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Title:
Water Production of Comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) Observed with the SWAN Instrument
Authors:
Mäkinen, J. Teemu T.; Bertaux, Jean-Loup; Combi, Michael R.; Quémerais, Eric
Affiliation:
AA(Finnish Meteorological Institute, Geophysics Research, Post Office Box 503, FIN-00101 Helsinki, Finland.), AB(CNRS, Service d'Aéronomie, BP 3, 91371 Verrières le Buisson Cedex, France.), AC(Space Physics Research Laboratory, University of Michigan, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2143, USA.), AD(CNRS, Service d'Aéronomie, BP 3, 91371 Verrières le Buisson Cedex, France.)
Publication:
Science, Volume 292, Issue 5520, pp. 1326-1329 (2001).
Publication Date:
05/2001
Category:
PLANET SCI
Origin:
SCIENCE
DOI:
10.1126/science.1060858
Bibliographic Code:
2001Sci...292.1326M

Abstract

The SWAN (Solar Wind ANisotropies) Lyman-alpha all-sky camera on the SOHO spacecraft observed the hydrogen coma of comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) from the end of May through mid-August 2000. A systematic set of water-production rates was obtained for this well-documented event of complete fragmentation of a cometary nucleus. The observations indicate that the lower limit for the sunlit surface area of the nucleus was about 1 square kilometer before the fragmentation and that the amount of water released throughout the observing period was 3.3 × 109 kilograms. Evidence suggests that the activity of the comet was dominated by successive fragmentation. There were four major outbursts, occurring about every 16 days. The 21 July event led to the complete fragmentation and sublimation of what remained of the nucleus, producing the last 3 × 108 kilograms of water. A model where the fragment size distribution follows the power law N(R) ~ R-2.7, where N and R are the number and radius of fragments, reproduces the observed dissipation. This distribution possibly reflects the internal structure of the nucleus.
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