but it requires lot of advance planning. Hopefully with mans
inguenity backed by sophisticated technology, it is possible to come out
with a simpler way of tackling this problem.

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13.9.

Physics of Comets

Overview

The nature of the original material of the solar nebula (a typical interstellar cloud) and its relation to comets and other objects in the solar system
and their inter-relationship is of great interest. This is shown schematically
in Fig. 13.8.
Condensation Process

Interstellar Matter
(Gas and Dust)

Stars
(Element Synthesis)

Explosion Process
(Nova and Supernova)
Solar Nebula

Comets

Asteroids

IDPs
Meteor Streams

Meteorites

Fig. 13.8 A Schematic representation showing the comets formed out of a typical interstellar cloud (solar nebula) containing presolar grains emitted from stars, novae and
supernovae and its relation to other objects in the solar system.

The observed silicate dust mineralogy is quite similar among IDPs, meteorites, asteroids, comets and in circumstellar shell of stars. The high value
of the isotopic ratio of several elements observed in some of these objects
as compared to solar system value indicate the presence of presolar grains.
In particular, the presolar grains with high value of 12 C/13 C ratio, contribution must have came from various stellar sources such as Wolf-Rayet
stars, novae, supernovae, AGB atmospheres etc. The source of IDPs rich
in deuterium is attributed to molecular clouds. Similarly FeS grains have
been seen in IDPs, meteorites, comets and from young and old stars. The
presence of FeS grains in all these kinds of objects give a direct link between

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the solar system material (comets) to the presolar material. Therefore it is

likely that sulphur is tied up in grains as FeS. Hence it is likely, that the
solar system bodies formed out of the solar nebular material had already
crystalline FeS grains.
Carbon chemistry or organics may be used as a probe for a qualitative
discussion of this cosmic connection. Before coming to a discussion of this
aspect, it may be worthwhile recapitulating some of the points regarding
organics seen in various objects in the solar system and in interstellar space.
Evidences for the presence of organic molecules in interstellar clouds
came from the observations made in the radio frequency region. A compilation of some of these molecules is given in Table 13.7. A close look at
the table reinforces the belief of the presence of numerous different organic
compounds in interstellar clouds. The exact nature of the organic component of the dust is also not known. But it could be Polycyclic Aromatic
Hydrocarbon (PAHs).
The characteristic feature of the solar system is that the rocky planets
(Mercury to Mars) form the inner region and icy planets form the outer
regions (Jupiter to Neptune) and are separated by asteroids. The reducing atmosphere of the outer planets consisting of H, He, CH4 and NH3 is
conducive to the formation of organic molecules. In fact several carbon
compounds have been detected on Jupiter. Complex organic chemistry is
operating on Titan, the Satellite of Saturn. The Earth has also organic
material as the life on Earth goes back to about 3.5 109 years.
The new class of grains present in comets, called CHON particles, established that a large fraction of the comet is made up of very complex
organics. They are shown in Table 13.8. They provide evidence for the
existence of many classes of cyclic and acyclic organic compounds. They
include unsaturated hydrocarbons such as Pentyne, hexyne etc, nitrogen
derivatives such as hydrogenic acid, aminoethylene etc., Heterocyclics with
nitrogen such as purine and pyridine etc. HCN and H2 CO volatiles, allemine and pyrimidines and their derivatives which are biologically more significant has been seen in comets. The possible presence of Formaldehyde
Polymers (H2 CO)n has also been suggested. It is quite possible that CHON
particles contain many more molecules than identified so far due to the fact
that the impact velocity of the dust at the dust mass spectrometer was very
high ( 70 km/sec), which could possibly have destroyed many of them.
The carbon content in cometary dust is close to 25% by weight. The organics present in the dust particles of Comets Wild 2 and Tempel 1 have
been studied extensively. The collected samples from Wild 2 has been put

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Table 13.7

Some of the observed interstellar molecules.

Table 13.7

Some of the observed interstellar molecules.

