EGU26-12090, updated on 14 Mar 2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-12090
EGU General Assembly 2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Poster | Tuesday, 05 May, 14:00–15:45 (CEST), Display time Tuesday, 05 May, 14:00–18:00
 
Hall X4, X4.159
Requirements on grain fragmentation to explain extensive solar EUV attenuation in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko near perihelion
Erik Vigren1, Fredrik L. Johansson2, Niklas j. T. Edberg1, and Anders I. Eriksson1
Erik Vigren et al.
  • 1Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, Sweden (erik.vigren@irfu.se)
  • 2ESA, ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands

Measurements by the Langmuir Probe (LAP) onboard Rosetta around the perihelion passage of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko showed an approximately 50% attenuation of the solar extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) radiation. This has been suggested as indicative of grain fragmentation in the cometary coma. Using simple analytical models we examine requirements on the fragmentation behavior to explain the observationally inferred level of EUV attenuation. Our results are in line with [1]; suggesting that in order to match the LAP observations, a significant fraction of the dayside dust population must disintegrate to fragments of sizes of several tens of nanometers within a few thousand kilometers from the nucleus.

[1] F. L. Johansson et al. 2017, MNRAS, 469, 626

How to cite: Vigren, E., Johansson, F. L., Edberg, N. j. T., and Eriksson, A. I.: Requirements on grain fragmentation to explain extensive solar EUV attenuation in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko near perihelion, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-12090, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-12090, 2026.