The Volatile Composition and Activity of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 During the EPOXI Closest Approach

Details The Volatile Composition and Activity of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 During the EPOXI Closest Approach The Volatile Composition and Activity of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 During the EPOXI Closest Approach

Jun 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011apj...734l...8d&link_type=abstract

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 734, Issue 1, article id. L8 (2011).

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

7

Astrochemistry, Comets: General, Comets: Individual: 103P/Hartley 2, Infrared: General, Molecular Data, Techniques: Spectroscopic

Scientific paper

We report time-resolved measurements of the absolute and relative abundances of eight parent volatiles (H2O, CH3OH, C2H6, C2H2, NH3, HCN, H2CO, and HC3N) in the coma of 103P/Hartley 2 on UT 2010 November 4, the date the EPOXI spacecraft made its closest approach to the comet, using high-dispersion infrared spectroscopy with NIRSPEC at the W. M. Keck Observatory. Overall gas and dust production increased by roughly 60% between UT 10:49 and 15:54. Differences in the spatial distributions of species in the coma suggest icy sources of different composition in the nucleus of 103P/Hartley 2. However, differences in the relative abundances of species with time are minor, suggesting either internal compositional heterogeneity in 103P/Hartley 2 is small compared with the diversity of chemistry observed within the comet population, or more significant heterogeneity exists on scales smaller than our spatial resolution. Observations contemporaneous with the EPOXI encounter test how compositional heterogeneity over the surface and the inner coma of a comet manifests itself in remote-sensing observations of the bulk coma.
Based on observations obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, Mauna Kea, HI, USA.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The Volatile Composition and Activity of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 During the EPOXI Closest Approach does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Volatile Composition and Activity of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 During the EPOXI Closest Approach, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Volatile Composition and Activity of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 During the EPOXI Closest Approach will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-981970