Search for Very High Frequency Radiation resulting from the Passage of Comet 1965f through the Solar Corona

Abstract

ON October 21, 1965, a rare solar event occurred. The “Sun-grazing” Comet 1965f (Ikeya-Seki) passed through the solar corona at a perihelion distance of less than 500,000 km from the Sun's surface, or 1.66 R₀ from its centre, where R₀ is the optical solar radius¹. The rarity of such an event is shown by the fact that in the 23 yr from the discovery of radio emissions from the Sun in 1942 to the time of the present investigation, only two other known comets passed within 6 R₀ of the centre of the Sun. These were Comet du Toit (1945 VII), the perihelion distance of which on December 18, 1945, was 1.35 R₀, and Comet Pereyra (1963 V), the perihelion distance of which on August 23, 1963, was 1.11 R₀ (ref. 2).