Images of an extremely dusty comet revealed unusual streaming clumps that could shed light on how the objects develop their brilliant tails.
The comet C/2011 L4 made its way into images from the SECCHI/HI-1 telescope aboard the solar-observing spacecraft STEREO-B, which was being used at the time to study the Sun, the American Geophysical Union reported.
"I was looking at CMEs (coronal mass ejections) and stumbled into this," said solar physicist Nour E. Raouafi, who conducts his research at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL)."This comet came into the field of view and it was amazing."
The researcher noticed the tail of the comet was particularly dusty, and mysterious clumps appeared to be getting blown off its nucleus by solar winds. The ability to observe this phenomenon gives scientists the rare opportunity to watch how comets grow their tails. So far, the scientists have already measured the speed and size of the clumps. Since the clumps are moving away from the Sun, the researchers believe they are being carried by solar winds. They have been estimated to be blowing off the comet at speeds of about 155 to 310 miles per second, which is about the speed of solar wind.
These findings suggest the clumps are composed of lightweight particles or gas. Since the clumps do not change in size as they are blown away, they are most likely being held together by the solar wind's magnetic field. If this is true, it means the clumps consist of either charged particles or ionized gas such as ionized potassium and sodium that is "roasted" out of the comet as it passes the Sun. There is also a possibility that the clumps are made of dust exploding from the comet.
"These observations are a foretaste of what future missions that will fly very close to the sun, like NASA's Solar Probe Plus and ESA's Solar Orbiter, may teach us about sun-grazing comets," Raouafi concluded.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the Journal of Geophysical Research.
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