Affiliation:
1. The authors are at the Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstraβe, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
Abstract
After the unexpected discovery of x-rays emitted from comet C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake) with the Röntgen X-ray Satellite (ROSAT) in March 1996, x-ray emissions from comets C/1990 K1 (Levy), C/1990 N1 (Tsuchiya-Kiuchi), 45P (Honda–Mrkos–Pajdušáková), and C/1991 A2 (Arai), optically 300 to 30,000 times fainter than Hyakutake, were discovered in archival ROSAT data. These findings establish comets as a class of x-ray sources and allow their properties to be studied over a wide optical brightness range. The results indicate that charge exchange between highly charged heavy ions in the solar wind and cometary neutrals is the dominant process for the x-ray emission. Comets may thus be used as probes for monitoring the heavy-ion content of the solar wind.
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Reference42 articles.
1. Lisse C. M., et al., Science 274, 205 (1996).
2. J. Trümper Adv. Space Res. 2 (no. 4) 241 (1983).
3. W. Voges in Proceedings of Satellite Symposium 3: Space Sciences with Particular Emphasis on High-Energy Astrophysics from the “International Space Year” Conference Munich Germany 30 March to 4 April 1992 (ESA ISY-3 1992) p. 9.
4. W. Voges et al. in preparation.
5. Snowden S. L., et al., Astrophys. J. 454, 643 (1995).
Cited by
148 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献