| 1. |
- Meech, K. J., et al.
(författare)
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EPOXI: Comet 103P/Hartley 2 Observations from a Worldwide Campaign
- 2011
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - London : IOP. - 2041-8213 .- 2041-8205. ; 734:L1, s. 1-9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Earth- and space-based observations provide synergistic information for space mission encounters by providing data over longer timescales, at different wavelengths and using techniques that are impossible with an in situ flyby. We report here such observations in support of the EPOXI spacecraft flyby of comet 103P/Hartley 2. The nucleus is small and dark, and exhibited a very rapidly changing rotation period. Prior to the onset of activity, the period was ~16.4?hr. Starting in 2010 August the period changed from 16.6?hr to near 19?hr in December. With respect to dust composition, most volatiles and carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios, the comet is similar to other Jupiter-family comets. What is unusual is the dominance of CO 2 -driven activity near perihelion, which likely persists out to aphelion. Near perihelion the comet nucleus was surrounded by a large halo of water-ice grains that contributed significantly to the total water production.
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| 2. |
- Lis, D. C., et al.
(författare)
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Herschel/HIFI discovery of interstellar chloronium (H2Cl+)
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report the first detection of chloronium, H_2Cl^+, in the interstellar medium, using the HIFI instrument aboard the Herschel Space Observatory. The 2_12-1_01 lines of ortho-H\_2^35Cl^+ and ortho-H\_2^37Cl^+ are detected in absorption towards NGC 6334I, and the 1_11-0_00 transition of para-H\_2^35Cl^+ is detected in absorption towards NGC 6334I and Sgr B2(S). The H_2Cl^+ column densities are compared to those of the chemically-related species HCl. The derived HCl/H_2Cl^+ column density ratios, ~1-10, are within the range predicted by models of diffuse and dense photon dominated regions (PDRs). However, the observed H_2Cl^+ column densities, in excess of 10^13 cm^-2, are significantly higher than the model predictions. Our observations demonstrate the outstanding spectroscopic capabilities of HIFI for detecting new interstellar molecules and providing key constraints for astrochemical models.
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| 3. |
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Highlights from the first year of Odin observations
- 2003
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 402, s. L39-L46
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Key Odin operational and instrumental features and highlights from our sub-millimetre and millimetre wave observations of H2O, H218O, NH3, 15NH3 and O2 are presented, with some insights into accompanying Odin Letters in this A&A issue. We focus on new results where Odin's high angular resolution, high frequency resolution, large spectrometer bandwidths, high sensitivity or/and frequency tuning capability are crucial: H2O mapping of the Orion KL, W3, DR21, S140 regions, and four comets; H2O observations of Galactic Centre sources, of shock enhanced H2O towards the SNR IC443, and of the candidate infall source IRAS 16293-2422; H218O detections in Orion KL and in comet Ikeya-Zhang; sub-mm detections of NH3 in Orion KL (outflow, ambient cloud and bar) and ρ Oph, and very recently, of 15NH3 in~Orion KL. Simultaneous sensitive searches for the 119 GHz line of O2 have resulted in very low abundance limits, which are difficult to accomodate in chemical models. We also demonstrate, by means of a quantitative comparison of Orion KL H2O results, that the Odin and SWAS observational data sets are very consistently calibrated. Odin is a Swedish-led satellite project funded jointly by the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the National Technology Agency of Finland (Tekes), and the Centre National d'études Spatiales (CNES, France). The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) has been the prime industrial contractor, and is also responsible for the satellite operation from its Odin Mission Control Centre at SSC in Solna and its Odin Control Centre at ESRANGE near Kiruna in northern Sweden. See also the SNSB Odin web page: http://www.snsb.se/eng_odin_intro.shtml
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| 4. |
- Liseau, René, 1949, et al.
