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
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
Jean-Loup Bertaux
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 756443
- ORCID : 0000-0003-0333-229X
G. Tsukanova
- Function : Author
Abstract
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.