JCMT detection of HCN emission from 3I/ATLAS at 2.1 au

Authors:
Top Cited Papers
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
We report the detection of HCN($J=3-2$) rotational emission from comet 3I/ATLAS at a heliocentric distance of 2.13 au with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). Observations were conducted between 2025 August 7 and 2025 September 14 (ut) using the $^{^{\prime }}\, \overline{U}\, ^{^{\prime }}\, \overline{u}$ heterodyne receiver and ACSIS (Auto Correlation Spectral Imaging System) spectroscopic backend. The HCN line was detected at $> 6 \sigma$ on 2025 September 14 (ut) and a production rate of $Q({\rm HCN})=(4.0\pm 1.7)\times 10^{25}$ s$^{-1}$ was derived by non-LTE radiative transfer modelling. Preliminary estimates of the HCN/H$_2$O and CN/HCN abundance ratios suggest values similar to Solar system comets.
Funding Information
  • Science and Technology Facilities Council
  • NASA
  • National Science Foundation (AST-1614471)
  • NCN (2024/52/C/ST9/00110)

This publication has 22 references indexed in Scilit: