A flux enhancement measured in energetic particles(E ∼ 60–100 keV) by the epona instrument aboard Giotto close to P⧸Grigg-Skjellerup, and its interpretationas the signature of a companion comet

A significant flux enhancement in energetic particles (E ∼ 60–⩾260 keV),showing internal fine structure interpreted to represent signatures produced during the traversalof various cometary boundaries in P⧸Grigg-Skjellerup, was recorded by the EPONA instrumentaboard spacecraft Giotto on 10 July 1992. A further internally structured flux enhancement withabout the same amplitude, recorded by EPONA in the energy range ∼60–100 keV but detected90×103 km further on along the Giotto trajectory, is herein compared with theP⧸Grigg-Skjellerup record. Possible explanations for the second flux enhancement areindividually considered and it is suggested, on the basis of the available evidence, that itconstituted the signature of another smaller comet, either having a separate genesis from, ororiginating in a splitting of, the P⧸Grigg-Skjellerup nucleus.