Serendipitous Images of Methanol in Comet Levy (1990 XX)
Abstract
New modeling of the infrared fluorescence of methanol by D.C. Reuter (1992, Astrophys. J. 386, 330-335) indicates that the infra-red images of Comet Levy (1990 XX) from 1990 August 10 reported by J. J. Klavetter and S. Hoban (1992, Icarus 95, 60-64) are the first two-dimensional maps of methanol in a cometary coma. In this note, a methanol production rate of 3 ± 1 × 1026 sec-1 and an abundance relative to water of M ≈ 0.1% are retrieved from the infrared images using Reuter's model.
- Publication:
-
Icarus
- Pub Date:
- July 1993
- DOI:
- 10.1006/icar.1993.1089
- Bibcode:
- 1993Icar..104..149H
- Keywords:
-
- Astronomical Photography;
- Chemical Composition;
- Comet Nuclei;
- Infrared Imagery;
- Methyl Alcohol;
- Abundance;
- Emission Spectra;
- Infrared Spectra;
- Spatial Distribution;
- Spectrum Analysis