Optical Spectroscopy of Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) from MIRO

TL;DR

This study presents optical spectroscopic observations of comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) from MIRO, analyzing molecular emissions, dust activity, and gas production rates during perihelion and post-perihelion periods.

Contribution

It provides new measurements of molecular scale lengths, gas production rates, and dust activity variations for comet Lovejoy using low-resolution spectroscopy.

Findings

Strong molecular emissions observed near perihelion.

Comet shows increased activity post-perihelion.

Asymmetric activity pattern around perihelion.

Abstract

Spectra of comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) were taken with a low resolution spectrograph mounted on the 0.5 m telescope at the Mount Abu Infrared Observatory (MIRO), India during January to May 2015 covering the perihelion and post-perihelion periods. The spectra showed strong molecular emission bands (C2, C3 and CN) in January, close to perihelion. We have obtained the scale lengths for these molecules by fitting the Haser model to the observed column densities. The variation of gas production rates and production rate ratios with heliocentric distance were studied. The extent of the dust continuum using the Af-rho parameter and its variation with the heliocentric distance were also investigated. The comet is seen to become more active in the post-perihelion phase, thereby showing an asymmetric behaviour about the perihelion.