(författare)
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Multi-line detection of O2 toward rho Ophiuchi A
- 2012
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 541
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Models of pure gas-phase chemistry in well-shielded regions of molecular clouds predict relatively high levels of molecular oxygen, O-2, and water, H2O. These high abundances imply high cooling rates, leading to relatively short timescales for the evolution of gravitationally unstable dense cores, forming stars and planets. Contrary to expectations, the dedicated space missions SWAS and Odin typically found only very small amounts of water vapour and essentially no O-2 in the dense star-forming interstellar medium. Aims. Only toward rho OphA did Odin detect a very weak line of O-2 at 119 GHz in a beam of size 10 arcmin. The line emission of related molecules changes on angular scales of the order of some tens of arcseconds, requiring a larger telescope aperture such as that of the Herschel Space Observatory to resolve the O-2 emission and pinpoint its origin. Methods. We use the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI) aboard Herschel to obtain high resolution O-2 spectra toward selected positions in the rho Oph A core. These data are analysed using standard techniques for O2 excitation and compared to recent PDR-like chemical cloud models. Results. The N-J = 3(3)-1(2) line at 487.2 GHz is clearly detected toward all three observed positions in the rho Oph A core. In addition, an oversampled map of the 5(4)-3(4) transition at 773.8 GHz reveals the detection of the line in only half of the observed area. On the basis of their ratios, the temperature of the O-2 emitting gas appears to vary quite substantially, with warm gas (greater than or similar to 50 K) being adjacent to a much colder region, of temperatures lower than 30 K. Conclusions. The exploited models predict that the O-2 column densities are sensitive to the prevailing dust temperatures, but rather insensitive to the temperatures of the gas. In agreement with these models, the observationally determined O-2 column densities do not seem to depend strongly on the derived gas temperatures, but fall into the range N(O-2) = 3 to greater than or similar to 6 x 10(15) cm(-2). Beam-averaged O-2 abundances are about 5 x 10(-8) relative to H-2. Combining the HIFI data with earlier Odin observations yields a source size at 119 GHz in the range of 4 to 5 arcmin, encompassing the entire rho Oph A core. We speculate that one of the reasons for the generally very low detection rate of O-2 is the short period of time during which O-2 molecules are reasonably abundant in molecular clouds.
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| 5. |
- Biver, N., et al.
(författare)
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Isotopic ratios of H, C, N, O, and S in comets C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) and C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy)
- 2016
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 589, s. Art. no. A78-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The apparition of bright comets C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) and C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) in March-April 2013 and January 2015, combined with the improved observational capabilities of submillimeter facilities, offered an opportunity to carry out sensitive compositional and isotopic studies of the volatiles in their coma. We observed comet Lovejoy with the IRAM 30 m telescope between 13 and 26 January 2015, and with the Odin submillimeter space observatory on 29 January-3 February 2015. We detected 22 molecules and several isotopologues. The (H2O)-O-16 and (H2O)-O-18 production rates measured with Odin follow a periodic pattern with a period of 0.94 days and an amplitude of similar to 25%. The inferred isotope ratios in comet Lovejoy are O-16/O-18 = 499 +/- 24 and D/H = 1.4 +/- 0.4 x 10(-4) in water, S-32/S-34 = 24.7 +/- 3.5 in CS, all compatible with terrestrial values. The ratio C-12/C-13 = 109 +/- 14 in HCN is marginally higher than terrestrial and N-14/N-15 = 145 +/- 12 in HCN is half the Earth ratio. Several upper limits for D/H or C-12/C-13 in other molecules are reported. From our observation of HDO in comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy), we report the first D/H ratio in an Oort Cloud comet that is not larger than the terrestrial value. On the other hand, the observation of the same HDO line in the other Oort-cloud comet, C/2012 F6 (Lemmon), suggests a D/H value four times higher. Given the previous measurements of D/H in cometary water, this illustrates that a diversity in the D/H ratio and in the chemical composition, is present even within the same dynamical group of comets, suggesting that current dynamical groups contain comets formed at very different places or times in the early solar system.
