The Primary Volatile Composition of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS)

Author

Aaron Butler, University of Missouri-St. LouisFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Science

Major

Physics, Astrophysics

Date of Defense

5-14-2020

Graduate Advisor

Bruce Wilking Ph. D.

Committee

Erika Gibb Ph. D.

Bruce Wilking Ph. D.

Sonya Bahar Ph. D.

Abstract

In the outer edges of the solar system exist two regions: the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud. These two regions have a high amount of icy bodies (comets) orbiting the Sun. Comets located within the Oort cloud and Kuiper belt contain an ancient codex to the solar systems contents, before the formation of our solar system. Presented are near-infrared, high-resolution (λ/Δλ ~40000) data obtained from the immersion-grating echelle spectrograph iSHELL at the 3m NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) in Maunakea, Hawaii of the Oort cloud comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS). Observations took place on April 15 and 17 in 2017 while the comet was declining after a dramatic outburst. We used two settings (LCustom and LP1) to measure the production rates and abundances (or upper limits) of H₂O, CH₃OH, C₂H_2, C₂H₆, HCN, and H₂CO. We found the comet to be enriched in C₂H₂, normal in H₂CO, and depleted in other detected volatiles compared to other Oort cloud comets.

Recommended Citation

Butler, Aaron, "The Primary Volatile Composition of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS)" (2020). Theses. 385.
https://irl.umsl.edu/thesis/385