Emission from HCN and CH3OH in comets Onsala 20-m observations and radiative transfer modelling
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2022

Aims. The aim of this work is to characterise HCN and CH3OH emission from recent comets. Methods. We used the Onsala 20-m telescope to search for millimetre transitions of HCN towards a sample of 11 recent and mostly bright comets in the period from December 2016 to November 2019. Also, CH3OH was searched for in two comets. The HCN sample includes the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov. For the short-period comet 46P/Wirtanen, we were able to monitor the variation of HCN emission over a time-span of about one month. We performed radiative transfer modelling for the observed molecular emission by also including time-dependent effects due to the outgassing of molecules. Results. HCN was detected in six comets. Two of these are short-period comets and four are long-period. Six methanol transitions were detected in 46P/Wirtanen, enabling us to determine the gas kinetic temperature. From the observations, we determined the molecular production rates using time-dependent radiative transfer modelling. For five comets, we were able to determine that the HCN mixing ratios lie near 0.1% using contemporary water production rates, Q(H2O), taken from other studies. This HCN mixing ratio was also found to be typical in our monitoring observations of 46P/Wirtanen but here we notice deviations of up to 0.2% on a daily timescale which could indicate short-time changes in outgassing activity. From our radiative transfer modelling of cometary comae, we find that time-dependent effects on the HCN level populations are of the order of 5-15% when Q(H2O) is around 2 x 10(28) mol s(-1). The effects may be stronger for comets with lower Q(H2O). The exact details of the time-dependent effects depend on the amount of neutral and electron collisions, radiative pumping, and molecular parameters such as the spontaneous rate coefficient.

radio lines: general

comets: general

Författare

Per Bergman

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Onsala rymdobservatorium

Mikael Lerner

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Onsala rymdobservatorium

Henrik Olofsson

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Onsala rymdobservatorium

Eva Wirström

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Onsala rymdobservatorium

John H Black

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Astronomi och plasmafysik

Per Bjerkeli

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Astronomi och plasmafysik

R. Parra

European Southern Observatory Santiago

K. Torstensson

European Southern Observatory Santiago

Astronomy and Astrophysics

0004-6361 (ISSN) 1432-0746 (eISSN)

Vol. 660 A118

Ämneskategorier

Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi

Atom- och molekylfysik och optik

DOI

10.1051/0004-6361/202142583

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2022-05-12