Dynamics of the CO+ coma of comet 29P/Schwasmann-Wachmann 1

Abstract

Comet-centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 was observed in CO+ emission and contin-uum during 2007-2009 using the 6-m Big Telescope Alt-azimuth at the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences. We analysed the morphology of the CO+ and dust coma. The distributions of dust and CO+ ions in the coma are not similar and vary depending on the level of comet activity. CO+ ions are more concentrated towards the nucleus than the dust continuum. The column density of the CO+ was derived and found to vary from 3.7*10^9 to 4.3*10^10 ions cm^-2. The production rate of CO+ was estimated to be from (7.01)*10^24 to (1.15)*10^26 ions s^-1. We discuss possible mechanisms for the ionization of cometary material and show that impact ionization by solar wind particles is probably the main ionization mechanism at large heliocentric distances.

arXiv comment7 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• CO gas and dust outbursts from Centaur 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann
• Small Bodies of the Solar System Active at Large Heliocentric Distances: Studies with the 6-Meter Telescope of Sao Ras