Deuterium in Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp): Detection of DCN
10.1126/science.279.5357.1707
Crossref journal-article
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Science (221)
Abstract

Deuterated hydrogen cyanide (DCN) was detected in a comet, C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp), with the use of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The inferred deuterium/hydrogen (D/H) ratio in hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is (D/H) HCN = (2.3 ± 0.4) × 10 −3 . This ratio is higher than the D/H ratio found in cometary water and supports the interstellar origin of cometary ices. The observed values of D/H in water and HCN imply a kinetic temperature ≥30 ± 10 K in the fragment of interstellar cloud that formed the solar system.

Bibliography

Meier, R., Owen, T. C., Jewitt, D. C., Matthews, H. E., Senay, M., Biver, N., Bockelée-Morvan, D., Crovisier, J., & Gautier, D. (1998). Deuterium in Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp): Detection of DCN. Science, 279(5357), 1707–1710.

Authors 9
  1. Roland Meier (first)
  2. Tobias C. Owen (additional)
  3. David C. Jewitt (additional)
  4. Henry E. Matthews (additional)
  5. Matthew Senay (additional)
  6. Nicolas Biver (additional)
  7. Dominique Bockelée-Morvan (additional)
  8. Jacques Crovisier (additional)
  9. Daniel Gautier (additional)
References 46 Referenced 151
  1. 10.1126/science.279.5352.842
  2. Halley:
  3. Eberhardt P., Reber M., Krankowsky D., Hodges R. R., Astron. Astrophys. 302, 301 (1995); / Astron. Astrophys. by Eberhardt P. (1995)
  4. Balsiger H., Altwegg K., Geiss J., J. Geophys. Res. 100, 5287 (1995); (10.1029/94JA02936) / J. Geophys. Res. by Balsiger H. (1995)
  5. . Hyakutake: D. Bockelée-Morvan et al. Icarus in press. As explained in (1) the quoted value is the in situ determination in Halley which has a much higher precision than remote measurements.
  6. This theory was developed by W. D. Watson [ Rev. Mod. Phys. 48 513 (1976)]. Observations have been summarized for example by W. M. Irvine and R. F. Knacke
  7. (26) and E. F. van Dishoeck G. A. Blake B. T. Draine and J. I. Lunine [in Protostars and Planets III E. H. Levy and J. I. Lunine Eds. (Univ. of Arizona Press Tucson 1993) pp. 163-241].
  8. The Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) for JCMT. SCUBA can also observe at 450 μm with an array of 91 bolometers.
  9. F is the quantum number for the total angular momentum including nuclear spin. The nuclear quadropole moment of the 14 N atom in HCN and DCN leads to a hyperfine splitting of the lower rotational levels J [Nguyen-Van-Than and I. Rossi J. Mol. Spectrosc. 157 68 (1993)].
  10. Bockelée-Morvan D., Padman R., Davis J. K., Crovisier J., Planet. Space Sci. 42, 655 (1994). (10.1016/0032-0633(94)90043-4) / Planet. Space Sci. by Bockelée-Morvan D. (1994)
  11. 10.1126/science.278.5335.90
  12. 10.1016/0016-7037(89)90286-X
  13. Biver N., et al., Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 29, 1047 (1997); / Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. by Biver N. (1997)
  14. . See also discussion in (1).
  15. Crovisier J., Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 68, 223 (1987). / Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. by Crovisier J. (1987)
  16. Transition SO 2 13 2 12 –12 1 11 at 345.3385391 GHz if present is to a large extent blended by the H 13 CN 4–3 line [
  17. Bockelée-Morvan D., et al., Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 29, 1047 (1997); / Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. by Bockelée-Morvan D. (1997)
  18. ]. The solution based on the hyperfine components of HCN 4–3 does not depend on the H 13 CN line and shows that a potential SO 2 contamination is not detectable within the error bars.
