The Physical Properties of Halley Comet Tail using Mid-point Leapfrog Explicit Method

S. Z. Khalaf, A. A. Selman and E. E. Abd_Al lattef Abstract— The physical properties of the interaction region between the solar wind and Halley comet have been taken a considerable atten-tion in this work. The cometary ion tail that formed and shaped by the existence of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is also depends on the comet type. This interaction can be described by plasma and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) laws which based to continuities equations. Simulations are achieved by developing computer codes using the MATLAB 7.8 to study the present model and verifying a solution of the continuities equations using mid-point Leapfrog explicit method in three dimen-sions. This research show good results where the interaction near the cometary nucleus which is mainly affected by the new ions added to the plasma of the solar wind, which increased the average molecular weight and result in many unique characteristics of the cometary tail. These characteristics were explained in the presence of the IMF. The physical properties that studied in this research were: mass density, magnetic field and velocity. The previous set was used for Halley comet under study. The behavior was explained on the base of newly added ions and it was shown that as more ions are added, the physical behavior changed.