(a) Inorganic species (stable)

Diatomic

Tri-atomic

4-atom

5-atom

H2a HCI ?
COa PN
CSa NaCIb
NO AICIb
NS KCIb
SiOa AIFb
SiSa

H2 Oa
H2 S a
SO2a
OCS

NH3a

SiH4b

(b) Organic molecules (stable)

Alcohols

Aldehydes and ketones

Acids

CH3 OH methanol
EtOH ethanol

H2 CO
CH3 CHO
H2 CCO
(CH3 )2 CO?

HCNa
HCOOH
HNCO

Amides
NH2 CHO
NH2 CN
NH2 CH3

Hydrocarbons
hydrocyanic
formic
isocyanic

C2 H2b acetylene
C2 H4b ethylene
CH4 methane

Esters and ethers

Organo-sulfur

formamide
cyanamide
melthylamine

CH3 OCHO
(CH3 )2 O

H2 CS
HNCS
CH3 SH

Acetylene derivatives

Other

methyl cyanide
ethyl cyanide

HC3 Na
CH3 C2 H

CH2 NH
CH2 CHCNa

methylenimine
vinyl cyanide

Radicals

Ions

Rings

Carbon
chains

Isomers

CH C3 Ha,c
CNa C3 Na
OHa C3 Na
SOa C4 Ha
HCO C5 H
C 2b C 6 H
C2 Ha C2 Sa
C2b CH2 CN

CH+
HCO+
N2 H+
HOCO+
HCS+
H3 O+?
HCNH+
H2 D+?

SiC2b
C3 H2a
Ca
3

C3 Sa
HC5 Na
HC7 Na
HC9 Na
HC11 Na
CH3 C3 N
CH3 C4 H
CH3 C5 N?

HNCa
CH3 NC

Parafin derivatives
CH3 CNc
EtCN

formaldehyde
acetaldehyde
ketene
acetone

methy formate
dimethy ether

cyanoacetylene
methylacetylene

thioformaldehyde
isothiocyanic acid
methyl mercaptan

(c) Unstable molecules

(Turner, B.E. 1989, Space Sci. Rev., 51, 235).

a Seen in CSE as well as ISM sources.
b Seen only in CSEs.
c Both linear and cyclic forms.

to intensive laboratory investigations. The results of these investigations

corroborate Comet Halley results. All these studies have given startling
results in showing the presence of wide range of organics of various types,
the existence of which was hard to imagine. The overall character of the
dust in comets i.e. silicate and carbon, is similar to that of interstellar
grains.
The mineralogical composition of meteorites reflect differing degrees of
thermal evolution indicated by Stony-iron and iron meteorites. Carbona-

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Table 13.8

Types of organic molecules in Comet Halley dust.

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ceous chondrites seems to be primitive in the sense that they have not altered much their state from the time of formation. The organic material
found in carbonaceous chondrites is highly complex. In Murchison meteorite, different amino acids have been identified. Many of them occur on
earth biologically. A few of the different compounds seen are the following:
Carboxylic acids, aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, amines and amides,
alcohols, ketones, purines, pyrimidine etc. The organic matter found in
meteorites probably existed in the solar system a billion years before the
appearance of life on the Earth. There are many similarities between the
organic compounds in dust in comets and chondrites. The carbon content
in carbonaceous chondrites is 3 to 5%, which is low by almost an order
of magnitude compared to cometary dust. There is also an indication that
they must have passed through a high temperature phase as well ( 400 K)
in order to explain some of the compounds present in them. Therefore it is
unlikely that comets are the source of meteorites as they remained at low
temperature. Hence asteroids is most likely the source of meteorites. Observations show similarities between asteroids and meteorites. The isotopic
anomaly seen in chondrules in meteorites is attributed to outside material
survived and accreted and are therefore pre-solar grains.
Many of the IDPs which are thought to be of cometary origin is carbonaceous in character.
The various objects in the solar system are generally believed to have
been formed as a by product of the formation of the Sun. The Sun was
formed out of a typical interstellar cloud referred to as the primitive solar
nebula. Model studies have shown that when contraction of the cloud takes
place, the material will form a disk around a central core due to conservation of angular momentum. This material composed of gas and dust will
accumulate in increasing numbers and form a thin disk of particles. This
will then become unstable against gravitational forces and separate out
from the system. These rings then clump together and form planetesimals
and move in circular orbits around the centre of the nebula. These planetesimals act as nuclei for the formation of planets. This is also responsible
for the nearly coplanar arrangement of planets and for a common direction
of revolution of the planets around the Sun.
Condensation model calculations have shown that different types of material condense out of different temperature and densities, which imply different distances from the Sun. So there could be materials of high temperature phase, low temperature phase as well as a mixture of the two in the
solar system objects. Carbon compounds can be vapourized upto around 2

