Detection of abundant ethane and methane, along with carbon monoxide and water, in comet C/1996 B2 Hyakutake: evidence for interstellar origin.

The saturated hydrocarbons ethane (C2H6) and methane (CH4) along with carbon monoxide (CO) and water (H2O) were detected in comet C/1996 B2 Hyakutake with the use of high-resolution infrared spectroscopy at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The inferred production rates of molecular gases from the icy, cometary nucleus (in molecules per second) are 6.4 X 10(26) for C2H6, 1.2 X 10(27) for CH4, 9.8 X 10(27) for CO, and 1.7 X 10(29) for H2O. An abundance of C2H6 comparable to that of CH4 implies that ices in C/1996 B2 Hyakutake did not originate in a thermochemically equilibrated region of the solar nebula. The abundances are consistent with a kinetically controlled production process, but production of C2H6 by gas-phase ion molecule reactions in the natal cloud core is energetically forbidden. The high C2H6/CH4 ratio is consistent with production of C2H6 in icy grain mantles in the natal cloud, either by photolysis of CH4-rich ice or by hydrogen-addition reactions to acetylene condensed from the gas phase.

Organic composition of C/1999 S4 (LINEAR): a comet formed near Jupiter?

In the current paradigm, Oort cloud comets formed in the giant planets' region of the solar nebula, where temperatures and other conditions varied greatly. The measured compositions of four such comets (Halley, Hyakutake, Hale-Bopp, and Lee) are consistent with formation from interstellar ices in the cold nebular region beyond Uranus. The composition of comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) differs greatly, which suggests that its ices condensed from processed nebular gas, probably in the Jupiter-Saturn region. Its unusual organic composition may require reevaluation of the prebiotic organic material delivered to the young Earth by comets.

Identification of two sources of carbon monoxide in comet Hale-Bopp.

The composition of ices in comets may reflect that of the molecular cloud in which the Sun formed, or it may show evidence of chemical processing in the pre-planetary accretion disk around the proto-Sun. As carbon monoxide (CO) is ubiquitous in molecular clouds, its abundance with respect to water could help to determine the degree to which pre-cometary material was processed, although variations in CO abundance may also be influenced by the distance from the Sun at which comets formed. Observations have not hitherto provided an unambiguous measure of CO in the cometary ice (native CO). Evidence for an extended source of CO associated with comet Halley was provided by the Giotto spacecraft, but alternative interpretations exist. Here we report observations of comet Hale-Bopp which show that about half of the CO in the comet comes directly from ice stored in the nucleus. The abundance of this CO with respect to water (12 per cent) is smaller than in quiescent regions of molecular clouds, but is consistent with that measured in proto-stellar envelopes, suggesting that the ices underwent some processing before their inclusion into Hale-Bopp. The remaining CO arises in the coma, probably through thermal destruction of more complex molecules.

Detection of CO and Ethane in Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner: Evidence for Variable Chemistry in the Outer Solar Nebula.

Ethane and carbon monoxide were detected in a short-period comet of probable Kuiper Belt origin. Ethane is substantially less abundant compared with Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp, two comets from the giant-planet region of the solar nebula, suggesting a heliocentric gradient in ethane in precometary ices. It is argued that processing by X-rays from the young Sun may be responsible.