[en] Isotopic ratios in comets provide keys for the understanding of the origin of cometary material, and the physical and chemical conditions in the early Solar Nebula. A newly discovered peculiar comet, C/2015 ER61, underwent an outburst with a total brightness increase of 2 magnitudes on the night of April 4th, 2017. The sharp increase in brightness offers a rare opportunity to measure the isotopic ratios of the light elements of this comet. We obtained two high-resolution spectra of C/2015 ER61 with UVES on Apr. 13 and Apr. 17 respectively. At the time of our observations, the comet was fading gradually since the outburst. We measured the 12C/13C and 14N/15N isotopic ratios from the CN Violet (0,0) band. In addition, we determined the 14N/15N ratio in NH2 for C/2015 ER61 from four pairs of NH2 isotopologue lines. Some 18OH lines were detected but the S/N of these lines is too low to derive a reliable 18O/16O estimate. We will present our UVES spectra of C/2015 ER61, obtained shortly after the outburst. We will also present the comparison of the Isotopic ratios of C/2015 ER61 with those of other comets.
Disciplines :
Space science, astronomy & astrophysics
Author, co-author :
Yang, Bin; European Southern Observatory
Hutsemekers, Damien ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Astroph. extragalactique et observations spatiales (AEOS)
Shinnaka, Yoshiharu; National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Jehin, Emmanuel ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Origines Cosmologiques et Astrophysiques (OrCa)
Meech, Karen Jean; University of Hawaii
Opitom, Cyrielle; European Southern Observatory
Hainaut, Olivier; European Southern Observatory
Keane, Jacqueline; University of Hawaii
Manfroid, Jean ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO)
Language :
English
Title :
Isotopic Ratios in a Peculiar Outbursting Comet
Publication date :
01 October 2017
Event name :
49th DPS Meeting
Event place :
Provo, United States
Event date :
15-20 October 2017
Audience :
International
Journal title :
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society
ISSN :
0002-7537
eISSN :
2330-9458
Publisher :
American Astronomical Society, New York, United States - New York
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