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to 3 AU and water upto around 5 AU. Therefore terrestrial planet zones will
be rocky and the outer planet zones will be made up of water, methane, ammonia and CO2 -ice. This is in rough accordance with the gross properties
of objects seen in the solar system. However, the detailed understanding
of the whole problem is far from clear. The exact nature of compound
produced depend upon various factors such as temperature, density, chemical composition of the constituents and various physical processes such as
heating, cooling, annealing, selective evaporation, fractionation and so on.
It is found from laboratory experiments that all the compounds seen in carbonaceous chondrites can be produced from CO, H2 and NH3 on a Fe2 O3
or clay catalyst at a temperature of around 400 to 430 K. Hence it is not
surprising that there is a systematic change in composition going outwards
from the Sun. Comets are produced in a cold temperature phase in the
outskirt of the Solar System and so it has kept most of the molecules it had
from the original material.
During the time interval of the formation of the Solar System, materials
could have been injected into the solar system from outside (like from a
supernova explosion). Some of this material may be preserved in the solar
system objects as inclusions etc. In addition, comets colliding with Earth
during the early stages of the formation could have deposited organic material, which might have started the chemical evolution on the Earth. Comets
could also account for the biosphere on the Earth.
Therefore the organic material present in interstellar clouds and in solar
system objects are the same material to start with but may look different in
some of the solar system objects at the present time due to variable thermal
evolution in these objects depending on their radial distance from the Sun
(Cosmic Evolution).
So far we have been discussing the possible interrelationship between
various solar system objects and comets. In certain cases the relationship
to comets is more direct than in others. This is partly due to lack of good
data as well as to the inadequacy in our present understanding of the nature
of these objects. With further studies, it is hoped to understand the origin
of the solar system itself and possibly even the origin of life on the Earth.
Problems
1. In the study of the origin of life, one deals mainly with the elements
H,C, N and O. Explain.
2. Is there evidence of life beyond the Earth? If the answer is negative,

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discuss why?
3. Explain how the number of planetary systems in the Galaxy, with life,
like on the Earth can be estimated
4. The meteor streams seen in the sky appear to diverge from a point in
the sky. Explain.
5. What is the range of velocities at which meteors encounter the Earth?
What is the explanation for the limiting values?
6. What has Titus-Bodes law to do with the question of asteroid belt?
7. Meteorites are said to act as beacons to the past. Explain.

References
The following reference gives a good account of asteroids
1. Bottke, W.F.Jr., Cellino A., Paolicchi, P. and Binel, R.P. (eds). 2003.
Asteroids III, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson.
The following reference gives a good description of meteorites
2. Lauretta, D.S. and McSween, H.Y. Jr. (eds.) 2006. Meteorites and the
Early Solar System II, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson.
For Presolar grains reference may be made to
3. Lugaro, M. 1995. Stardust from Meteorites, World Scientific, Singapore.
The technique of particle collection at high altitudes and the results of such
studies are given in the following review articles.
4. Brownlee, D.E. 1978. In Cosmic Dust. ed. McDonnell, J.A.M. New
York: John Wiley and Sons. p. 295.
5. Sandford. S.A. 1987. Fund. Cosmic Phys. 12, 1.
The early work on the various processes leading to element building in stars
is discussed in the classic paper:
6. Burbidge, E.M., Burbidge, G.R., Fowler, W.A. and Hoyle, F. 1957.
Rev. Mod. Phys. 29, 547.
For more discussion reference may be made to
7. Prantzos, N., Vangioni-Flam, E. and Casse, M. (eds.) 1993. Origin and
Evolution of the Elements, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
The Oparin-Haldane hypothesis of the Origin of Life can be found in
8. Ponnamperuma, C. 1982. Extraterrestrials: Where are they? eds.
Hart. M.H. and Zuckerman, B. New York: Pergamon Press, p. 87.
The other view point of cometary origin can be found in the following references.

