The Volatile Composition of New Comets

Details The Volatile Composition of New Comets The Volatile Composition of New Comets

Jul 1991

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1991hst..prop.2483w&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #2483

Physics

Hst Proposal Id #2483

Scientific paper

The volatile composition of a comet is a sensitive indicator of its formation environment. In particular, the relative abundances of trace molecules in cometary nuclei can be used to infer the physical and chemical state of either the solar nebula or the interstellar cloud from which the nebula condensed. We propose using the FOS to obtain the volatile inventory in a bright, new comet that appears during the first GO cycle. Simultaneous UV and visible spectra will be used to measure the abundances of the important carbon-, nitrogen-, and sulfur-bearing species in the nucleus (e.g., CO, CH4, CO2, NH3, N2, HCN , CS2, S2). Serendipitously our program will also provide sensitive observations of any possible new cometary species, including a variety of diatomic molecules (e.g, SO, NO, SH, H2). By using a pair of FOS apertures, information will be obtained on the spatial brightness distribution of the species allowing discrimination between molecules that are present as ice in the nucleus and those that are produced by the destruction of more complex molecules in the nucleus (e.g., from the breakup of organic molecules which coat cometary grains).

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