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Originally published in Science Express on 15 September 2005
Science 14 October 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5746, pp. 270 - 274
DOI: 10.1126/science.1119337
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Reports

Parent Volatiles in Comet 9P/Tempel 1: Before and After Impact

Michael J. Mumma,1* Michael A. DiSanti,1 Karen Magee-Sauer,2 Boncho P. Bonev,1,3 Geronimo L. Villanueva,1 Hideyo Kawakita,4 Neil Dello Russo,5 Erika L. Gibb,6 Geoffrey A. Blake,7 James E. Lyke,8 Randall D. Campbell,8 Joel Aycock,8 Al Conrad,8 Grant M. Hill8

We quantified eight parent volatiles (H2O, C2H6, HCN, CO, CH3OH, H2CO, C2H2, and CH4) in the Jupiter-family comet Tempel 1 using high-dispersion infrared spectroscopy in the wavelength range 2.8 to 5.0 micrometers. The abundance ratio for ethane was significantly higher after impact, whereas those for methanol and hydrogen cyanide were unchanged. The abundance ratios in the ejecta are similar to those for most Oort cloud comets, but methanol and acetylene are lower in Tempel 1 by a factor of about 2. These results suggest that the volatile ices in Tempel 1 and in most Oort cloud comets originated in a common region of the protoplanetary disk.

1 Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
2 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028–1701, USA.
3 Ritter Astrophysical Research Center, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA.
4 Department of Physics, Kyoto Sangyo University, Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto 603-8555, Japan.
5 Space Department, Planetary Exploration Group, Applied Physics Laboratory/Johns Hopkins University, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723–6099, USA.
6 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, St. Louis, MO 63121–4499, USA.
7 Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
8 W. M. Keck Observatory, 65-1120 Mamalahoa Highway, Kameula, HI 96743, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: michael.j.mumma{at}nasa.gov

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Deep Impact: Observations from a Worldwide Earth-Based Campaign.
K. J. Meech, N. Ageorges, M. F. A'Hearn, C. Arpigny, A. Ates, J. Aycock, S. Bagnulo, J. Bailey, R. Barber, L. Barrera, et al. (2005)
Science 310, 265-269
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