Coma models of comet 9P/Tempel 1 for the Deep Impact encounter
Abstract
We have employed a suite of computational tools to analyze observations of comet 9P/Tempel 1 (Deep Impact Mission target) in order to gain insights into the intrinsic properties of its nucleus and the important physical and chemical processes that occur in its coma. The computational tools have been developed over the past decades and successfully applied to comets; including ComChem, a global, gas dynamics simulation with chemistry of the cometary coma and Com-Fluo, a time-dependent fluorescence model with collisions and superposition of non-equilibrium states appropriate for molecules of interest in comets. To obtain the chemical composition by modeling the observed spectra, it is important to take into account all relevant physical and chemical processes with sufficient level of details that doesn't oversimplify the interpretation of the complex molecular spectra. We describe a systematic study of the molecules, OH and CN, in comet Tempel 1 prior to and during the Deep Impact event. The model developed is versatile and can be applied to in situ measurements and observations of other comets and molecules. The combination of these powerful tools results in an innovative and unique opportunity to advance our knowledge of parent molecules in comets, and any compositional variations with depth in the case of Deep Impact, thereby gaining clues to understanding the origins of the solar system and possibly the origins of life on Earth. Acknowledgements: We acknowledge funding and support from the SwRI Internal Research and Development Program and the NSF Planetary Astronomy Program.
- Publication:
-
38th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010cosp...38..663B