Insolation of a cometary crater at the stage of dust-jet formation

An important cause of the activation and development of active processes on the surface of a cometary nucleus is direct solar radiation illuminating a part of the surface that is not shielded by dust. The intensity of solar radiation near the surface of a cometary nucleus depends on the thickness of the dust cloud above the active area. If the size of the dust cloud noticeably changes, the intensity considerably depends on time. In the present paper, we consider the nonlinear equation of radiative transfer in a dust cloud growing towards the incident wave front with a constant velocity. The change in the intensity of direct solar radiation along the dust jet originating from the active surface area of a cometary nucleus has been found. For the sake of comparison, the linear equation of radiative transfer was solved in the framework of this task. It turns out that the linear approach to the solution of the considered problem suggests a noticeable loss in the amount of direct radiation participating in the dust-jet formation. This loss is comparable with the intensity of solar radiation incident to the active area of a cometary nucleus after scattering in the cometary atmosphere.