The Comet Nucleus Tour (Contour); A NASA Discovery Mission

In 1997, the COmet Nucleus TOUR (CONTOUR) was selected byNASA for a new start as part of the Discovery line. In this paper, we review the status of the mission, the mission timeline and the instruments to be flown. Detail is given of the science goals and how they are to be accomplished.     

Is Hale–Bopp A ‘Juvenile’ Comet – Study Of The Energy Balance To Explain The Vapor Flux Of Volatiles From The Surface

Sublimation of minor gases from ices inside of a porous comet nucleus strongly depends on the effective energy input. Our model meant to describe the gas flux inside and out of the porous nucleus has been used to study the influence of physical and structural parameters on the effective energy input. We solve the conservation equations for H₂O and CO as the most abundant minor component of higher volatility under appropriate boundary conditions. From the calculations we obtain the gas flux from volatile, icy components inside the porous nucleus, temperature profiles, changes in relative chemical abundances, and the gas flux into the coma for each of the volatiles. We will show results from our calculations for a model comet in the orbit of Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1). In this paper we focus on the energy balance at the surface. We will also relate measurements of molecule fluxes to available energies and try to provide hints about the evolutionary status of the comet. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

On the Relationship of Chemical Abundances in the Nucleus to Those in the Coma

One of the goals of comet research is the determination of the chemical composition of the nucleus because it provides us with the clues about the composition of the nebula in which comet nuclei formed. It is well accepted that photo-chemical reactions must be considered to establish the abundances of mother molecules in the coma as they are released from the comet nucleus or from distributed dust sources in the coma. However, the mixing ratios of mother molecules in the coma changes with heliocentric distance. To obtain the abundances in the nucleus relative to those in the coma, we must turn our attention to the release rates of mother molecules from the nucleus as a function of heliocentric distance. For this purpose, we assume three sources for the coma gas: the surface of the nucleus (releasing mostly water vapor), the dust in the coma (the distributed source of several species released from dust particles), and the interior of the porous nucleus (the source of many species more volatile than water). The species diffusing from the interior of the nucleus are released by heat transported into the interior. Thus, the ratio of volatiles relative to water in the coma is a function of the heliocentric distance and provides important information about the chemical composition and structure of the nucleus. Our goal is to determine the abundance ratios of various mother molecules relative to water from many remote-sensing observations of the coma as a function of heliocentric distance. Comet Hale-Bopp is ideal for this purpose since it has been observed using instruments in many different wavelength regions over large ranges of heliocentric distances. The ratios of release rates of species into the coma are than modeled assuming various chemical compositions of the spinning nucleus as it moves from large heliocentric distance through perihelion. Since the heat flow into the nucleus will be different after perihelion from that before perihelion, we can also expect different gas release rates after perihelion compared to those observed before perihelion. Since not all the data are available yet, we report on progress of these calculations. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.