Modeling of dust halo formation following comet outbursts: Preliminary results

Abstract

Evolution of gas and dust distributions following a spatially and temporally localized comet outburst was calculated using a hybrid kinetic ‐ hydrodynamic method. It was found that a comet outburst resulted in significantly increased dust terminal velocities. As these higher terminal velocity values result in larger apex distances, therefore the outburst generates distinct dust envelopes in front of the regular dust coma. Such envelopes were observed at several comets (cf. comet Donati).