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Observations of the Low-energy Photon Fluxes during the Solar Approach of the Ikeya-Seki Comet

Abstract

A BALLOON-BORNE omnidirectional scintillation detector was aloft over Palestine, Texas (L value about 1.6), during the solar approach of the Ikeya-Seki comet on October 20, 1965. One of the aims of this experiment was to observe any possible enhancements to the low-energy atmospheric photon flux induced by the passage of the comet. The perihelion of the comet occurred on the ‘dark’ side of the Sun with an orbital inclination of about 40° to the ecliptic and therefore had an apparent perihelion of about 1° around the Sun as observed from the surface of the Earth.

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GRONSTAL, P., BUKATA, R. Observations of the Low-energy Photon Fluxes during the Solar Approach of the Ikeya-Seki Comet. Nature 211, 176–177 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/211176b0

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