[en] The 2018 perihelion passage of comet 46P/Wirtanen afforded an extraordinary opportunity for ground-based observations to measure the volatile composition and coma spatial associations in a Jupiter-family comet with nearly mission-scale sensitivity during its closest approach to Earth. We conducted near-infrared spectroscopic observations of 46P/Wirtanen using iSHELL at the NASA-IRTF on UT 2018 December 18. We sampled fluorescence emission from a suite of volatiles, including H2O, CH3OH, C2H6, HCN, C2H2, and NH3. Our measurements were conducted simultaneously with observations using the newly upgraded NIRSPEC-2 instrument at the Keck 2 telescope.
Disciplines :
Space science, astronomy & astrophysics
Author, co-author :
Roth, Nathan; University of Missouri-St. Louis, 1 University Blvd. St. Louis, MO, 63121, USA ; Visiting Astronomer at the Infrared Telescope Facility
Gibb, Erika; University of Missouri-St. Louis, 1 University Blvd. St. Louis, MO, 63121, USA ; Visiting Astronomer at the Infrared Telescope Facility
Dello Russo, Neil; Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, USA ; Visiting Astronomer at the Infrared Telescope Facility
Bonev, Boncho; American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington DC, 20016, USA ; Visiting Astronomer at the Infrared Telescope Facility
DiSanti, Michael; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA ; Visiting Astronomer at the Infrared Telescope Facility
Vervack, Ronald; Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, USA ; Visiting Astronomer at the Infrared Telescope Facility
Kawakita, Hideyo; Koyama Astronomical Observatory, Kyoto Sangyo University, Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-Ku, Kyoto, 603-8555, Japan ; Visiting Astronomer at the Infrared Telescope Facility
Saki, Mohammad; University of Missouri-St. Louis, 1 University Blvd. St. Louis, MO, 63121, USA ; Visiting Astronomer at the Infrared Telescope Facility
McKay, Adam; McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin, 2512 Speedway, Stop C1402, Austin, TX, 78712, USA ; Visiting Astronomer at the Infrared Telescope Facility
Cochran, Anita; Institut d'Astrophysique et de Géophysique de l'Université de Liège, Allée du 6 août 17, 4000 Liège, Belgium ; Visiting Astronomer at the Infrared Telescope Facility
Jehin, Emmanuel ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Origines Cosmologiques et Astrophysiques (OrCa)
Cordiner, Martin; Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, USA ; Visiting Astronomer at the Infrared Telescope Facility
Weaver, Harold; LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 5 Place Jules Janssen, F-92195 Meudon, France ; Visiting Astronomer at the Infrared Telescope Facility
Biver, Nicolas; LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 5 Place Jules Janssen, F-92195 Meudon, France ; Visiting Astronomer at the Infrared Telescope Facility)
