The possible formation of a hydrogen coma around comets at large heliocentric distances

Details The possible formation of a hydrogen coma around comets at large heliocentric distances The possible formation of a hydrogen coma around comets at large heliocentric distances

Jan 1988

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1988apj...324l..31b&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal, Part 2 - Letters to the Editor (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 324, Jan. 1, 1988, p. L31-L34. Research supported b

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

9

Astronomical Models, Comet Nuclei, Cometary Atmospheres, Hydrogen, Perihelions, Interstellar Matter, Sulfur, Water Vapor, Comets, Comae, Hydrogen, Distance, Formation, Composition, Grains, Laboratory Studies, Ice, Heating, Comet Nuclei, Flux, Evolution, Trapping, Water Ice, Deuterium, Neon, Calculations, Production Rate

Scientific paper

An observational test, the detection of a hydrogen coma around comets at large heliocentric distances, is proposed for determining whether comets were formed by the agglomeration of unaltered, ice-coated, interstellar grains. Laboratory experiments showed that amorphous water ice traps H2, D2, and Ne below 20 K and does not release them completely until the ice is heated to 150 K. Gas/ice ratios as high as 0.63 are obtainable. Thus, if the ice-coated interstellar grains were not heated above about 110 K prior to their agglomeration into cometary nuclei, the inward propagating heat waves should release from the comets a continuous flux of molecular hydrogen. This flux would exceed that of water molecules at about 3 AU preperihelion and about 4 AU postperihelion.

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