Interferometric Imaging of Comet Hale-Bopp With the Owens Valley Millimeter Array

Details Interferometric Imaging of Comet Hale-Bopp With the Owens Valley Millimeter Array Interferometric Imaging of Comet Hale-Bopp With the Owens Valley Millimeter Array

Dec 1998

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998dps....30.5520q&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #30, #55.P20; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 30, p.1451

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Comets are thought to be among the most primitive bodies left over from the planetesimal building stage of the solar nebula. The new facilities at millimeter wavelengths and the apparition of comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) offered an unexpected and rare opportunity to probe the inner atmosphere of a comet with high spatial resolution and to investigate with unprecedented sensitivity its chemical composition. We present imaging observations of 18 molecules, including HCN, HNC, CH3OH, CS, H2S, H2CS and DCN, taken with the Owens Valley Millimeter Array during perihelion. Most of species are parent molecules sublimating directly from the cometary ices. Asymmetric spectral features are observed in CS, while roughly two hour mapping of HCN emission showed temporal changes. The spectral features and maps are consistent with the known rotational and jetting properties of the nucleus. Observations of the ratios of the hyperfine components of HCN are consistent with the ratio expected from their statistical weights. The isotopic ratio D/H in DCN/HCN is elevated well above nebular values but is consistent with those observed in star-forming regions. The strong emission of H2S provides severe constraints on the thermal processing of cometary nuclei, whereas that of CH3OH supports the hypothesis that cometary nuclei retain some pre-solar material. This suggests an evolutionary history in which cometary materials remain at very low temperatures throughout their assemblage and for the bulk of their lives. Such a scenario would be consistent with models in which cometary ices are largely direct interstellar condensates.

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