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Great Siberian Explosion

Dona Ebert schrieb:

> ...,what are comets made of which cause mutations of the elements? It
> has been reported that they are dirty snowballs of water, amonium,
> dirt, etc. What else is there? - dona


And hello again...,

... with an excerpt from MAPS 33-2, 1998 March, pp. 172-173:

The First international conference on Comet Hale-Bopp

The Coma - The gas production of Comet Hale-Bopp was about 20x that of
Comet Halley, and the dust release rate was about 100x to 200x that of
Halley. There are complex structures in the coma that change from
porcupine-like to multiple shells and spirals as the comet approaches
the Sun, and in reverse order as the comet recedes from the Sun... The
relative abundances of C2, C3, and CN indicate a "typical" comet.
However, many new species were detected by remote sensing, and new
species detected in Comet Hyakutake were confirmed. Among these species
are CH4, C2H2, C2H6, SO, SO2, H2CS, HC3N, HNCO, NH2CHO, HCOOH, CH3OCHO,
and HCO+. The HCO+ appears to be concentrated in a ring around the
nucleus but offset toward the tail. The ratio of HNC/HCN has been
explained by ion chemistry in the coma. Sulfur-bearing molecules suggest
endothermic reactions. Sulfur monoxide is not a parent molecule; it
appears to be a dissociation product of SO2. The release rate of NH3
relative to H20 is ~1.0 to 1.8%. All isotopes appear to be solar except
for D/H. Neon and N2' have not been detected. The ratio Ne/O < 1/25 x
the solar value. The CO+ will require extensive modeling. X-rays were
observed in the coma. Explanations for their origin are controversial:
charge exchange of heavy solar wind ions, bremsstrahlung of keV
electrons, or resonance scattering by very small (attogram) dust
particles are the leading contenders. A nucleus source as well as a
distributed source was detected for Na, which is usually not observed in
comets at r > 0.7 AU. Methylidyne (CH) appears to be anticorrelated with
the dust. In the dust, the ratio Mg/Fe > 1, as it also was in Comet
Halley.

Regards,

Bernd

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