Detection of Large Grains in the Coma of Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR) from Arecibo Radar Observations

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dc.creatorNolan, Michael C.
dc.creatorHarmon, John K.
dc.creatorHowell, Ellen S.
dc.creatorCampbell, Donald B.
dc.creatorMargot, Jean-Luc
dc.date2005-10-07
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T06:43:47Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T06:43:47Z
dc.descriptionArecibo S-band (lambda=13cm) radar observations of Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR) on 2001 July 7-9 showed a strong echo from large coma grains. This echo was significantly depolarized. This is the first firm detection of depolarization in a grain-coma radar echo and indicates that the largest grains are at least lambda / 2 or 2 cm in radius. The grains are moving at tens of m/s with respect to the nucleus. The non-detection of the nucleus places an upper limit of 3 km on its diameter. The broad, asymmetric echo power spectrum suggests a fan of grains that have a steep (differential number ~ a^-4) size distribution at cm-scales, though the observed fragmentation of this comet complicates that picture.
dc.description20 pages, 3 tables, 5 figures Submitted to Icarus
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0510236
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0510236
dc.identifierdoi:10.1016/j.icarus.2005.11.010
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/102548
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleDetection of Large Grains in the Coma of Comet C/2001 A2 (LINEAR) from Arecibo Radar Observations
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