Fine Scale Structure in Cometary Dust Tails - Figure 5.24 - Solar Wind adjusted temporal maps of C/2011 L4 as seen by HI-1B with coarse-scale difference enhancement

Three solar wind aligned temporal maps of C/2011 L4's main dust tail region as seen by HI-1B with coarse-scale difference 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 ~190 km s^-1 and above are compatible with the orientation of the combed features that form in C/2011 L4's dust tail.

Two points of note in the tail are points P (β_r = 1.7 and t_e = 2013-03-08 04:50 UT); shown in purple, and point G (β_r = 0.8 and t_e = 2013-03-05 12:00 UT); shown in green.

The new combed feature above point G is particularly clear and useful for checking for a vertical orientation.