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Chemical diversity in the comet population

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2016

Nicolas Biver
Affiliation:
LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, PSL Research University, UPMC, Université Paris-Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, F-92195 Meudon, France email: [email protected]
Dominique Bockelée-Morvan
Affiliation:
LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, PSL Research University, UPMC, Université Paris-Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, F-92195 Meudon, France email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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For the last 3 decades, infrared and microwave techniques have enabled the detection of up to 27 parent molecules in the coma of comets. Several molecules have been detected in over 40 different comets. A large diversity of composition is seen in the sample, comprising comets of various dynamical origins. Abundances relative to water for the molecules can vary by a factor 3 to more than 10. The taxonomic study of a sample of comets in which the abundance of several molecules (e.g., HCN, CH3OH, CO, CH4, C2H6, H2S, H2CO, CH3CN, CS, . . .) has been measured does not show any clear grouping. Except for fragments of a common parent comet, every observed comet shows a different composition. The absence of any clear correlation between the volatile content of the comets and their dynamical origin (Kuiper Belt versus Oort Cloud) is consistent with a common origin for these two populations. Their diversity in composition may also suggest that radial and temporal mixing in the early proto-planetary nebula may have played an important role.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2016 

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