comets

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433

9. Hoyle, F. and Wickramasinghe, N.C. 1981. Comets and the Origin of

Life ed. Ponnamperuma, C. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Company,
p. 227.
10. Wickramasinghe, N.C. 2009. Astrobiology, World Scientific Publishers,
Singapore.
The following book may be referred for solar system studies.
11. Lewis, J.S. 1995. Physics and Chemistry of the Solar System, Academic Press.
The following papers pertains to Terrestrial water, Impact of outside bodies, asteroid-comet connection and binaries.
12. Drake, M.J. and Campins, H. 2006. In Asteroids, Comets and Meteors,
eds., D. Lazzaro, S. Ferraz-Mello and J.A. Fernandez, Cambridge Univ.
Press, Cambridge, P.381.
13. Morrison, D. et al. 2003. In Asteroids III, eds. W. Bottke, A. Cellino,
P. Paolicchi and R. Binzel, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson.
14. Toth, I, 2006. In Asteroids, Comets and Meteors, eds. D. Lazzaro, S.
Ferraz-Mello and J.A. Fernandez, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge,
p. 67.
15. Noll, K.S. 2006. In Asteroids, Comets and Meteors, eds. D. Lazzaro, S.
Ferraz-Mello and J.A. Fernandez, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge,
p. 301.

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CHAPTER 14

Problems and Prospects

14.1.

Epilogue

So far we have discussed in some detail our present understanding with

regard to various cometary phenomena which is summarized in Fig. 14.1
We have a reasonable knowledge of the origin, nature and composition of
comets. Though much progress has been achieved in the last ten years since
the publication of the second edition, many of the aspects are still not well
understood.
Over the years, our knowledge with regard to comets has improved
enormously from the studies based on several bright Comets like IkeyaSeki, Kohoutek, West, Bradfield, Hale-Bopp, Hyakutake and others. The
Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock, which came to within about 47 million kilometers from the Earth in May 1983, gave the opportunity to observe a comet
at such a close approach. Comet Kohoutek gave a big boost to cometary
science in 1974 through a concentrated and co-operative effort made by the
scientists working in various fields. This venture actually created an interest among the physicists, chemists and biologists as well, in problems connected with cometary science. It also created an increased interest among
the astronomers who normally work in other fields. At present we have
beautiful techniques for both the ground based and space observations in
different spectral regions, remarkable new instrumentation, (ground based
equipment and computers), which are much better than what was available
about 30 to 40 years ago. With these advances, phenomenal progress in
the understanding of comets has been achieved.
However, there are still questions which cannot be answered, either
from ground based or satellite observations. The only way to understand
these problems is through probes or missions to comets which can pass

435

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Fig. 14.1 The various processes arising out of the interaction of solar radiation and
solar wind with a comet, which result in the observed features in a comet are shown in a
block diagram (Report of the Science Working Group, The International Halley Watch,
July 1980).

close to the nucleus. This was achieved with remarkable success for the
first time during the apparition of Comet Halley in 1986. A target for
space missions has to satisfy several requirements. First, the comets orbit
should be predicted accurately. This means that the arrival time of the
comet can be predicted well in advance. This is very essential because of
large time periods that are involved for developing experimental packages
and the necessary preparations for making space flights. The comet should
be bright, as well as exhibit as far as possible all the observed phenomena
for the maximum scientific return. The condition that the orbit should be
well known mean that the comet should have returned at least a few times

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437

and this eliminates new comets. It leaves only the short-period and the
intermediate-period comets as potential candidates. Comet Halley satisfied
all the requirements for a space mission and is also the most famous of the
known comets, which has been observed for the last 2000 years (Table 14.1).
Table 14.1
240 B.C.
164
87
12
66 A.D.
141
218
295
374
451
530
607
684
760
837

Perihelion passages of Comet Halley.

