Interception of comet Hyakutake's ion tail at a distance of 500 million kilometres

G. Gloeckler (), J. Geiss, N. A. Schwadron, L. A. Fisk, T. H. Zurbuchen, F. M. Ipavich, R. von Steiger, H. Balsiger and B. Wilken
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G. Gloeckler: University of Maryland
J. Geiss: International Space Science Institute
N. A. Schwadron: Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan
L. A. Fisk: Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan
T. H. Zurbuchen: Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan
F. M. Ipavich: University of Maryland
R. von Steiger: International Space Science Institute
H. Balsiger: Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern
B. Wilken: Max-Planck Institut für Aeronomie

Nature, 2000, vol. 404, issue 6778, 576-578

Abstract: Abstract Remote sensing observations1,2,3,4,5 and the direct sampling of material6,7,8 from a few comets have established the characteristic composition of cometary gas. This gas is ionized by solar ultraviolet radiation and the solar wind to form ‘pick-up’ ions9,10,11, ions in a low ionization state that retain the same compositional signatures as the original gas. The pick-up ions are carried outward by the solar wind, and they could in principle be detected far from the coma. (Sampling of pick-up ions has also been used to study interplanetary dust12,13, Venus’ tail14 and the interstellar medium15,16.) Here we report the serendipitous detection of cometary pick-up ions, most probably associated with the tail of comet Hyakutake, at a distance of 3.4 au from the nucleus. Previous observations have provided a wealth of physical and chemical information about a small sample of comets6,7,8,9, but this detection suggests that remote sampling of comet compositions, and the discovery of otherwise invisible comets, may be possible.

Date: 2000
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DOI: 10.1038/35007015

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