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Fine Scale Structure in Cometary Dust Tails - Figure 5.23 - Solar Wind adjusted temporal maps of McNaught as seen by HI-1A with MGN enhancement

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posted on 2021-12-07, 15:25 authored by Oliver Price, Geraint JonesGeraint Jones
Three solar wind aligned temporal maps of McNaught's main dust tail region as seen by HI-1A with MGN enhancement.

The x-axis corresponds to the paths through the comet tail taken by solar wind features of the annotated speed. For a given solar wind speed, if all new combed features are at least vertical or slope diagonally to the top right, they are compatible with a potential formation from a solar wind structure moving at that particular speed.

Solar wind speeds of 500 km s-1 and above are compatible with the orientation of the combed features that form in McNaught's dust tail.

Note that features on the far left of the temporal maps are artefacts from the overexposed region near the comet's nucleus.

Funding

This research was supported by a UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) PhD studentship.

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