The Volatile Composition of the Split Ecliptic comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3: A Comparison of Fragments C and B
Abstract
The composition of fragments C and B of the Jupiter-family comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (SW3) was investigated in early April of 2006 at IR wavelengths using high-dispersion echelle spectroscopy. Both fragments were depleted in ethane, and C was depleted in most forms of volatile carbon. In particular, fragment C shows a severe depletion of CH_(3)OH but a "normal" abundance of HCN (which has a similar volatility). Thermal processing is a possible explanation, but since fragment B is perhaps sublimating fresher material because of the frequent outbursts and fragmentation, the observed depletions might have cosmogonic implications. The chemistry of the volatile ices in SW3, like in the Oort Cloud comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR), may be associated with sublimation of icy mantles from precometary grains followed by subsequent gas-phase chemistry and recondensation.
Additional Information
© 2006 American Astronomical Society. Received 2006 June 20; accepted 2006 September 1; published 2006 September 26. G. L. V. acknowledges support under the NPP Resident Research Associateship Program managed by ORAU. This work was supported by the NASA Planetary Astronomy Program (RTOP 344-32-98 to M. A. D. and RTOP 344-32-07 to M. J. M.) and the NASA Astrobiology Program (RTOP 344-53-51 to M. J. M.). K. M.-S. acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation RUI Program (0407052). G. A. B. acknowledges support from the NASA Origins of Solar Systems program. We thank James Lyke and the staff of Keck Observatory for general support. The data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory operated as a scientific partnership among Caltech, UCLA, and NASA. This Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.Attached Files
Published - VILapjl06.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 24577
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20110728-093115090
- NPP Resident Research Associateship Program managed by ORAU
- NASA
- RTOP 344-32-98
- NASA
- RTOP 344-32-07
- NASA
- RTOP 344-53-51
- NSF
- AST-0407052
- Created
-
2011-07-28Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (GPS)