The Jovian Stratosphere after Comet Shoemaker-Levy/9: Unusual Isotopic Ratios in Molecular Trace Constituents

Details The Jovian Stratosphere after Comet Shoemaker-Levy/9: Unusual Isotopic Ratios in Molecular Trace Constituents The Jovian Stratosphere after Comet Shoemaker-Levy/9: Unusual Isotopic Ratios in Molecular Trace Constituents

Nov 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002apj...580..598m&link_type=abstract

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 580, Issue 1, pp. 598-605.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

3

Comets: Individual: Name: Shoemaker-Levy/9, Planets And Satellites: Individual: Jupiter, Submillimeter

Scientific paper

Since the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy/9 with Jupiter in 1994 July, a number of minor molecular species have been observed to persist in the stratosphere of the planet. Here we report observations acquired in 1998 September at frequencies near 350 GHz (wavelength 850 μm) of HCN and CS and their respective isotopomers H13CN, HC15N, and C34S. Through radiative transfer modeling of the observed lines, we find that the isotopic abundance ratios 12C/13C, 14N/15N, and 32S/34S are considerably elevated with respect to their terrestrial values. We speculate that this result indicates an unusual composition for comet Shoemaker-Levy/9, or that cometary grains evaporated in the collisions significantly modified the isotope ratios.

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