  19. At the time of the observations the comet was passing in front of a Taurus molecular cloud and we were careful to exclude the possibility of contamination by background sources. We took extensive measurements with and without the comet in the foreground. The day before the DCN measurement the comet traversed L1497 a strong CO source with a bipolar velocity field (28). We could identify a double peak from the cloud in the wing of the cometary CO 3–2 line blueshifted by about 2 km s −1 in the observer's frame of reference. No such wing extensions were seen in the cometary HCN 4–3 line. On the next day when we recorded the DCN 5–4 spectrum the CO line from the cloud was redshifted by ∼3 to 4 km s −1 consistent with low-resolution CO velocity maps of that area (28). In control measurements without the comet we recovered all CO lines attributed to the cloud and demonstrated that an HCN 4–3 line (or any line other than CO lines) from the background sources was not detectable down to the 1% level relative to the cometary line at any of the positions of the comet. Summarizing we exclude a contamination by emissions from the Taurus clouds for the following reasons: (i) Potential DCN lines from the cloud were either blueshifted or redshifted relative to the cometary line. (ii) For none of the positions in the cloud could we detect the HCN 4–3 or any line other than CO. (iii) On the basis of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory line atlas (29) there exists no line that—in the velocity frame of the cloud—may have serendipitously interfered with the cometary DCN position. (iv) Even if there were such a line the observed FWHM still suggests a cometary origin because lines from the cloud are about half as wide. We were pointing 2° northwest of the deuterium-rich clumps TMC1 and TMC2.
  20. Gautier D., Morel P., Astron. Astrophys. 323, L9 (1997); / Astron. Astrophys. by Gautier D. (1997)
  21. ; J. Geiss in Origin and Evolution of the Elements N. Prantzos E. Vangioni-Flam M. Cassé Eds. (Cambridge Univ. Press Cambridge 1993) pp. 89–106;
  22. Niemann H., et al., Science 272, 846 (1996). (10.1126/science.272.5263.846) / Science by Niemann H. (1996)
  23. Lecluse C., Robert F., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 58, 2927 (1994). (10.1016/0016-7037(94)90126-0) / Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta by Lecluse C. (1994)
  24. B. Fegley Jr. and R. G. Prinn in The Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems H. A. Weaver and L. Danly Eds. (Cambridge Univ. Press Cambridge 1989) pp. 171–211.
  25. A. Wootten in Astrochemistry M. S. Vardya and S. P. Tarafdar Eds. (IAU Symposium 120 Reidel Dordrecht Netherlands 1987) pp. 311–319; (10.1007/978-94-009-4774-0_53)
  26. Jones A. P., Williams D. A., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 209, 955 (1984). (10.1093/mnras/209.4.955) / Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. by Jones A. P. (1984)
  27. Millar T. J., Bennett A., Herbst E., Astrophys. J. 340, 906 (1989). (10.1086/167444) / Astrophys. J. by Millar T. J. (1989)
  28. Brown P. D., Millar T. J., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 237, 661 (1989); (10.1093/mnras/237.3.661) / Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. by Brown P. D. (1989)
  29. Jacq T., et al., Astron. Astrophys. 228, 447 (1990). / Astron. Astrophys. by Jacq T. (1990)
  30. J. M. Greenberg in Comets and the Origin of Life C. Ponnamperuma Ed. (Reidel Dordrecht Netherlands 1981) pp. 111–127. (10.1007/978-94-009-8528-5_10)
  31. A. P. Boss G. E. Morfill W. M. Tscharnuter in Origin and Evolution of Planetary and Satellite Atmospheres S. K. Atreya J. B. Pollack M. S. Matthews Eds. (Univ. of Arizona Press Tucson 1989) pp. 35–77; (10.2307/j.ctv20dsb5m.6)
