Television observations of comet Halley from Vega spacecraft
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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.