Encounter of Parker Solar Probe and a Comet-like Object During Their Perihelia: Model Predictions and Measurements. (arXiv:2012.00005v1 [astro-ph.EP])

Encounter of Parker Solar Probe and a Comet-like Object During Their Perihelia: Model Predictions and Measurements. (arXiv:2012.00005v1 [astro-ph.EP])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+He_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Jiansen He</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Cui_B/0/1/0/all/0/1">Bo Cui</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Yang_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">Liping Yang</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Hou_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Chuanpeng Hou</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Zhang_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">Lei Zhang</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Ip_W/0/1/0/all/0/1">Wing-Huen Ip</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Jia_Y/0/1/0/all/0/1">Yingdong Jia</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Dong_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Chuanfei Dong</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Duan_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Die Duan</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Zong_Q/0/1/0/all/0/1">Qiugang Zong</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bale_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Stuart D. Bale</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Pulupa_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Marc Pulupa</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bonnell_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">John W. Bonnell</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Wit_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">Thierry Dudok de Wit</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Goetz_K/0/1/0/all/0/1">Keith Goetz</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Harvey_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">Peter R. Harvey</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+MacDowall_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Robert J. MacDowall</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Malaspina_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">David M. Malaspina</a>

Parker Solar Probe (PSP) aims at exploring the nascent solar wind close to
the Sun. Meanwhile, PSP is also expected to encounter small objects like comets
and asteroids. In this work, we survey the ephemerides to find a chance of
recent encounter, and then model the interaction between released dusty plasmas
and solar wind plasmas. On 2019 September 2, a comet-like object 322P/SOHO just
passed its perihelion flying to a heliocentric distance of 0.12 au, and swept
by PSP at a relative distance as close as 0.025 au. We present the dynamics of
dust particles released from 322P, forming a curved dust tail. Along the PSP
path in the simulated inner heliosphere, the states of plasma and magnetic
field are sampled and illustrated, with the magnetic field sequences from
simulation results being compared directly with the in-situ measurements from
PSP. Through comparison, we suggest that 322P might be at a deficient activity
level releasing limited dusty plasmas during its way to becoming a “rock
comet”. We also present images of solar wind streamers as recorded by WISPR,
showing an indication of dust bombardment for the images superposed with messy
trails. We observe from LASCO coronagraph that 322P was transiting from a
dimming region to a relatively bright streamer during its perihelion passage,
and simulate to confirm that 322P was flying from relatively faster to slower
solar wind streams, modifying local plasma states of the streams.

http://arxiv.org/icons/sfx.gif