May 25 (probably observed)

Oct 13 (not observed)
Aug 6
Oct 11
Jan 26
Mar 22
May 18
Apr 20
Feb 16
Jun 28
Sep 27
Mar 15
Oct 3
May 21
Feb 28

912
989
1066
1145
1222
1301
1378
1456
1531
1607
1682
1759
1835
1910
1986

Jul 19
Sep 6
Mar 21
Apr 19
Sep 29
Oct 26
Nov 11
Jun 10
Aug 26
Oct 27
Sep 15
Mar 13
Nov 16
Apr 20
Feb 10

ESA Giotto mission pamphlet, 1981 (upto 1910)

The in situ studies of Comet Halley have been followed by Comets

Giacobini-Zinner, Grigg-Skjerllerup, Borrelly, Tempel 1 and Wild 2 (Table 1.3). In addition, the cometary material brought back to earth from
Comet Wild 2 gave the first opportunity to study the true nature of the
cometary material. All these studies gave a large number of unexpected
results as well as showed the complexity of the physical processes occurring
in the coma. These observations, combined with ground based and satellite observations, covering the entire range of the electromagnetic spectrum
from X-rays to radio wavelengths provided the complete set of data on several comets. These results have increased our knowledge about cometary
science in a dramatic way.

14.2.

Future studies

Although space missions to comets provided a remarkable insight into

our understanding of the cometary phenomena, still there are several fun-

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damental questions, which remain to be answered with regard to the origin

and evolution of comets, structure and composition of the nucleus, parent molecules, the interaction of solar wind with cometary plasma, relation
to chemical and biological evolution and so on. In addition, the space
missions to comets provided only snap shots of the physical and chemical
conditions in these comets, as the observations could be carried out only for
a very limited time period of a few hundred to a few thousand seconds or
so. Hence one should have a cautious approach in extending these data to
other comets and in deriving general conclusions. Much more data on other
comets, similar to that achieved for several comets, is needed before arriving at general conclusions regarding the similarities and differences among
comets of different types. It will also be of interest to probe the nucleus
of a long period comet, coming directly from the Oort cloud, in order to
examine the possible presence of the aging effect among comets.
The next logical step would be to achieve long duration close encounter
of a short period comet to study the time evolution of the development
of the coma as a function of the heliocentric distance. This can provide
information about the nucleus, the elemental and molecular composition of
the gas and the dust, solar wind interaction and so on. These studies will
go a long way in comparison to those of flybys. This can be achieved by
putting a satellite with instruments around a comet and tracking it as it
moves with the comet. It should also probe the nucleus with a penetrator
for physical and chemical studies. This is the objective of Rosetta mission
which will rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko around
2014. It will also have a Lander for making on-spot studies. The Rosetta
mission with planned capabilities is an ambitious program.
A new generation of powerful ground based optical/IR/Radio telescopes
of large collecting area will be available in the near future. Combining this
feature with advanced instrumentation and state of the art in optical and
IR detectors will provide excellent opportunities for making very high resolution imaging, spectroscopy, polarimetry and so on. The extraordinary
sensitivity combined with high spatial resolution should give exciting results. It will also be possible to extend the observations to faint objects.
These will be supplemented with high quality observations carried out with
satellites in the UV and X-ray regions. With these instruments, it should
be possible to extend the observations to faint objects and also look for
comet-like objects in the Oort cloud. There is, thus, a bright future for
cometary observations, with both the ground based and above the atmosphere instruments.

