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Learn about comets, Io plasma torus, and the solar system's diffuse emissions. Discover why these objects are fascinating and how they are studied using available resources.
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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