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

Science

Volumn 272, Issue 5266, 1996, Pages 1310-1314

  Mumma, Michael J ^a   DiSanti, Michael A ^b   Dello Russo, Neil ^a   Fomenkova, Marina ^c   Magee Sauer, Karen ^d   Kaminski, Charles D ^e   Xie, David X ^a  

^a NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER   (United States)

^b CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^d The College of New Jersey   (United States)

^e NASA INFRARED TELESCOPE FACILITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CARBON MONOXIDE; COMET C/1996 B2 HYAKUTAKE; ETHANE; INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY; METHANE; WATER;

CARBON MONOXIDE; ETHANE; ICE; METHANE; WATER;

ARTICLE; ASTRONOMY; MICROCLIMATE; NON-PROGRAMMATIC; SPECTROSCOPY;

NON-PROGRAMMATIC;

CARBON MONOXIDE; ETHANE; EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENT; ICE; METEOROIDS; METHANE; SPECTRUM ANALYSIS; WATER;

EID: 0029665392     PISSN: 00368075     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1126/science.272.5266.1310     Document Type: Article

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67. This work was supported by the Planetary Astronomy Program of the Research Programs Division, National Aeronautics and Space Administration under RTOP 196-41-54 to M.J.M. and M.A.D., N.D.R. and D.X.X. acknowledge support as Resident Research Associates from the National Research Council. K.M.S. acknowledges support from the NASA JOVE Program, and from the NASA Planetary Atmospheres Program under grant NAGW-461 to R. E. Johnson (Univ. of Virginia). M.F. acknowledges support under the NSF Visiting Professorship for Women Program. D. K. Yeomans provided updated ephemerides for Hyakutake. M.J.M. thanks S. B. Charnley and T. J. Millar for insightful discussions regarding interstellar chemistry, and D. C. Reuter for review. We thank R. Joseph for approving our target of opportunity request, and we thank the IRTF staff for their operational support.