Temporal and Spatial Aspects of Gas Release During the 2010 Apparition of Comet 103P/Hartley-2
2011
We report measurements of eight primary volatiles (H2O, HCN, CH4, C2H6, CH3OH, C2H2, H2CO, and NH3) and two product species (OH and NH2) in comet 103P/Hartley-2 using high dispersion infrared spectroscopy. We present production rates for individual volatiles species, their mixing ratios relative to water, and their spatial distributions in the coma on multiple dates that span the interval Sept. - Dec. 2010. The production rates vary strongly with nucleus rotation, but the mixing ratios remain constant throughout the campaign. The released primary volatiles exhibit diverse spatial properties which favor the presence of separate polar and apolar ice phases in the nucleus, establish dust and gas release from icy clumps (and also, directly from the nucleus), and provide insights into the driver for the cyanogen (CN) polar jet.
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