Spectroscopic Monitoring of Comet C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake) with the JCMT and IRAM Radio Telescopes

Abstract

Molecular radio lines were monitored in comet C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake) from 1996 February 10 to June 23, using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope and the 30 m telescope and the Plateau de Bure interferometer of the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimetrique. We report on observations of HCN, CH3OH, CO, H2CO, CS, and H2S and on the evolution of their production rates with heliocentric distance (rh), from 1.86 down to 0.24 AU at perihelion. Most production rates increased roughly as r down to 0.6 AU preperihelion. Closer to the Sun, they stalled before decreasing beyond 0.6 AU postperihelion, when observations resumed. The CS/HCN ratio varied as r from 1.2 to 0.24 AU. A rapid increase of the mean gas temperature in the coma is measured, and the gas expansion velocity increased from 0.55 to 1.6 km s-1, as the comet approached the Sun from 1.6 to 0.3 AU. Molecular abundances of the minor species around 1 AU are similar to those observed in other comets, while the CO abundance relative to water is high (≈22%). Coarse mapping was used to check the comet's position and to investigate the density distribution of the molecules within the coma. It provides constraints on the size of the extended source of formaldehyde, found to be between 1.2 and 2 times the scale length of H2CO itself. The density distribution of CS is compatible with its production from the photodissociation of a short-lived molecule such as CS2. The density distribution observed for CO can be mostly explained by a nuclear source.