Millimeter-wave Observations of Cometary Sulfur Species

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

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The appearance of two bright comets this year has given us an excellent opportunity to observe short-lived cometary parent molecules. C/Hyakutake (1996 B2) passed extremely close to earth, allowing us to observe the inner coma with high spatial resolution and minimal beam dilution for short-lived species. C/Hale-Bopp (1995 O1) has been bright and highly active over the last year, allowing us to observe molecular species in the coma over a wide range of heliocentric distances. We have been observing sulfur bearing molecules, using the National Radio Astronomy Observatory 12-m telescope on Kitt Peak. Modeling of the sulfur budget of cometary comae has shown that we have not completed the inventory of sulfur bearing nuclear species. Thus, we have searched for new parent molecules, finding OCS in C/Hyakutake, and continuing the search with C/Hale-Bopp this fall. In addition to searching for new species we have been monitoring the emission of H_2S and CO in C/Hale-Bopp over a wide range of heliocentric distances. It is noteworthy that at a heliocentric distance of almost 5 AU the production rate of H_2S from C/Hale-Bopp was 3 times larger than that of C/Hyakutake at 1 AU from the sun. Our data show not only variation with heliocentric distance in C/Hale-Bopp, but give strong indication of rotational variation as well. In only two days time, between May 21 and May 23 1996, the H_2S emission increased by a factor of 1.5. Observations have been scheduled in early October to search for a rotational period using the H_2S emission, and preliminary results from these observations will be presented.

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