Abstract
Dirty ice of a second kind (major components, H2O, CO, and N2; minor components less than several percents, NH3, CH4, and other organic substances such as HCN, CH3CN etc.) is assumed for the composition of volatiles in the cometary nucleus. The consistency with the observations of molecular ions and daughter molecules in the cometary atmosphere is argued by taking into account various ion-molecular reactions and dissociative recombinations. There is a satisfactory agreement for the second kind of dirty-ice model, but the presence of large amounts of CH4 and NH3 is found to be rather in contradiction with observational evidence. A velocity of 8 km s−1 for the hydrogen atoms, derived from analysis of the hydrogen Lyman-alpha corona around comets, is found from the dissociative recombination of H3O+, the dominant constituent of cometary ionosphere, in accordance with H3O++e −→OH+H+H.
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Shimizu, M. Ion chemistry in the cometary atmosphere. Astrophys Space Sci 36, 353–361 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00645260
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00645260