A study of the distant activity of comet C/2006 W3 (Christensen) with Herschel and ground-based radio telescopes - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A Année : 2010

A study of the distant activity of comet C/2006 W3 (Christensen) with Herschel and ground-based radio telescopes

Résumé

Comet C/2006 W3 (Christensen) was observed in November 2009 at 3.3 AU from the Sun with Herschel.The PACS instrument acquired images of the dust coma in 70-mum and 160-mum filters and spectra covering several H2O rotational lines. Spectra in the range 450-1550 GHz were acquired with SPIRE. The comet emission continuum from 70 to 672 mum was measured, but no lines were detected. The spectral energy distribution indicates thermal emission from large particles and provides a measure of the size distribution index and dust production rate. The upper limit to the water production rate is compared to the production rates of other species (CO, CH3OH, HCN, H2S, OH) measured with the IRAM 30-m and Nançay telescopes. The coma is found to be strongly enriched in species more volatile than water, in comparison to comets observed closer to the Sun. The CO to H2O production rate ratio exceeds 220%. The dust-to-gas production rate ratio is on the order of 1.

Dates et versions

hal-03732329 , version 1 (21-07-2022)

Identifiants

Citer

Dominique Bockelée-Morvan, Paul Hartogh, Jacques Crovisier, Bart Vandenbussche, Bruce Swinyard, et al.. A study of the distant activity of comet C/2006 W3 (Christensen) with Herschel and ground-based radio telescopes. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2010, 518, pp.L149. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361/201014655⟩. ⟨hal-03732329⟩
12 Consultations
0 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More