Abstract
An axisymmetric gasdynamical model of an interaction between the solar wind and comet atmospheres is formulated. Photoionization of the cometary neutral particles as well as their resonance charge-exchange are taken into account to determine the flow in the distured region containing three discontinuity surfaces (two shocks and the contact discontinuity). It is shown that these two processes are significant for many comets. The problem so formulated is solved numerically. A dependence of the obtained solutions on comets gas production, charge-exchange cross-section, photoionization time scale and other parameters is studied. The numerical solutions are in good agreement with the experimental data obtained during the spacecraft missions to the comet Halley in March 1986.
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