The Identification of H 3S + with the Ion of Mass per Charge (m/q) 35 Observed in the Coma of Comet Halley
Abstract
A sharp peak in the mass spectrum at 35 amu is observed by the heavy ion analyzer on board the Giotto spacecraft just inside the ionopause. This peak is identified with H3S(+) and it is argued that the dominant source of its likely parent molecule (H2S) is the observed distributed source of circumnuclear dust, rather than the central nucleus. In this case, the total production rate of H2S is more than about 0.5 percent that of the dominant cometary molecule H2O.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- March 1990
- DOI:
- 10.1086/185683
- Bibcode:
- 1990ApJ...352L..17M
- Keywords:
-
- Comet Heads;
- Halley'S Comet;
- Heavy Ions;
- Mass Spectra;
- Organic Sulfur Compounds;
- Abundance;
- Energy Distribution;
- Giotto Mission;
- Positive Ions;
- COMETS;
- HALLEY;
- IONS;
- COMAE;
- SPECTRA;
- PICCA INSTRUMENT;
- CHEMISTRY;
- SPACECRAFT OBSERVATIONS;
- GIOTTO MISSION;
- PARENT MOLECULES;
- IONOPAUSE;
- ORIGIN;
- SOURCE;
- PRODUCTION RATE;
- ABUNDANCE;
- MOLECULAR PROCESSES;
- HYDROGEN SULFIDE;
- Astrophysics; Comets;
- ABUNDANCES;
- COMETS;
- MOLECULAR PROCESSES