Kovar, Natalie S.2022-06-222022-06-22196813704936https://hdl.handle.net/10657/9801The interaction between a comet and the solar wind has been treated extensively in the literature. Solution of the general flow problem, for example, has been considered by Ioffe (1966), Kovar and Kern (1966), and Biermann, Brosowski, and Schmidt (1967) among others. The general approach in these treatments has been that of gas dynamics. Both a shock front (on the sunward side of the comet) and a contact discontinuity are thought to form. In the present treatment, for the region interior to the contact discontinuity, an alternate approach is taken. Namely, the assumption is made that the ions moving away from the comet's nucleus are non-interacting and that these ions are specularly reflected back into the region bounded by the contact discontinuity by the solar wind's frozen-in magnetic field. A model is developed which predicts the size and shape of the contact discontinuity and the density of plasma interior to it. Results of this model agree well with observational data.application/pdfenThis item is protected by copyright but is made available here under a claim of fair use (17 U.S.C. Section 107) for non-profit research and educational purposes. Users of this work assume the responsibility for determining copyright status prior to reusing, publishing, or reproducing this item for purposes other than what is allowed by fair use or other copyright exemptions. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires express permission of the copyright holder.Thesisreformatted digital