BIMA Array Photodissociation Measurements of HCN and CS in Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1)

Abstract

We present single-field images, cross-correlation spectra, and autocorrelation spectra of HCN and CS from comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) observed with the BIMA array. Haser modeling of our HCN images yields scale length values that are in excellent agreement with both the theoretical prediction and our previous mosaicked-image value. On the other hand, the same method applied to CS yields a scale length that is ∼ 10 times smaller than the commonly accepted value. Consequently, the CS fraction in comets would be increased with respect to some earlier determinations.