Boncho P. Bonev et al. 2006 ApJ 653 774 doi:10.1086/508452
Boncho P. Bonev1,2,6, Michael J. Mumma1, Michael A. DiSanti1, Neil Dello Russo3, Karen Magee-Sauer4, Richard S. Ellis5 and Daniel P. Stark5
Show affiliationsWe present high-dispersion infrared spectra of hydroxyl (OH) in comets C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR) and C/2004 Q2 (Machholz), acquired with the Near Infrared Echelle Spectrograph at the Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Most of these rovibrational transitions result from photodissociative excitation of H2O giving rise to OH "prompt" emission. We present calibrated emission efficiencies (equivalent g-factors, measured in OH photons s-1 [H2O molecule]-1) for more than 20 OH lines sampled in these two comets. The OH transitions analyzed cover a broad range of rotational excitation. This infrared database for OH can be used in two principal ways: (1) as an indirect tool for obtaining water production in comets simultaneously with the production of other parent volatiles, even when direct detections of H2O are not available; and (2) as an observational constraint to models predicting the rotational distribution of rovibrationally excited OH produced by water photolysis.
comets: general; comets: individual (C/2000 WM1 [LINEAR], C/2004 Q2 [Machholz]); infrared: solar system; molecular data
Issue 1 (2006 December 10)
Received 2006 May 18, accepted for publication 2006 August 9
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