Published May 18, 2001
| public
Journal Article
Outgassing Behavior and Composition of Comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) During Its Disruption
Abstract
The gas activity of comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) was monitored at radio wavelengths during its disruption. A runaway fragmentation of the nucleus may have begun around 18 July 2000 and proceeded until 23 July. The mass in small icy debris (≤30-centimeter radius) was comparable to the mass in the large fragments seen in optical images. The mass budget after breakup suggests a small nucleus (∼100- to 300-meter radius) that had been losing debris for weeks. The HNC, H_2CO, H_2S, and CS abundances relative to H_2O measured during breakup are consistent with those obtained in other comets. However, a deficiency in CH_3OH and CO is observed.
Additional Information
© 2001 American Association for the Advancement of Science. 21 December 2000; accepted 12 March 2001. We thank J. Bauer and S. Sheppard for their help during the CSO observations, B. Marsden and D. Green for providing ephemerides, and J.-F. Crifo for fruitful discussions. N. Biver was supported partly by a JCMT fellowship at the University of Hawaii. This work was supported by the Programme National de Planétologie de l'Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers (INSU) and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). The JCMT is operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre on behalf of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, and the National Research Council of Canada. The Nancüay Radio Observatory is operated by the Unité Scientifique de Nançay of the Observatoire de Paris, associated with the CNRS and also gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Conseil Régional of the Région Centre in France. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is operated by Associated Universities, under contract with the NSF. The CSO is supported by the NSF.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 51884
- DOI
- 10.1126/science.1058512
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20141118-091352435
- University of Hawaii JCMT fellowship
- Programme National de Planetologie (PNP)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- Conseil Régional of the Région Centre
- NSF
- Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU)
- Created
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2014-11-18Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field