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| 6. |
- Biver, N., et al.
(författare)
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Radio observations of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 before and after Deep Impact
- 2007
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Ingår i: Icarus. - : Elsevier BV. - 1090-2643 .- 0019-1035. ; 191:2, s. 494-512
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Comet 9P/Tempel 1 was the target of a multi-wavelength worldwide investigation in 2005. The NASA Deep Impact mission reached the comet on 4.24 July 2005, delivering a 370-kg impactor which hit the comet at 10.3 km s -1 . Following this impact, a cloud of gas and dust was excavated from the comet nucleus. The comet was observed in 2005 prior to and after the impact, at 18-cm wavelength with the Nançay radio telescope, in the millimeter range with the IRAM and CSO radio telescopes, and at 557 GHz with the Odin satellite. OH observations at Nançay provided a 4-month monitoring of the outgassing of the comet from March to June, followed by the observation of H 2 O with Odin from June to August 2005. The peak of outgassing was found to be around 1 × 10 28 molec. s -1 between May and July. Observations conducted with the IRAM 30-m radio telescope in May and July 2005 resulted in detections of HCN, CH 3 OH and H 2 S with classical abundances relative to water (0.12, 2.7 and 0.5%, respectively). In addition, a variation of the HCN production rate with a period of 1.73 ± 0.10 days was observed in May 2005, consistent with the 1.7-day rotation period of the nucleus. The phase of these variations, as well as those of CN seen in July by Jehin et al. [Jehin, E., Manfroid, J., Hutsemékers, D., Cochran, A.L., Arpigny, C., Jackson, W.M., Rauer, H., Schulz, R., Zucconi, J.-M., 2006. Astrophys. J. 641, L145-L148], is consistent with a rotation period of the nucleus of 1.715 days and a strong variation of the outgassing activity by a factor 3 from minimum to maximum. This also implies that the impact took place on the rising phase of the "natural" outgassing which reached its maximum ≈4 h after the impact. Post-impact observations at IRAM and CSO did not reveal a significant change of the outgassing rates and relative abundances, with the exception of CH 3 OH which may have been more abundant by up to one order of magnitude in the ejecta. Most other variations are linked to the intrinsic variability of the comet. The Odin satellite monitored nearly continuously the H 2 O line at 557 GHz during the 38 h following the impact on the 4th of July, in addition to weekly monitoring. Once the periodic variations related to the nucleus rotation are removed, a small increase of outgassing related to the impact is present, which corresponds to the release of ≈ 5000 ± 2000 tons of water. Two other bursts of activity, also observed at other wavelengths, were seen on 23 June and 7 July; they correspond to even larger releases of gas. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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| 7. |
- Biver, N., et al.
(författare)
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Radio observations of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 before and after Deep Impact
- 2007
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Ingår i: Icarus. - : Elsevier BV. - 1090-2643 .- 0019-1035. ; 187:1, s. 253-271
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Comet 9P/Tempel 1 was the target of a multi-wavelength worldwide investigation in 2005. The NASA Deep Impact mission reached the comet on 4.24 July 2005, delivering a 370-kg impactor which hit the comet at 10.3 km s -1 . Following this impact, a cloud of gas and dust was excavated from the comet nucleus. The comet was observed in 2005 prior to and after the impact, at 18-cm wavelength with the Nançay radio telescope, in the millimeter range with the IRAM and CSO radio telescopes, and at 557 GHz with the Odin satellite. OH observations at Nançay provided a 4-month monitoring of the outgassing of the comet from March to June, followed by the observation of H 2 O with Odin from June to August 2005. The peak of outgassing was found to be around 1 × 10 28 molec. s -1 between May and July. Observations conducted with the IRAM 30-m radio telescope in May and July 2005 resulted in detections of HCN, CH 3 OH and H 2 S with classical abundances relative to water (0.12, 2.7 and 0.5%, respectively). In addition, a variation of the HCN production rate with a period of 1.73 ± 0.10 days was observed in May 2005, consistent with the 1.7-day rotation period of the nucleus. The phase of these variations, as well as those of CN seen in July by Jehin et al. [Jehin, E., Manfroid, J., Hutsemékers, D., Cochran, A.L., Arpigny, C., Jackson, W.M., Rauer, H., Schulz, R., Zucconi, J.