190 likes | 196 Views
Diffuse Emission from Solar System Objects. Fuzzy blobs I know and love Dr. Jeff Morgenthaler. Outline. Examples of diffuse objects Comets Io plasma torus Solar system itself What are they? Why are they interesting? How are they studied?. Comet Basics. Anatomy of a comet. Sun
E N D
Diffuse Emission from Solar System Objects Fuzzy blobs I know and love Dr. Jeff Morgenthaler
Outline • Examples of diffuse objects • Comets • Io plasma torus • Solar system itself • What are they? • Why are they interesting? • How are they studied?
Anatomy of a comet Sun (106 km) Ion Tail Dust Tail Head Dust (1 m)
Comet Wild 2 Comet Borrelly Comet Halley Comet Tempel 1 Cometary Nuclei ~10 km
CN coma: Studying comets: remote sensing
Io Plasma Torus Io is the most volcanic body in the solar system
Nearest astrophysical nebula Studied with: McMath-Pierce Solar Small telescopes
Solar wind Heliosphere Local interstellar medium (solar wind ion) (cometary or interplanetary hydrogen) X-ray emission from comets and the solar system
Diffuse X-ray Spectrometer What used to be thought of as interstellar X-ray emission may be entirely heliospheric
Summary • Diffuse objects • Comets • Io plasma torus • Solar system itself • Interesting • Studied with resources available to St. Mary’s College of Maryland