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The laboratory simulation studies of the processes that could occur

in a cometary environment is another important input necessary for an
understanding the behaviour of comets. Of course, it is very difficult to
create the actual cometary environment in the laboratory. In addition,
it is very difficult to simulate a cometary target as we do not know the
exact compositions and the physical state of a comet. However, studies
carried out on approximating the conditions of real comets will help for the
development of more realistic comet models.
Future studies, based on combined effort of space missions, ground based
and above the atmosphere observations, laboratory investigations and theoretical studies should give new insights into the structure, evolution and
origin of comets. Hopefully, through a series of such studies, it will be possible to resolve many of the basic and fundamental problems which have
no answers at the present time. These studies should also give enormous
information with regard to the early history of the solar system; physicochemical, dynamical and thermodynamic conditions existing at that time;
the information and relation to other solar system objects; the relation to
interstellar molecules, chemical evolution, the origin of life and Exobiology,
space plasma physics and so on. Therefore cometary science is an exciting
area of study for years to come.

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Index

aberration angle, 305307

absorption, 227, 228, 233, 235, 240
abundances, 95, 129, 131, 132, 137,
138, 176, 196, 197, 203, 206, 208,
345, 359, 360, 392, 393
abundances of Heavy Elements, 128
acceleration, 303, 321323, 325
age, 356, 358
albedo, 227, 230, 231, 235, 255257,
260, 299, 340, 341, 344, 350352,
355, 377
annealing, 68, 69
anti-tail, 18, 23, 220, 221, 225, 268,
269, 276, 277
appearance, 13
asteroids, 401, 402
Atlas of Cometary Forms, 323, 336
Atlas of Representative Cometary
Spectra, 93
atomic spectroscopy, 51

bow shock, 310, 313, 314, 319, 320,

322
brightness, 10, 1215, 30
brightness profile, 144, 205, 254
Bruggeman rules, 248
C2 molecule, 113
C-H stretch, 85, 288
chemical composition, 279, 283, 290
chemical diversity, 206
chemical evolution, 421, 422, 431
chemical subgroups, 57
CHON particles, 28, 90, 167, 201, 290
circular polarization, 232, 266
clathrate hydrates, 344
collisional excitation, 106, 107, 122,
172
column densities, 162, 169, 172, 176,
178, 181, 182, 188, 193
coma, 8890, 92, 105, 107, 115, 118,
120, 135, 138
cometary fading, 384
cometary showers, 387
complex molecules, 86, 90, 144, 174,
191, 202, 209
composition, 129, 132, 162, 165, 175,
206, 339, 340, 347, 348, 359, 360,
392, 396, 397, 401, 403, 407411
Condon parabola, 60
continuum, 249253, 255, 256, 259,
261, 274, 297, 299
Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, 388

band polarization, 123

band sequence, 55, 57
Bayeux tapestry, 2
bend in the tail, 326
binary systems, 379
biological extinction, 388
black body of temperature, 70
black body radiation, 49
blocking coefficients, 99
Boltzmann Distribution, 64
Borrelly, 22, 25, 29, 303, 355
441

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Deep Impact, 22, 31, 284, 290

density of grains, 258
diatomic molecules, 58
dielectric constant, 241, 243246
disconnection events, 328
discovery, 1, 4, 6, 16, 28
Discrete-Dipole approximation, 242,
247
Dissociative Equilibrium, 49
Doppler shift, 50
dust features, 223
dust particles, 249, 250, 254, 255, 257,
259, 261, 264, 267270, 281, 282,
285, 287, 290, 292294, 296, 298
dust production, 151, 259, 260, 272
dust tail, 17, 18, 22, 27, 217, 220, 222,
225, 226
dust trails, 222
dust-to-gas ratio, 260
dynamical aberration, 305, 336
dynamics, 213, 220, 226
efficiency factors for scattering, 233
electronic transition moment, 62, 63,
104, 112
electronic transitions, 54, 56, 59, 61,
74
elemental abundances, 129, 130, 182
emission lines, 57, 60, 66, 7072, 74
energy density, 48, 49
energy level diagram, 96, 98, 109, 121
equation of state, 49
equilibrium constant, 50
evolution of orbits, 393
excitation temperature, 110, 125, 128,
129
expanding halos, 356
extended source, 167
extended source of molecules, 175
extraterrestrial dust particles, 416
Fabry-Perot, 91, 94, 177, 190
filamentary structure, 324
flares, 15, 16, 348
fluorescence efficiency factor, 123, 142

