VEGA1: Magnetic Field Measurements During the 1986 Halley Comet Flyby

On March 6, 1986, the Vega spacecraft passed comet Halley's nucleus at a distance of 8,890 km. The MISCHA magnetic field experiment recorded vector data at varying temporal resolutions, from one measurement every 2.5 minutes during cruise to one every 100 milliseconds during the closest approach. This dataset from NASA captures the in-situ magnetic environment of a historic cometary encounter.

Use Cases

• Modeling the solar wind interaction with comet Halley's coma based on the magnetic field time series.
• Analyzing the structure of the comet's bow shock and magnetotail from high-resolution flyby measurements.
• Validating simulations of cometary plasma physics using the 100ms-resolution data near closest approach.
• Studying temporal changes in the magnetic field across different instrument modes (TRASSA-1, TRASSA-2, HS, DT).

Strengths

• Data captures a specific historic event: the Vega 1 flyby of comet Halley on March 6, 1986.
• Measurements include high-temporal-resolution vectors (one every 100ms) during the critical encounter phase.
• The experiment used four fluxgate sensors mounted at different positions, potentially allowing for multi-point analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset's age (1986) means calibration and format may require expert interpretation.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by the MISCHA magnetic field experiment aboard the Vega 1 spacecraft during its flyby of comet Halley.

Time Range

Centered on March 6, 1986, with data from the cruise phase and the flyby period.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 07:05:23.974642; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Interplanetary space at the location of comet Halley during the 1986 apparition.