Title

Chemical And Physical Properties Of Gas Jets In Comets. Ii. Modeling Oh, Cn And C2 Jets In Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) One Month After Perihelion

Keywords

Comet; Comets; composition; Hale-Bopp; Image processing; Photometry

Abstract

We present an analysis of OH, CN, and C2 jets observed in Comet Hale-Bopp during April 22-26, 1997. We conclude that an extended source, which peaks in productivity after a certain amount of time has passed after being released from the nucleus (8.5, 2.5, and 42.6 × 104 s, respectively) is responsible for the observed coma jet morphology in all three species. Sub-micron organic grains are the favored explanation for the extended source. Our models indicate that this extended source produces approximately 40% of the OH, 50% of the C2, and 75% of the CN. The balance for each species is created by a diffuse nuclear gas source. Compared with the nuclear gas source and normalized to the CN abundance, the composition of the extended source is depleted in OH by a factor of ∼6, and depleted in C2 by a factor of ∼2. The existence of anti-sunward jets do not require production of radicals throughout the cometary night. Instead, our model demonstrates that active areas exposed to near-twilight conditions throughout the comet's rotational period can produce the observed anti-sunward morphology. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publication Date

2-1-2009

Publication Title

Icarus

Volume

199

Issue

2

Number of Pages

484-504

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2008.07.018

Socpus ID

58649100039 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/58649100039

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