fluorescence process, 95, 102, 105,

118, 121, 122
flyby missions, 27
forbidden lines, 90, 92, 93
Forbidden Transitions, 90, 121
Fountain model, 184, 187, 254
Franck-Condon factors, 60, 62, 63
Fraunhofer lines, 96, 98, 99, 102, 103,
138
Future studies, 437, 439
g-factor, 142, 143, 160, 190, 191
gas to dust ratio, 94
gas-phase chemistry, 194
grain Sizes, 268
grain temperature, 271
Greenstein effect, 105
H
oln-London factors, 62, 63
Hale-Bopp, 435
Halley, 1, 2, 57, 16, 2022, 2429,
76, 77, 83, 85, 87, 88, 154, 157, 158,
161, 163168, 170, 174, 175,
179182, 191, 194, 198, 200202,
204, 207, 209
halos, 16, 20
Hasers model, 145, 148, 150, 151,
155, 159, 176, 190
heating efficiency, 199
heavy elements, 128, 183
heliocentric variation, 154, 158, 162,
163, 175
heteronuclear molecule, 56
homonuclear molecule, 56
hot band, 83, 159
Hyakutake, 82, 85, 88, 115, 116, 329,
435
hydrodynamic flow, 199
hydrogen lines, 13, 16, 21
ice band, 290
icy-conglomerate model, 24
Impact of outside bodies, 424, 433
in situ measurements, 23, 194, 281
Infrared band passes, 269
infrared lines, 85

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443

infrared observations, 253, 270, 272,

283, 289291, 298, 301
interplanetary dust particles, 258, 416
interplanetary magnetic fields, 309
Interstellar molecules, 428
ion tail, 18, 22, 29, 303, 304, 309, 310,
323325, 327, 335, 336
ion-molecule reactions, 192
isotopic abundances, 130
isotopic shift, 58

Morphology, 339
Morse potential, 63
multi-component models, 297

Kramers-Kroning relation, 244

Kuiper belt, 30, 390, 391, 393,
395397
Lambda doubling, 64
lifetime of the molecule, 142, 152
linear polarization, 232, 237, 261,
264266, 300
long period comets, 7, 29, 383, 389,
390, 396, 398
Lyman isophotes, 186, 189
Lyman line of hydrogen, 16, 152

observed species, 27, 89

Oort cloud, 9, 29, 30, 383388, 390,
391
optical constants, 242246
orbital elements, 41, 43
origin, 4, 8, 10, 29, 30, 311, 335, 381,
391, 392, 395, 435, 438, 439
ortho-to-para ratio, 371, 372, 376
oscillations, 19, 24, 265, 319321, 323,
325
outbursts, 16, 348
oxygen line, 121, 122, 180

magnetic sector boundaries, 73, 324

mass loss, 82, 360, 367, 377
mass of grains, 272
mass spectrometer, 88, 194, 196, 201
material strength, 362, 363
Maxwell-Garnett rule, 245
meteor showers, 411, 413415, 417,
422
meteorites, 401, 406411, 413, 416,
418, 424, 425
Mie Theory, 228, 235
mineralogy of dust, 28, 281
minor constituents, 166, 178, 207
missions, 22
molecular bands, 77
Molecular spectroscopy, 54
molecules, 141144, 146, 147, 151,
153, 155, 160, 162164, 166, 167,
169177, 181184, 187, 188, 192,
199, 201, 203
Monte Carlo Model, 189, 201
Monte-Carlo approach, 188, 210

