Stellar Occultation by Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Observed with Rosettas Alice Far-Ultraviolet Spectrograph


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Following our previous detection of ubiquitous H2O and O2 absorption against the far-UV continuum of stars located near the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, we present a serendipitously observed stellar occultation that occurred on 2015 September 13, approximately one month after the comets perihelion passage. The occultation appears in two consecutive 10-minute spectral images obtained by Alice, Rosettas ultraviolet (700-2100 A) spectrograph, both of which show H2O absorption with column density $>10^{17.5} mathrm{cm}^{-2}$ and significant O2 absorption ($mathrm{O2/H2O} approx 5$-10%). Because the projected distance from the star to the nucleus changes between exposures, our ability to study the H2O column density profile near the nucleus (impact parameters $<1$ km) is unmatched by our previous observations. We find that the H2O and O2 column densities decrease with increasing impact parameter, in accordance with expectations, but the O2 column decreases $sim3$ times more quickly than H2O. When combined with previously published results from stellar appulses, we conclude that the O2 and H2O column densities are highly correlated, and O2/H2O decreases with increasing H2O column.

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