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M J Mumma

Publications and source records attributed to M J Mumma.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Organic composition of C/1999 S4 (LINEAR): a comet formed near Jupiter?

In the current paradigm, Oort cloud comets formed in the giant planets' region of the solar nebula, where temperatures and other conditions varied greatly. The measured compositions of four such comets (Halley, Hyakutake, Hale-Bopp, and Lee) are consistent with formation from interstellar ices in the cold nebular region beyond Uranus. The composition of comet C/1999 S4 (LINEAR) differs greatly, which suggests that its ices condensed from processed nebular gas, probably in the Jupiter-Saturn region. Its unusual organic composition may require reevaluation of the prebiotic organic material delivered to the young Earth by comets.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1999

Identification of two sources of carbon monoxide in comet Hale-Bopp.

The composition of ices in comets may reflect that of the molecular cloud in which the Sun formed, or it may show evidence of chemical processing in the pre-planetary accretion disk around the proto-Sun. As carbon monoxide (CO) is ubiquitous in molecular clouds, its abundance with respect to water could help to determine the degree to which pre-cometary material was processed, although variations in CO abundance may also be influenced by the distance from the Sun at which comets formed. Observations have not hitherto provided an unambiguous measure of CO in the cometary ice (native CO). Evidence for an extended source of CO associated with comet Halley was provided by the Giotto spacecraft, but alternative interpretations exist. Here we report observations of comet Hale-Bopp which show that about half of the CO in the comet comes directly from ice stored in the nucleus. The abundance of this CO with respect to water (12 per cent) is smaller than in quiescent regions of molecular clouds, but is consistent with that measured in proto-stellar envelopes, suggesting that the ices underwent some processing before their inclusion into Hale-Bopp. The remaining CO arises in the coma, probably through thermal destruction of more complex molecules.

Carbon Monoxide↗
PubMed1998

Detection of atomic deuterium in the upper atmosphere of Mars.

High-resolution spectroscopy of Mars' atmosphere with the Hubble Space Telescope revealed the deuterium Lyman alpha line at an intensity of 23 +/- 6 rayleighs. This measured intensity corresponds to HD/H2 = 1.5 +/- 0.6 x 10(-4), which is smaller by a factor of 11 than HDO/H2O. This indicates that fractionation of HD/H2 relative to that of HDO/H2O is not kinetically controlled by the rates of formation and destruction of H2 and HD but is thermodynamically controlled by the isotope exchange HD + H2O left and right arrow HDO + H2. Molecular hydrogen is strongly depleted in deuterium relative to water on Mars because of the very long lifetime of H2 (1200 years). The derived isotope fractionation corresponds to an estimate of a planetwide reservoir of water ice about 5 meters thick that is exchangeable with the atmosphere.

Atmosphere↗
PubMed1997

Detection of soft X-rays and a sensitive search for noble gases in comet Hale-Bopp.

An image of comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) in soft x-rays reveals a central emission offset from the nucleus, as well as an extended emission feature that does not correlate with the dust jets seen at optical wavelengths. Neon was found to be depleted in the cometary ice by more than a factor of 25 relative to solar abundance, which suggests that ices in Hale-Bopp formed at (or later experienced) temperatures higher than 25 kelvin. A helium line emission at a wavelength of 584 angstroms was detected and may be attributable to charge transfer of solar wind alpha particles in the cometary coma. Ionized oxygen and another helium line contribute to an emission observed at 538 angstroms.

Cosmic Dust↗
PubMed1996

Detection of abundant ethane and methane, along with carbon monoxide and water, in comet C/1996 B2 Hyakutake: evidence for interstellar origin.

The saturated hydrocarbons ethane (C2H6) and methane (CH4) along with carbon monoxide (CO) and water (H2O) were detected in comet C/1996 B2 Hyakutake with the use of high-resolution infrared spectroscopy at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The inferred production rates of molecular gases from the icy, cometary nucleus (in molecules per second) are 6.4 X 10(26) for C2H6, 1.2 X 10(27) for CH4, 9.8 X 10(27) for CO, and 1.7 X 10(29) for H2O. An abundance of C2H6 comparable to that of CH4 implies that ices in C/1996 B2 Hyakutake did not originate in a thermochemically equilibrated region of the solar nebula. The abundances are consistent with a kinetically controlled production process, but production of C2H6 by gas-phase ion molecule reactions in the natal cloud core is energetically forbidden. The high C2H6/CH4 ratio is consistent with production of C2H6 in icy grain mantles in the natal cloud, either by photolysis of CH4-rich ice or by hydrogen-addition reactions to acetylene condensed from the gas phase.

Carbon Monoxide↗
PubMed1989

The heliocentric evolution of cometary infrared spectra: results from an organic grain model.

Observations of Comets Halley and Wilson reveal an emission feature peaking near 3.4 micrometers, characteristic of C-H stretching in hydrocarbons. We have previously (Chyba and Sagan 1987a, Nature (London) 330, 350-353) fit this feature with a simple two-component thermal emission model for dust in the cometary coma (one component corresponding to large, cool, optically thick particles, the other due to smaller, hotter, organic grains) by employing laboratory spectra of the organic residue produced by the irradiation of carbon-bearing ices. This procedure yields optical depths in agreement with limits from spacecraft data. One remarkable result of such modeling is that at approximately 1 AU emission features at wavelengths longer than 3.4 micrometers are largely overwhelmed (or "diluted") by continuum emission. The large particle optical depth is approximately 10(2) times that of the emitting organics, so that, relative to the continuum, only near the continuum minimum can the emitting organics make a significant contribution. At approximately 1 AU, the 3.4-micrometers feature is the sole feature near that minimum, lying at the intersection of the curves for particle thermal emission and scattered sunlight. Thus, since as a comet moves away from perihelion the intersection of the scattered solar spectrum and the comet's thermal emission spectrum will move to longer wavelengths, we predicted (Chyba and Sagan 1987a) that the 3.4-micrometers feature is diluted while those at longer wavelengths are progressively revealed--so long as the comet retains its coma. We now quantitatively develop this model and find agreement with observational data for Comet Halley for certain plausible values of optical constants. Thus the observed heliocentric evolution of the 3.4-micrometers feature provides information on the composition, and perhaps structure, of the organic grains in Comet Halley. In addition, we argue that the heliocentric evolution of organic features will differ in the cases of thermal emission from small grains and gas-phase fluorescence. Therefore observations of cometary spectral evolution can in principle distinguish between solid or gas-phase origins for these features.

Cosmic Dust↗