Summary
The bow shock of a comet is formed by the interaction of three different particle populations; solar wind ions, cometary ions and electrons. We follow the behaviour of the solar wind protons through the Giotto inbound shock crossing at comet P/Halley. A foreshock boundary is seen at ~ 1.4 106 km where the level of solar wind fluctuations increases substantially. The shock itself is seen some 2.5 105 km closer. It is a complex structure with high-amplitude waves in the cometary ion foot of the shock preceding a permanent drop in the solar wind speed. The width of the shock structure is ~ 40,000 km. There is evidence for a further excursion back into the cometary ion foot after the initial shock crossing. The cometary ion density is inferred from the solar wind speed changes and is compared with measurements.
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Coates, A.J. et al. (1988). Solar wind flow through the comet P/Halley bow shock. In: Grewing, M., Praderie, F., Reinhard, R. (eds) Exploration of Halley’s Comet. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-82971-0_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-82971-0_8
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