First <i>JWST</i> spectrum of distant activity in long-period comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos)
ABSTRACT We observed the new long-period comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos), inbound at 7 au from the Sun, using the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) integral field unit on JWST. The spectrum shows absorption features due to water ice in the coma and evidence for CO$_2$ driven activity, with a production rate of $Q(\mathrm{ CO}_2) = 2.546 \pm 0.019 \times 10^{25}$ molecules s$^{-1}$, and no emission features of water or CO. The latter is surprising, given that CO is more volatile than CO$_2$, and suggests that this comet may have lost its near-surface CO during its early evolution, before implantation in the Oort cloud.
Authors
- Aurélie Guilbert-Lepoutre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2354-0766)
- C. Tubiana (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8475-9898)
- Michael S. P. Kelley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6702-7676)
- Emmanuël Jehin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8923-488X)
- C. Snodgrass (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9328-2905)
- Rosita Kokotanekova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4617-8878)
- M. Micheli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7895-8209)
- Matthew M. Knight (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2781-6897)
- Carrie E. Holt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4043-6445)
- Cyrielle Opitom (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9298-7484)
- Davide Farnocchia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0774-884X)
- A. Migliorini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7386-9215)
Institutions
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR)
- Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (US)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- University of Liège (BE)
- United States Naval Academy (US)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Galileo Galilei Institute for Theoretical Physics (IT)
- Astronomical Observatory of Rome (IT)
- Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology (IT)
- Royal Observatory (GB)
- Institute of Astronomy and National Astronomical Observatory (BG)
- Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon : Terre, Planètes et Environnement (FR)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- International Space Science Institute (CH)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters
- Published
- 2025-05-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slaf046
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Astro and Planetary Science
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.77
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- California Institute of Technology
- UK Space Agency
- Space Telescope Science Institute
- Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS
- Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales
- Bulgarian National Science Fund
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory