THE VOLATILE COMPOSITION OF COMET C/2003 K4 (LINEAR) AT NEAR-IR WAVELENGTHS-COMPARISONS WITH RESULTS FROM THE NANÇAY RADIO TELESCOPE AND FROM THE ODIN, SPITZER, AND SOHO SPACE OBSERVATORIES

ABSTRACT We observed comet C/2003 K4 (LINEAR) using NIRSPEC at the Keck Observatory on UT 2004 November 28, when the comet was at 1.28 AU from the Sun (post-perihelion) and 1.38 AU from Earth. We detected six gaseous species (H2O, OH*, C2H6, CH3OH, CH4, and HCN) and obtained upper limits for three o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2015-07, Vol.808 (1), p.1-8
Main Authors: Paganini, L., Mumma, M. J., Villanueva, G. L., DiSanti, M. A., Bonev, B. P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
AMMONIA
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
CLOUDS
COMETS
comets: general
comets: individual (C/2003 K4 (LINEAR))
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ELEMENT ABUNDANCE
ETHANE
HYDROCYANIC ACID
METHANE
METHANOL
MOLECULES
Observatories
Oort cloud
RADIO TELESCOPES
Rotational
SPACE
Space telescopes
SPIN
Spin temperature
SUN
techniques: spectroscopic
WATER
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Summary:ABSTRACT We observed comet C/2003 K4 (LINEAR) using NIRSPEC at the Keck Observatory on UT 2004 November 28, when the comet was at 1.28 AU from the Sun (post-perihelion) and 1.38 AU from Earth. We detected six gaseous species (H2O, OH*, C2H6, CH3OH, CH4, and HCN) and obtained upper limits for three others (H2CO, C2H2, and NH3). Our results indicate a water production rate of (1.72 0.18) × 1029 molecules s−1, in reasonable agreement with production rates from SOHO (on the same day), Odin (one day earlier), and Nançay (about two weeks earlier). We also report abundances (relative to water) for seven trace species: CH3OH (∼1.8%), CH4 (∼0.9%), and C2H6 (∼0.4%) that were consistent with mean values among Oort cloud (OC) comets, while NH3 (
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/808/1/1