Other
Scientific paper
Jun 1998
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998natur.393..547i&link_type=abstract
Nature, Volume 393, Issue 6685, pp. 547-550 (1998).
Other
28
Scientific paper
The discovery of hydrogen isocyanide (HNC) in comet Hyakutake with an abundance (relative to hydrogen cyanide, HCN) similar to that seen in dense interstellar clouds raised the possibility that these molecules might be surviving interstellar material. The preservation of material from the Sun's parent molecular cloud would provide important constraints on the processes that took place in the protostellar nebula. But another possibility is that HNC is produced by photochemical processes in the coma, which means that its abundance could not be used as a direct constraint on conditions in the early Solar System. Here we show that the HNC/HCN ratio determined for comet Hale-Bopp varied with heliocentric distance in a way that matches the predictions of models of gas-phase chemical production of HNC in the coma, but cannot be explained if the HNC molecules were coming from the comet's nucleus. We conclude that HNC forms mainly by chemical reactions in the coma, and that such reactions need to be considered when attempting to deduce the composition of the nucleus from observations of the coma.
Bergin Edwin A.
Dickens James E. Jr.
Irvine William M.
Jewitt David
Lovell Amy Jean
No associations
LandOfFree
Chemical processing in the coma as the source of cometary HNC 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 Chemical processing in the coma as the source of cometary HNC, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Chemical processing in the coma as the source of cometary HNC will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1508051