Table 10
Molecular abundances in comet C/2020 F3.
| Molecule | Name | Abundance relative to water | |
|---|---|---|---|
| in C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) | in comets (a) | ||
| HCN | Hydrogen cyanide | 0.120 ± 0.003% | 0.05–0.25% |
| CH3CN | Methyl cyanide | 0.011 ± 0.003% | 0.008–0.054% |
| CH3OH | Methanol | 2.3 ± 0.1 % | 0.6–6.2% |
| H2CO | Formaldehyde | 0.3 ± 0.2% | |
| H2COd(b) | Formaldehyde | 0.5 ± 0.2% | 0.1–1.4% |
| CO | Carbon monoxide | 3.2 ± 1.2% | 0.2–35% |
| H2S | Hydrogen sulphide | 1.2 ± 0.3% | 0.09–1.5% |
| CS | Carbon monosulphide | 0.12 ± 0.01% | 0.02–0.54% |
| CSd(c) | Carbon monosulphide | 0.14 ± 0.01% | 0.02–0.54% |
| HC3N | Cyanoacetylene | 0.010 ± 0.003% | 0.002–0.068% |
| HNCO | Isocyanic acid | <0.05% | 0.009–0.080% |
| NH2CHO | Formamide | <0.033% | 0.015–0.022% |
| HCOOH | Formic acid | <0.12% | 0.03–0.18% |
| CH3CHO | Acetaldehyde | <0.08% | 0.05–0.08% |
| SO(d) | Sulphur monoxide | 0.7 ± 0.2– < 0.13% | 0.04–0.30% |
| SO2 | Sulphur dioxide | <0.29% | 0.03–0.23% |
| Abundance relative to HCN | |||
| HNC/HCN | Hydrogen isocyanide | 0.06 ± 0.03 | 0.02–0.25 |
| HNCd (e)/HCN | Hydrogen isocyanide | 0.09 ± 0.03 | 0.02–0.25 |
| HCN/H13CN | >21 | 88–114 | |
| HCN/HC15N | >24 | 139–205 | |
| DCN/HCN | <0.039 | 0.0023 | |
| Abundance relative to CS | |||
| CS/C34 S | Carbon monosulphide | >8 | 16–23 |
Notes. Subscript “d” refers to the extended daughter distribution alternative. (a)Bockelée-Morvan and Biver (2017); Biver et al. (2021)(b) Assumed parent scale length of 2 × L(H2CO). Taking into account heliocentric dependence yields H2COd/H2O = 0.27 ± 0.06 
%. (c)Assumed parent scale length of 5 × L(CS2) instead of L(CS2).(d)Assumed to come from SO2 with a parent scale length of 2000 km. The abundance of 0.7% is for the single 22 July detection. (e)Assumed parent scale length of 2000 km.
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