MSX Observations of the FUV to NIR Spectrum of Comet Hale-Bopp
L.J. Paxton, D.G. Kupperman, J.F. Carbary, P.J. McEvaddy, D. Morrison, C.-I. Meng (JHU/APL), R.C. Henry (JHU), E.F. Tedesco (MRC), S.D. Price (AFRL)
The Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) MSX observed Comet Hale-Bopp on
March 30, 1997 and April 19, 1997 with the Ultraviolet and Visible
Imagers and Spectrographic Imagers (UVISI) instrument suite, a set of
nine optical instruments: four multispectral imagers and five
spectrographic imagers. MSX obtained hyperspectral images covering the
range from 110 to 850 nm, over a 0.1deg x 1deg instantaneous field of
view as the spacecraft slewed to the nucleus. These images consist of a
spectrum over the entire spectral range for each effective 0.1 deg by
0.1 pixel element. In the April 19 observing sequence 20 minutes of
observations were obtained during the 8 deg slew along the comet's dust
tail. The spectra contain emissions from C, O, CO, CO+, S, OH, CO2+, NH,
C2, C3, and NH2. The OH(0,0) band was observed to have an intensity of
over 100kR.