Discovery of Doubly-Ionized Carbon in the Ion Tail of Comet Kudo-Fujikawa

Details Discovery of Doubly-Ionized Carbon in the Ion Tail of Comet Kudo-Fujikawa Discovery of Doubly-Ionized Carbon in the Ion Tail of Comet Kudo-Fujikawa

Dec 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003aas...203.1503p&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society Meeting 203, #15.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 35, p.1231

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Comet C/2002 X5 (Kudo-Fujikawa) was observed by the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer aboard the SOHO spacecraft near its perihelion of 0.19 AU, which occurred on 2003 January 29 at 00:15 UT. Images of the comet were reconstructed from high-resolution spectra obtained at both ends of the 36-hour observing sequence. The H I Ly α 1215.67 Å line reveals a quasi-spherical cloud of neutral hydrogen. Also present is a highly variable tail in the C III 977 Å line, including a spectacular disconnection event. These observations of C III represent the first detection of any multiply-ionized species in the ion tail of a comet. The water outgassing rate Q{ H2O} increased from 5.5× 1029 s-1 to 2.65× 1030 s-1 over the duration of the observations, while the photometric brightness of the comet increased by ˜ 1 mag. The high abundance of C++ and C+, ≥ 24% relative to water, cannot be explained by photodissociation of CO and is instead attributed to the evaporation and subsequent photoionization of atomic carbon from organic refractory mantles on cometary dust grains.
This work was supported primarily by NASA Grant NAG5-12814. Additional support was provided by NASA Grants NAG5-12865 and NAG5-11420 (UVCS/SOHO), NAG5-9059 (Planetary Atmospheres), and NAG5-12668 (SARA - Laboratory Astrophysics).

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