  32. Dubrulle B., Icarus 106, 59 (1993). (10.1006/icar.1993.1158) / Icarus by Dubrulle B. (1993)
  33. Lunine J. I., Engel S., Rizk B., Horanyi M., Icarus 94, 333 (1991). (10.1016/0019-1035(91)90232-I) / Icarus by Lunine J. I. (1991)
  34. This picture is consistent with the average formation temperature of 50 K for Oort cloud comets deduced from laboratory studies of noble gas trapping in ice [T. Owen and A. Bar-Nun in Conference Proceedings No. 341 K. Farley Ed. (American Institute of Physics New York 1995) pp. 123–138].
  35. Owen T. C., Bar-Nun A., Icarus 116, 215 (1995). (10.1006/icar.1995.1122) / Icarus by Owen T. C. (1995)
  36. 10.1126/science.277.5331.1488
  37. ; see also V. A. Krasnopolsky et al. IAU Circ. 6625 (1997).
  38. D. Gautier B. J. Smith T. Owen I. de Pater S. K. Atreya in Neptune and Triton D. P. Cruikshank Ed. (Univ. of Arizona Press Tucson 1995) pp. 547–612.
  39. W. M. Irvine and R. F. Knacke in Origin and Evolution of Planetary and Satellite Atmospheres S. K. Atreya J. B. Pollack M. S. Matthews Eds. (Univ. of Arizona Press Tucson 1989) pp. 3–34.
  40. R. Meier D. Wellnitz S. J. Kim M. F. A'Hearn in preparation.
  41. Ungerechts H., Thaddeus P., Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 63, 645 (1987). (10.1086/191176) / Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. by Ungerechts H. (1987)
  42. R. L. Pointer and H. M. Pickett Appl. Opt. 24 2235 (1985). (10.1364/AO.24.002235)
  43. Kim K., King W. T., J. Chem. Phys. 71, 1967 (1979). (10.1063/1.438510) / J. Chem. Phys. by Kim K. (1979)
  44. D. R. Bates and E. Herbst in Rate Coefficients in Astrochemistry T. J. Millar and D. A. Williams Eds. (Kluwer Academic Dordrecht Netherlands 1988) pp. 41–48. The predictions of D/H in H 2 O may be changed by new experimental results on the dissociative electron recombination of H 3 O + and proton transfer to and from H 2 O [ (10.1007/978-94-009-3007-0_3)
  45. Williams T. L., Adams N. G., Babcock L. M., Herd C. R., Geoghegan M., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 282, 413 (1996)]. (10.1093/mnras/282.2.413) / Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. by Williams T. L. (1996)
  46. We thank the operators of the JCMT for their assistance B. Marsden and D. Tholen for help with the ephemerides and P. Eberhardt for valuable comments on the manuscript. Supported by NASA grants NAEW 2650 and NAEW 2631. D.C.J. acknowledges support from NSF grant AST96-15603. The JCMT is operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre on behalf of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council of the United Kingdom the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and the National Research Council of Canada.
Dates
Type When
Created 23 years, 1 month ago (July 27, 2002, 5:42 a.m.)
Deposited 1 year, 7 months ago (Jan. 13, 2024, 1:09 a.m.)
Indexed 21 hours, 53 minutes ago (Aug. 28, 2025, 8:26 a.m.)
Issued 27 years, 5 months ago (March 13, 1998)
Published 27 years, 5 months ago (March 13, 1998)
Published Print 27 years, 5 months ago (March 13, 1998)
Funders 0

None

@article{Meier_1998, title={Deuterium in Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp): Detection of DCN}, volume={279}, ISSN={1095-9203}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.279.5357.1707}, DOI={10.1126/science.279.5357.1707}, number={5357}, journal={Science}, publisher={American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}, author={Meier, Roland and Owen, Tobias C. and Jewitt, David C. and Matthews, Henry E. and Senay, Matthew and Biver, Nicolas and Bockelée-Morvan, Dominique and Crovisier, Jacques and Gautier, Daniel}, year={1998}, month=mar, pages={1707–1710} }