Swift UVOT Grism Spectroscopy of Comets: A First Application to C/2007 N3 (Lulin)

Abstract

We observed comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin) twice on UT 28 January 2009, using the UV grism of the Ultraviolet and Optical Telescope (UVOT) on board the Swift Gamma Ray Burst space observatory. Grism spectroscopy provides spatially resolved spectroscopy over large apertures for faint objects. We developed a novel methodology to analyze grism observations of comets, and applied a Haser comet model to extract production rates of OH, CS, NH, CN, C3, C2, and dust. The water production rates retrieved from two visits on this date were $6.7\pm 0.7$ and 7.9 $\pm$ 0.7 x 1E28 molecules s-1, respectively. Jets were sought (but not found) in the white-light and `OH' images reported here, suggesting that the jets reported by Knight and Schleicher (2009) are unique to CN. Based on the abundances of its carbon-bearing species, comet Lulin is `typical' (i.e., not `depleted') in its composition.

References in corpus (3)

• The Peculiar Volatile Composition of Comet 8P/Tuttle: A Contact Binary of Chemically Distinct Cometesimals?
• Swift-UVOT captures the earliest ultraviolet spectrum of a Gamma Ray Burst
• Detection of parent H2O and CO2 molecules in the 2.5--5 micron spectrum of comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin) observed with AKARI

Cited by in corpus (10)

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• The Evolving Activity of the Dynamically Young Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd)
• The Swift-UVOT ultraviolet and visible grism calibration
• A Study of Dust and Gas at Mars from Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring)
• The pre-perihelion activity of dynamically new comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) and its close encounter with Mars
• Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of Asteroid (4) Vesta
• Coma Morphology, Numerical Modeling, and Production Rates for Comet C/Lulin (2007 N3)
• Simultaneous Swift X-ray and UV views of comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin)
• Decontaminating Swift UVOT Grism Observations of Transient Sources
• Dust and coma radicals in C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos): evolution of the activity