Cover Page/Proposal Summary
ROSS-99 NRA 99-OSS-01
Date Due: 5/3/99
This proposal shall be used and disclosed for evaluation purposes only, and a copy of this Government notice shall be applied to any reproduction or abstract thereof. Any authorized restrictive notices that the submitter places on this proposal shall also be strictly complied with. Disclosure of this proposal for any reason outside the Government evaluation purposes shall be made only to the extent authorized by the Government. |
Proposal Type: New Proposal |
Proposal Category: Comets |
Major Equipment Proposal? No |
Do you intend to submit an Education/Public Outreach (E/PO) proposal? No |
Proposal Title: |
The composition and heliocentric dependence of organics in comet Hyakutake |
Abbreviated Proposal Title: |
Organics in comet Hyakutake |
Principal Investigator: |
Dr.
Michael Mumma Lab. for Extraterrestrial Physics Mail Code 690 NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Buiding 2 Room 150 Greenbelt, MD 20771 Phone: 301-286-6994 Fax: 301-286-0212 E-mail: mmumma@lepvax.gsfc.nasa.gov |
Signature | Date |
_____________________________________ | ____________ |
Co-Investigators and Collaborators: | |||
Type | Name | Affiliation | |
Sci Co-I | Dr. Neil Dello Russo | GSFC and Catholic University | ysndr@lepvax.gsfc.nasa.gov |
Sci Co-I | Dr. Michael A. DiSanti | GSFC and Catholic University | disanti@kuiper.gsfc.nasa.gov |
Sci Co-I | Dr. Karen Magee-Sauer | Rowan University | sauer@rowan.edu |
Sci Co-I | Dr. Dennis C. Reuter | Code 693, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | u3dcr@lepvax.gsfc.nasa.gov |
Proposal Summary:
We acquired several thousand spectra of comets Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp, using CSHELL at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. Quick-look results were published for Hyakutake, and in-depth analyses are now being published for Hale-Bopp. This proposal requests funding to conduct in depth spectral analysis of organics in comet Hyakutake. We will use data algorithms developed and proved during our reductions of Hale-Bopp spectra. We will develop improved (nu2, nu3, nu9) fluorescence models for methanol and an improved model for methane (nu3). We will obtain extended heliocentric coverage by combining our P.I. data base (1 au heliocentric) with the spectral survey (3.2 - 3.6µm) acquired by the Hyakutake team at IRTF (0.45au). CO, C2H6, CH4, and methanol are present in both data sets, so we will begin with them. We expect to obtain rotational temperatures, production rates, and heliocentric dependence for detected species. Upper limits will be derived for interesting species when appropriate, and we will search for a possible signature of organic grains in the cometary continuum. The results will provide the first study of cometary organics based on a spectrally-complete, unbiased, high dispersion infrared spectrum of a bright comet.