UV Spectroscopic Investigation of any Bright, Newly Discovered Comet

Details UV Spectroscopic Investigation of any Bright, Newly Discovered Comet UV Spectroscopic Investigation of any Bright, Newly Discovered Comet

Jul 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001hst..prop.9185w&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #9185

Computer Science

Hst Proposal Id #9185 Solar System

Scientific paper

We propose a Target of Opportunity program to investigate any bright comet {mboxV<=sssim7} that is newly discovered during Cycle 10, including comets of any dynamical class. Our main scientific objective is to obtain accurate abundance measurements for several key cometary species: CO from the CO 4PG bands, cotwo from the CO Cameron bands, stwo from the stwo B-X bands, cstwo from CS emissions, and water from OH emissions. The UV Cameron band emission is currently the only way to probe cotwo in comets. The high sensitivity and long-slit capability of STIS will allow us to characterize the spatial distribution of the coma species, so that we can identify those derived from an extended source {e.g. CO}, study the decay of short-lived molecules {e.g. stwo and cstwo}, compare the dust and gas spatial distributions, and investigate the importance of e-impact on CO for the excitation of the Cameron bands {the latter for any comet having mboxV<=sssim5}. If an exceptionally bright {V<=sssim2} comet is discovered, we would then request Director's Discretionary time to measure the D/H ratio. This program is a continuation of our successful efforts in previous cycles to observe as many comets as possible with HST, so that we can eventually make abundance intercomparisons on a statistically meaningful sample. Our ambitious scientific objectives are only possible on bright comets, and given the paucity of data on several of the species listed above, these opportunities should not be missed.

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