THE INNER DUST COMA OF COMET 26P GRIGG-SKJELLERUP - MULTIPLE JETS ANDNUCLEUS FRAGMENTS

On 1992 July 10 the European Space Agency's spaceprobe Giotto passed t he nucleus of the comparatively inactive comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup at a relative velocity of 14 km s(-1). This Giotto Extended Mission (GEM ) followed a highly successful encounter in 1986 with Comet 1P/Halley. We present results returned from the Optical Probe Experiment (OPE) a nd in particular consider data gathered by the channels sensitive to t he scattering of solar light by cometary dust grains, in emission-free continuum bands. Owing to the demise of the Halley Multicolour Camera (HMC) during the Halley encounter, and the low number of impacts regi stered by the Dust Impact Detection System (DIDSY), OPE data offer the best indication of the actual encounter geometry. We find that it is likely that Giotto was on the sunward side of the shadow terminator pl ane at closest approach, with our modelling results suggesting that Gi otto passed similar to 100 km from the nucleus (although distances of up to 300 km cannot be ruled out). We investigate possible causes of t he striking 'spike' features, or 'events', in the OPE data. While scat tering of sunlight from ejecta particles as a result of dust impacts o n the spacecraft body cannot be ruled out, considerations of the hyper velocity impact mechanisms and impact geometry show that this explanat ion is not without problems, and more investigation is needed before i t can be conclusively accepted. As an alternative solution, we find th at the complex data profiles can be fitted by jet activity in the inne rmost coma (which was not resolvable by ground-based observers). One p articular event occurring at least 1000 km from the nucleus can be fit ted if the OPE line of sight passes close to a nucleus fragment of rad ius 10-100 m which is situated around 50 km from the spacecraft and wh ich is producing a small dust coma.