[Previous] | [Session 31] | [Next]
W. M. Harris, K. H. Nordsieck, F. Scherb, E. J. Mierkiwicz, J. P. Morgenthaler (University of Wisconsin, Madison), R. J. Oliversen (Goddard Space Flight Center)
A series of unique observartions of CO and its daughter products that were obtained simultaneously as part of the University of Wisconsin/Goddard Space Flight Center Hale-Bopp campaign are presented. CO is the second most abundant volatile species in the coma of comets, one that actually dominates production at large heliocentric distances, however its photchemical evolution is poorly understood due to the lack of good emission line tracers in the visible. On 8 April, 1997, we obtained wide field simultaneous observations of CI (1657Å) intensity and polarization from a sounding rocket, OI (6300Å) emission using the Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHaM) facility, and measurements using the McMath-Pierce Solar telescope of CI (9850Å) emission at different points in the inner coma. Combined, these data contain information on the radial distribution, source function, equilibrium structure, photochemical lifetime of CO, and the outflow speed of its C and O daughter products. Combined, these results suggest rapid dissociation of CO in the collisionally thick inner coma of Hale-Bopp, followed by a high velocity outflow of the daughter products. Both results suggest some discrepancies with expectations, and we discuss their implications.