I. Depater et al., BIMA ARRAY OBSERVATIONS OF COMET HYAKUTAKE - UPPER LIMIT TO THE 2.7 MM CONTINUUM EMISSION, Planetary and space science, 45(6), 1997, pp. 731-734
Comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2) was observed with the BIMA array at wavele
ngth of 2.7 mm. An upper limit of 6.3 mJy per beam is reported. which,
if due to thermal emission from the nucleus of the comet itself, tran
slates into an upper limit of 2.5 km for the comet's radius. The resul
ts are compared with detections at sub-mm wavelengths (Jewitt and Matt
hews, Astron. J. 113, 1145-1151, 1997), and the likelihood of detectin
g comet Hale-Bopp at mm-cm wavelengths is commented on. (C) 1997 Elsev
ier Science.