Other
Scientific paper
Dec 1997
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997hst..prop.7312w&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #7312
Other
Hst Proposal Id #7312 Solar System
Scientific paper
Current theories predict that the near-surface regions of cometary nuclei should become increasingly devolatilized during successive passages through the inner solar system. We propose to investigate this hypothesis by performing ``deep'' searches for three important cometary volatiles, CO, CO2, and S2 in comet 2P/Encke, which has the shortest period and one of the smallest perihelion distances of any known comet. Encke makes a particularly close approach to the Earth in July 1997 mbox{Delta_min 0.2 AU}, and this significantly enhances the sensitivity limits that can be achieved on this intrinsically faint object. We expect to probe CO and CO2 to abundance levels of <=2% relative to H2O. S2 should be detectable if its abundance in Encke is comparable to that observed in comets mboxIRAS- Araki-Alcock and Hyakutake. We also propose to observe comet 103P/Hartley 2, which is the brightest short period comet accessible to HST in Cycle 7. The principal scientific objective in this case is to establish definitively that the CO abundance is significantly depleted in Hartley 2, as was indicated by previous HST observations in 1991. The above program is uniquely suited to the capabilities of HST and cannot be accomplished with the same sensitivity from any other observatory.
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