The NASA Infrared Telescope Facility Comet Halley monitoring program 2: Post-perihelion results

摘要

The post perihelion results of a 1 to 20 micrometer infrared monitoring program of Comet Halley are presented. These results complement previous observations of the pre-perihelion passages of Halley. The observations cover the time period of Mar. 1986 to the present time. During the time the comet was observable, two or more observations were obtained per month. The most interesting results were: (1) a detectable change in the J-H and H-K colors of Halley, and (2) a search for a nucleus rotation at J during 20 Feb. to 10 Mar. was unsuccessful. The perihelion J-H and K-K colors were constant at 0.48 or - 0.01 and 0.17, respectively. A preliminary reduction of the data is given. It is concluded that the colors were at first similar to pre-perihelion and then changed from July onward to be bluer and more similar to the solar colors. This suggests that a change may have occurred in the composition of the dust coma of Halley in July 1986.