parent molecules, 27, 146, 187, 188,

202204, 206, 207, 210
parent-daughter hypothesis, 146
particle collection, 416, 432
phase function, 231, 236, 237, 256,
257, 297
photochemistry, 203
photochemistry of water, 65
photodissociation, 143
photoionization rates, 143
photometric theory, 151
Plancks law, 47
plasma tail, 1820, 308, 325, 328, 330
polarization, 227, 232, 239, 240, 245,
261268, 297, 300
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons,
69, 85, 286
polyoxymethylene, 198
presolar grains, 9, 409
primordial material, 401, 419
production rate, 141, 142, 144, 147,
148, 150167, 169, 170, 174177,

new comets, 9, 395, 396

non-gravitational force, 354, 356, 360,
369, 370, 375378
nucleus, 77, 82, 87, 90, 105, 107, 108,
115, 118, 339346
nucleus composition, 359

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179, 182184, 186189, 191, 192,

199, 204, 206, 207
Prompt emission, 79, 114, 159
radial velocity, 37, 45, 50
radiation pressure, 214, 225, 227, 229,
230, 254, 269, 294297, 299
radicals, 87, 88, 90
radio lines, 65, 118
Rayleigh, 186
reddening, 252255
relative abundances, 163, 164, 174,
183
RKR potential, 63
rotation, 339, 345, 356358
rotation of the nucleus, 25
rotational structure, 98, 114, 132
rotational temperature, 126, 128
rotational transitions, 86
sand bank model, 363
scale length, 146, 162, 178, 179, 188,
203
Scattered intensity, 231
Scattering functions, 247
scattering theory, 228
sector boundary, 324, 329, 330
Shoemaker-Levy 9, 2, 14, 16, 17
short period comets, 381, 389391,
395, 398
silicate feature, 276, 279
silicate structure, 67
size, 339, 340, 346, 351, 354, 375, 407,
412, 414, 416, 424
Sodium Gas Tails, 222
solar constant, 70
solar radiation, 9, 70, 95, 96, 99103,
105, 114, 129
solar wind, 7274, 303315, 317320,
322, 323, 325328, 331333
solar wind interaction, 308, 309, 314
space mission, 19
spacecrafts to comets, 25
spectra, 7579, 8183, 8588, 9093
spectral features, 249, 278, 281
spectroscopy, 47

splitting, 14, 15
stardust, 22, 31, 287
statistical equilibrium, 98, 101, 103,
105, 111, 114, 137
streamers, 310, 324, 325
structure, 24, 29, 56, 57, 63, 67, 68,
72, 73, 96, 97, 110, 113
sun-grazing comets, 7, 8, 27, 77, 89
surface brightness, 144, 145, 147, 150,
170, 203, 207, 208, 253255
surface gravity, 353
Swan band sequence, 180
Swings effect, 96, 119, 121, 155
Syndyname, 186, 187, 214
Syndyne, 214, 218, 222
synthetic profile, 102, 108, 114
tails, 9, 10, 17, 18, 22, 323326, 328,
331, 336
Taxonomy, 396
Tempel 1, 22, 25, 28, 29, 85, 174, 284,
289, 290, 355, 375
temperature, 270, 271, 273, 274, 277,
279, 282, 283, 285, 290, 298, 392,
396
terminal speed, 216, 225
terrestrial water, 423
theory of vapourization, 340
tidal force, 17
time evolution, 108
Tunguska event, 2, 424
turbulence, 303, 320, 322, 335
ultraviolet, 21, 22, 79, 81, 143, 144,
155, 156, 167, 181, 183, 204, 205
ultraviolet coma, 26
vapourization theory, 344
velocities in the coma, 155
vibrational structure, 101
vibrational temperature, 109, 111,
128
vibrational transitions, 61
visible coma, 82
waves, 303, 314, 319325, 335

comets

July 12, 2010

9:59

World Scientific Book - 9in x 6in

Index

Wild 2, 22, 25, 28, 29, 31, 87, 287,

292, 355

comets

445

X-rays, 330, 437