Television observations of comet Halley from Vega spacecraft

R. Z. Sagdeev (1) , F. Szabó (2) , G. A. Avanesov (1) , P. Cruvellier (3) , L. Szabó (2) , K. Szegő (2) , Alain Abergel (4) , A. Balazs (2) , I. V. Barinov (1) , Jean-Loup Bertaux (4) , Jacques-Emile Blamont (4) , M. Detaille (3) , Emmanuel Dimarellis (4) , G. N. Dul'Nev (5) , G. Endröczy (2) , M. Gardos (2) , M. Kanyo (2) , V. I. Kostenko (1) , V. A. Krasikov (1) , T. Nguyen-Trong (3) , Z. Nyitrai (2) , I. Reny (2) , P. Rusznyak (2) , V. A. Shamis (1) , B. Smith (2) , K. G. Sukhanov (1) , S. Szalai (2) , V. I. Tarnopolsky (1) , I. Toth (2) , G. Tsukanova , B. I. Valníček (6) , L. Varhalmi (2) , Yu. K. Zaiko (1) , S. I. Zatsepin (1) , Ya. L. Ziman (1) , M. Zsenei (2) , B. S. Zhukov (1)

1 IKI - Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
2 Wigner Research Centre for Physics [Budapest]
3 LAS - Laboratoire d'Astronomie Spatiale
4 SA - Service d'aéronomie
5 ITMO - Leningrad Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics
6 Ondřejov Observatory of the Prague Astronomical Institute

The television system (TVS) aboard the spacecraft Vega 1 and Vega 2 observed comet Halley from 4 to 11 March 1986, and transmitted ∼1,500 images to Earth. The best images of the cometary nucleus were obtained from distances of 8,000–9,000 km. The nucleus is an irregular potato-shaped body, ∼14 × 7.5 × 7.5 km in size, which rotates with a period of 53±3 h. The surface is rather dark; the measured albedo is ∼0.04_−0.01^+0.02. Active emission of matter was observed on the sunlit side of the nucleus.

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

R. Z. Sagdeev, F. Szabó, G. A. Avanesov, P. Cruvellier, L. Szabó, et al.. Television observations of comet Halley from Vega spacecraft. Nature, 1986, 321 (S6067), pp.262-266. ⟨10.1038/321262a0⟩. ⟨insu-03585248⟩