THE SOURCES OF HCN AND CH{sub 3}OH AND THE ROTATIONAL TEMPERATURE IN COMET 103P/HARTLEY 2 FROM TIME-RESOLVED MILLIMETER SPECTROSCOPY
- Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles (United States)
- Astronomical Observatory, Jagiellonian University, Krakow (Poland)
- Instituto de Radio Astronomia Milimetrica, Granada (Spain)
One of the least understood properties of comets is the compositional structure of their nuclei, which can either be homogeneous or heterogeneous. The nucleus structure can be conveniently studied at millimeter wavelengths, using velocity-resolved spectral time series of the emission lines, obtained simultaneously for multiple molecules as the body rotates. Using this technique, we investigated the sources of CH{sub 3}OH and HCN in comet 103P/Hartley 2, the target of NASA's EPOXI mission, which had an exceptionally favorable apparition in late 2010. Our monitoring with the IRAM 30 m telescope shows short-term variability of the spectral lines caused by nucleus rotation. The varying production rates generate changes in brightness by a factor of four for HCN and by a factor of two for CH{sub 3}OH, and they are remarkably well correlated in time. With the addition of the velocity information from the line profiles, we identify the main sources of outgassing: two jets, oppositely directed in a radial sense, and icy grains, injected into the coma primarily through one of the jets. The mixing ratio of CH{sub 3}OH and HCN is dramatically different in the two jets, which evidently shows large-scale chemical heterogeneity of the nucleus. We propose a network of identities linking the two jets with morphological features reported elsewhere and postulate that the chemical heterogeneity may result from thermal evolution. The model-dependent average production rates are 3.5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 26} molecules s{sup -1} for CH{sub 3}OH and 1.25 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 25} molecules s{sup -1} for HCN, and their ratio of 28 is rather high but not abnormal. The rotational temperature from CH{sub 3}OH varied strongly, presumably due to nucleus rotation, with the average value being 47 K.
- OSTI ID:
- 22092416
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 756, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
THE VOLATILE COMPOSITION AND ACTIVITY OF COMET 103P/HARTLEY 2 DURING THE EPOXI CLOSEST APPROACH
ROTATION STATE OF COMET 103P/HARTLEY 2 FROM RADIO SPECTROSCOPY AT 1 mm