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S.M. Lederer (Univ. FL), H. Campins (Univ. AZ), D.J. Osip (MIT)
Comet Hale-Bopp provided the first opportunity to examine OH jets in the coma of a comet. We presented the observations and initial results of this study in Lederer et al., EM&P, 1999. This included the identification of jets in our OH, NH, CN, \rm C2, \rm C3, and dust narrowband filter images. Here we present an analysis of these jets with emphasis on the OH jets using Monte Carlo models of the inner coma. The images were acquired in March and April, 1997 using Lowell Observatory's 1.1m Hall telescope in conjunction with the \rm 20482 CCD camera. The narrowband filters employed were designed to isolate the continuum in several bandpasses as well as emission from the gas species.
We have developed time-dependent Monte Carlo models with OH jets originating from (1) a nuclear molecular water source, and (2) an extended source of sub-micron organic CHON grains. We compare our observations with these models with the goal of understanding the source of the OH. The parameters that will be discussed include a) the morphology of the jets, b) the enhancement of the jets above the isotropic background, c) the expansion velocity of the jets, and d) the evolution of the jets with time. Preliminary results suggest that an extended source is at least partially responsible for these jets.
This work was supported by NASA.