CARBON-MONOXIDE IN JUPITER AFTER THE IMPACT OF COMET SHOEMAKER-LEVY-9

A detailed analysis is presented of observations of the CO (2-1) line at 230 GHz in Jupiter performed with the IRAM 30 m telescope after the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. Observations of site K, 33 h aft er impact, are focused on. Using independent information on the pertur bed jovian stratospheric thermal profile, the CO column density, 2-ver tical distribution and total mass deposited at the K impact site are d erived. It is found that CO is restricted to upper stratospheric level s, at pressures less than 50-200 mu bar, with an average mixing ratio of about 1.5 x 10(-4). The total CO mass is (1.5 +/- 0.6) x 10(14) g. It is shown that these results are generally consistent with observati ons of CO at other wavelengths. The K fragment mass is inferred to be in the range (1-10)x 10(14)g, where the largest source of uncertainty comes from the unknown behavior of the cometary dust in the shock ,che mistry. Comparison with observations performed at IRAM over a 1 yr per iod following the impacts indicates that the CO mass brought into Jupi ter's atmosphere by the SL9 fragments has remained approximately const ant over this period. (C) 1997 Published by I Elsevier Science Ltd. Al l rights reserved.