A BIMA Array Survey of Molecules in Comets LINEAR (C/2002 T7) and NEAT (C/2001 Q4)
Creators
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1.
Goddard Space Flight Center
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2.
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
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3.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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4.
University of California, Berkeley
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5.
Leiden University
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University of Maryland, College Park
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7.
California Institute of Technology
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8.
University of New Mexico
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9.
University of Chicago
Abstract
We present an interferometric search for large molecules, including methanol (CH_3OH), methyl cyanide (CH_3CN), ethyl cyanide (CH_3CH_2CN), ethanol (CH_3CH_2OH), and methyl formate (CH_3OCHO), in comets LINEAR (C/2002 T7) and NEAT (C/2001 Q4) with the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association (BIMA) array. We also searched for transitions of the simpler molecules CS, SiO, HNC, HN^(13)C, and ^(13)CO. We detected transitions of CH_3OH and CS around comet LINEAR and one transition of CH_3OH around comet NEAT within a synthesized beam of ~20". We calculated the total column density and production rate of each molecular species using the variable temperature and outflow velocity (VTOV) model recently described by Friedel et al. Considering the molecular production rate ratios with respect to water, comet T7 LINEAR is more similar to comet Hale-Bopp, while comet Q4 NEAT is more similar to comet Hyakutake. It is unclear, however, due to such a small sample size, whether there is a clear distinction between a Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake class of comet or whether comets have a continuous range of molecular production rate ratios.
Additional Information
© 2006 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2005 December 30; accepted 2006 January 26. We thank J. R. Dickel for assisting with the observations, an anonymous referee for many helpful comments, and D. G. Schleicher for providing H2O and CN production rates. This work was partially funded by NSF AST 02-28953, AST 02-28963, AST 02-28974, and AST 02-28955, and the Universities of Illinois, Maryland, and California, Berkeley, and Caltech.Attached Files
Published - XIEapj06.pdf
Files
XIEapj06.pdf
Additional details
Identifiers
- Eprint ID
- 24026
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20110616-111150432
Funding
- NSF
- AST 02-28953
- NSF
- AST 02-28963
- NSF
- AST 02-28974
- NSF
- AST 02-28955
- Universities of Illinois
- University of Maryland
- University of California, Berkeley
- Caltech
Dates
- Created
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2011-06-16Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field
Caltech Custom Metadata
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (GPS)