Abstract
We report results from the flight of a rocket-borne, far ultraviolet (FUV) spectrometer observation to establish upper limits on He and Ar abundances in the bright, dynamically “new,” comet Austin (1989c1). Previous to comet Austing, no comet had been spectroscopically observed to set helium and argon abundance constraints. Relative to solar abundance, our upper limits imply Comet Austin is at least 1.5 × 10 4 depleted in He/O, and no more than 30 times enriched in Ar/O. These upper limits allow us to discuss the thermal conditions experienced by this comet during its formation and during its subsequent evolution. The upper limits achieved by this 258-sec subortial rocket observation indicate the usefulness of future, longer-integrated or otherwise more sensitive observations of comets below 1200 Å, in the FUV.
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