Study of Unidentified Spectral Lines in the High-Resolution Spectra of Comet Machholz (C/2004Q2)

Abstract

We observed Comet Machholz (C/2004Q2) using the BOES (BOao Echelle Spectograph) at the Bohyunsan Observatory on January 4, 2005. We have studied a wavelength range of 4800~8100 °A in order to investigate unidentified spectral lines in the high-resolution spectra of Machholz. We compared the Machholz spectra with the high-resolution spectra of previous comets: Swift-Tuttle, Brorsen-Metcalf, Austin, and 122P/de Vico. We identified many molecular lines, which are previously unknown; and these identifications will be useful information for studying high-resolution spectra of future comets.

Keywords

• properties of comets
• optical spectroscopy
• visible and ultraviolet spectrometers