› Forums › Comets › Spectrum of Comet 46P/Wirtanen › Great work from all the
11 December 2018 at 9:35 pm
#580387
Nick James
Participant
Great work from all the spectroscopists on this. The Comet Section Director is obviously going to have to learn a bit more chemistry!
Robin. I think the bare nucleus of 46P is only around 4km in diameter so you won’t be seeing anything from that. Even though most people are imaging the green Swan emission lines from gas in the coma there will be a considerable amount of dust close in. The surface brightness profile of the coma is attached. The dust will be significant in the inner part of the coma.