Evidence for Surprising Heavy Nitrogen Isotopic Enrichment in Comet 46P/Wirtanen's Hydrogen Cyanide
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2024
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| author | Cordiner, M. A. Darnell, K. Bockeleé-Morvan, D. Roth, N. X. Biver, N. Milam, S. N. Charnley, S. B. Boissier, J. Bonev, B. P. Qi, C. Crovisier, J. Remijan, A. J. |
| author_facet | Cordiner, M. A. Darnell, K. Bockeleé-Morvan, D. Roth, N. X. Biver, N. Milam, S. N. Charnley, S. B. Boissier, J. Bonev, B. P. Qi, C. Crovisier, J. Remijan, A. J. |
| contents | 46P/Wirtanen is a Jupiter-family comet, probably originating from the Solar System's Kuiper belt, that now resides on a 5.4 year elliptical orbit. During its 2018 apparition, comet 46P passed unusually close to the Earth (within 0.08 au), presenting an outstanding opportunity for close-up observations of its inner coma. Here we present observations of HCN, H$^{13}$CN and HC$^{15}$N emission from 46P using the Atacama Compact Array (ACA). The data were analyzed using the SUBLIME non-LTE radiative transfer code to derive $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C and $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N ratios. The HCN/H$^{13}$CN ratio is found to be consistent with a lack of significant $^{13}$C fractionation, whereas the HCN/HC$^{15}$N ratio of $68\pm27$ (using our most conservative $1σ$ uncertainties), indicates a strong enhancement in $^{15}$N compared with the solar and terrestrial values. The observed $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N ratio is also significantly lower than the values of $\sim140$ found in previous comets, implying a strong $^{15}$N enrichment in 46P's HCN. This indicates that the nitrogen in Jupiter-family comets could reach larger isotopic enrichments than previously thought, with implications for the diversity of $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N ratios imprinted into icy bodies at the birth of the Solar System. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_05711 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Evidence for Surprising Heavy Nitrogen Isotopic Enrichment in Comet 46P/Wirtanen's Hydrogen Cyanide Cordiner, M. A. Darnell, K. Bockeleé-Morvan, D. Roth, N. X. Biver, N. Milam, S. N. Charnley, S. B. Boissier, J. Bonev, B. P. Qi, C. Crovisier, J. Remijan, A. J. Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 46P/Wirtanen is a Jupiter-family comet, probably originating from the Solar System's Kuiper belt, that now resides on a 5.4 year elliptical orbit. During its 2018 apparition, comet 46P passed unusually close to the Earth (within 0.08 au), presenting an outstanding opportunity for close-up observations of its inner coma. Here we present observations of HCN, H$^{13}$CN and HC$^{15}$N emission from 46P using the Atacama Compact Array (ACA). The data were analyzed using the SUBLIME non-LTE radiative transfer code to derive $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C and $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N ratios. The HCN/H$^{13}$CN ratio is found to be consistent with a lack of significant $^{13}$C fractionation, whereas the HCN/HC$^{15}$N ratio of $68\pm27$ (using our most conservative $1σ$ uncertainties), indicates a strong enhancement in $^{15}$N compared with the solar and terrestrial values. The observed $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N ratio is also significantly lower than the values of $\sim140$ found in previous comets, implying a strong $^{15}$N enrichment in 46P's HCN. This indicates that the nitrogen in Jupiter-family comets could reach larger isotopic enrichments than previously thought, with implications for the diversity of $^{14}$N/$^{15}$N ratios imprinted into icy bodies at the birth of the Solar System. |
| title | Evidence for Surprising Heavy Nitrogen Isotopic Enrichment in Comet 46P/Wirtanen's Hydrogen Cyanide |
| topic | Earth and Planetary Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.05711 |