Program: GN-2018A-Q-215
| Title: | Understanding Cometary Activity at Large Heliocentric Distance with GRACES Observations of [OI] |
| PI: | Adam McKay |
| Co-I(s): | James Bauer, Emily Kramer, Michael Kelley, Anita Cochran, Michael DiSanti |
Abstract
Due to their primitive nature, comets are valuable for studying the formation of volatiles in the protosolar disk and their subsequent incorporation into planetary bodies. We propose to employ GRACES observations of comets to understand the photochemistry occurring in cometary comae and cometary activity at large heliocentric distance. We will obtain observations of OI emission in a sample of comets at large heliocentric distances (R > 2.7 AU) in an effort to better understand coma photochemistry and cometary activity at such large distances from the Sun, outside of the ``water ice line''.