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S.A. Stern, D.C. Slater, R.G. Gladstone, J. Wm. Parker (SwRI), M.C. Festou (Observatorie de Pyrenees), M.F. A'Hearn (U. Maryland)
On 30.14 March 1997 our EUV telescope/spectrometer was launched on a suborbital trajectory to observe the bright comet 1995O1/Hale-Bopp, at the time of its perihelion. The instrument obtained pioneering long-slit spectra in the little-explored region between 800 A and 1100 A in comets. The resulting data reveal the presence of hydrogen Lyman series, neutral and singly-ionized oxygen (the latter detected spectroscopically for the first time), and neutral argon. The argon features represent the first detection of a noble gas in any comet. Importantly, we find the Ar/O ration in Hale-Bopp to be enriched relative to solar values, with significant implications for the origin of this comet. We analyze and interpret these features, discuss other as yet unidentified features in the spectrum. This research was funded by NASA's Planetary Suborbital Research Program.
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