Word: tailing
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Devil By The Tail 8:15; weekend...
...nucleus. As the comet nears the sun, it acquires its most characteristic feature. Bombarded steadily by the charged particles of the solar wind and by the slight but measurable pressure of sunlight itself, the cometary gases and dust are swept back to form one or more glowing tails. These may reach lengths of 60 million miles or more, roughly two-thirds the distance between earth and sun. Regardless of the direction of the comet's travels, its tail is always directed away from the sun. Thus, when Kohoutek reappears in the evening sky after swinging around...
Despite all that has been learned about the dynamics of a comet's tail, its shape cannot be accurately predicted. In the late 18th century, DeCheseaux's comet sprouted seven distinct tails that fanned out peacock-like. Some comets do not develop tails at all. As of last week, however, Kohoutek was developing a classic appendage, which should continue to increase in length and grandeur until the comet comes close to the sun. Most comets survive this relatively close flyby of the sun and emerge, sometimes altered in appearance, with even more brilliant tails. Others, affected...
...those echoes may tell scientists more about the size and character of the nucleus). M.I.T.'s Haystack Radio Observatory will try a similar experiment in reverse: it will study radio waves from a far-off radio source (possibly a quasar) after they pass through the comet's tail, in hopes of finding the spectral "signatures" of water or ammonia. If they succeed, the M.I.T. astronomers will have gone a long way toward confirming Whipple's icy-snowball theory...
...OSO7 (for Orbiting Solar Observatory). The Venus-and Mercury-bound Mariner 10 may be used to take high-resolution TV pictures of the comet, while either Pioneer 6 or Pioneer 8, both of which are orbiting the sun, try to determine the density of the comet's tail by probing it with radio signals...