Water production models for comet Bradfield /1979 X/

Abstract

Whipple (1950, 1951) has proposed that water might be the dominant volatile constituent of the cometary nucleus. The considered investigation is concerned with the clues which observations of the cometary coma provide regarding the parents of the dominant observed coma species. In the early part of 1980, comet Bradfield (1979 X) was observed with the aid of the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE). These measurements are the first which provide a basis for a comprehensive study of all three water dissociation products, H, O, and OH, simultaneously. The IUE observations of comet Bradfield are compared with the predictions derived from an H2O model. The obtained results indicate that the observed brightnesses of H, O, and OH are certainly consistent with a common water source for all three species.