-M., 2006. Astrophys. J. 641, L145-L148], is consistent with a rotation period of the nucleus of 1.715 days and a strong variation of the outgassing activity by a factor 3 from minimum to maximum. This also implies that the impact took place on the rising phase of the "natural" outgassing which reached its maximum ≈4 h after the impact. Post-impact observations at IRAM and CSO did not reveal a significant change of the outgassing rates and relative abundances, with the exception of CH 3 OH which may have been more abundant by up to one order of magnitude in the ejecta. Most other variations are linked to the intrinsic variability of the comet. The Odin satellite monitored nearly continuously the H 2 O line at 557 GHz during the 38 h following the impact on the 4th of July, in addition to weekly monitoring. Once the periodic variations related to the nucleus rotation are removed, a small increase of outgassing related to the impact is present, which corresponds to the release of ≈ 5000 ± 2000 tons of water. Two other bursts of activity, also observed at other wavelengths, were seen on 23 June and 7 July; they correspond to even larger releases of gas. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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| 8. |
- Goldsmith, Paul F., et al.
(författare)
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Herschel Measurements of Molecular Oxygen in Orion
- 2011
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 737:2, s. 96 (1-17)
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report observations of three rotational transitions of molecular oxygen (O2) in emission from the H2 Peak 1 position of vibrationally excited molecular hydrogen in Orion. We observed the 487 GHz, 774 GHz, and 1121 GHz lines using the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared on the Herschel Space Observatory, having velocities of 11 km s–1 to 12 km s–1 and widths of 3 km s–1. The beam-averaged column density is N(O2) = 6.5 × 1016 cm–2, and assuming that the source has an equal beam-filling factor for all transitions (beam widths 44, 28, and 19''), the relative line intensities imply a kinetic temperature between 65 K and 120 K. The fractional abundance of O2 relative to H2 is (0.3-7.3) × 10–6. The unusual velocity suggests an association with a ~5'' diameter source, denoted Peak A, the Western Clump, or MF4. The mass of this source is ~10 Msun and the dust temperature is ≥150 K. Our preferred explanation of the enhanced O2 abundance is that dust grains in this region are sufficiently warm (T ≥ 100 K) to desorb water ice and thus keep a significant fraction of elemental oxygen in the gas phase, with a significant fraction as O2. For this small source, the line ratios require a temperature ≥180 K. The inferred O2 column density sime5 × 1018 cm–2 can be produced in Peak A, having N(H2) sime 4 × 1024 cm–2. An alternative mechanism is a low-velocity (10-15 km s–1) C-shock, which can produce N(O2) up to 1017 cm–2.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Larsson, B., et al.
(författare)
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First NH3 detection of the Orion Bar
- 2003
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 402, s. L69-L72
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Odin has successfully observed three regions in the Orion A cloud, i.e. Ori KL, Ori S and the Orion Bar, in the 572.5 GHz rotational ground state line of ammonia, ortho-NH3 (J,K) = (1,0) -> (0,0), and the result for the Orion Bar represents the first detection in an ammonia line. Several velocity components are present in the data. Specifically, the observed line profile from the Orion Bar can be decomposed into two components, which are in agreement with observations in high-J CO lines by Wilson et al. (\cite{wilson01}). Using the source model for the Orion Bar by these authors, our Odin observation implies a total ammonia abundance of NH3/H2 = 5x 10-9. Based on observations with Odin, a Swedish-led satellite project funded jointly by the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the National Technology Agency of Finland (Tekes) and Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES). The Swedish Space Corporation has been the industrial prime contractor.
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