Active Polar Region on the Nucleus of Comet Halley
- 13 January 1989
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 243 (4888) , 198-200
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.243.4888.198
Abstract
The images of the nucleus of comet Halley returned by the Giotto spacecraft reveal a number of active regions on the surface, one of which is near the expected location of the rotation pole. This feature is larger and brighter than other source regions, suggesting that the mechanism that drives this source is also different. At this active region near the rotation pole, the sun was circumpolar for a significant portion of the solar encounter. Continuous insolation heated the nucleus to greater depths than in other areas, producing the broad, active polar region.Keywords
This publication has 9 references indexed in Scilit:
- Rotation and precession of comet HalleyNature, 1987
- Rejection of a proposed 7.4-day rotation period of the comet Halley nucleusNature, 1987
- Nucleus of comet Halley as a torque-free rigid rotatorNature, 1987
- Rotational period of comet HalleyNature, 1986
- Coma morphology and dust-emission pattern of periodic Comet Halley. IV - Spin vector refinement and map of discrete dust sources for 1910The Astronomical Journal, 1986
- First Halley Multicolour Camera imaging results from GiottoNature, 1986
- The Giotto encounter with comet HalleyNature, 1986
- Television observations of comet Halley from Vega spacecraftNature, 1986
- Coma morphology and dust-emission pattern of periodic Comet Halley. II - Nucleus spin vector and modeling of major dust features in 1910The Astronomical Journal, 1984