The study of comets in millimetre interferometry

Séminaire IPAG de Jérémie Boissier (ESO/INAF-Istituto di Radioastronomia), jeudi 20 décembre 2012 à 11h00, IPAG seminar room

As remnants of the planet formation era, comets are expected to hold iinformation about the physical and chemical conditions in the early Solar System. Millimeter spectroscopy enables the measurement of key parameters to characterize the cometary atmospheres, such as molecular abundances, gas temperature and outflow velocity. However limited information on the outgassing pattern can be retrieved from single dish observations, due to limited spatial resolution. Thanks to interferometric techniques, it is possible to image the emission of the molecules present in the inner coma with a much better spatial resolution. In addition the continuum emission of the comet is observed simultaneouly and its study may provide information about the dust and/or nucleus properties. Up to now interferometric studies of comets at millimetre wavelengths have been limited by the sensitivity of the available instruments. I will present the results of recent studies based on observations of comets with the IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer. I will also address what we can expect from future observations with ALMA and NOEMA.