The Volatile Composition and Activity of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 During the EPOXI Closest Approach

We report time-resolved measurements of the absolute and relative abundances of eight parent volatiles (H2O, CH3OH, C2H6, C2H2, NH3, HCN, H2CO, and HC3N) in the coma of 103P/Hartley 2 on UT 2010 November 4, the date the EPOXI spacecraft made its closest approach to the comet, using high-dispersion i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astrophysical journal. Letters 2011-06, Vol.734 (1), p.L8-jQuery1323917221036='48'
Main Authors: Dello Russo, N, Vervack, Jr., R. J, Lisse, C. M, Weaver, H. A, Kawakita, H, Kobayashi, H, Cochran, A. L, Harris, W. M, McKay, A. J, Biver, N, Bockelée-Morvan, D, Crovisier, J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ABUNDANCE
ALCOHOLS
ALKANES
AMMONIA
Astrophysics
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
CHALCOGENIDES
COMETS
DIMETHYL SULFIDE
DISTRIBUTION
DUSTS
ETHANE
HYDRIDES
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROCYANIC ACID
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
INFRARED SPECTRA
INORGANIC ACIDS
INORGANIC COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
METHANOL
NITRILES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN HYDRIDES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
Physics
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
SPECTRA
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
VOLATILITY
WATER
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Summary:We report time-resolved measurements of the absolute and relative abundances of eight parent volatiles (H2O, CH3OH, C2H6, C2H2, NH3, HCN, H2CO, and HC3N) in the coma of 103P/Hartley 2 on UT 2010 November 4, the date the EPOXI spacecraft made its closest approach to the comet, using high-dispersion infrared spectroscopy with NIRSPEC at the W. M. Keck Observatory. Overall gas and dust production increased by roughly 60% between UT 10:49 and 15:54. Differences in the spatial distributions of species in the coma suggest icy sources of different composition in the nucleus of 103P/Hartley 2. However, differences in the relative abundances of species with time are minor, suggesting either internal compositional heterogeneity in 103P/Hartley 2 is small compared with the diversity of chemistry observed within the comet population, or more significant heterogeneity exists on scales smaller than our spatial resolution. Observations contemporaneous with the EPOXI encounter test how compositional heterogeneity over the surface and the inner coma of a comet manifests itself in remote-sensing observations of the bulk coma.
ISSN:2041-8205
2041-8213
DOI:10.1088/2041-8205/734/1/L8