Comet 46P/Wirtanen millimetre-wave spectra

Observations at IRAM 30-m during the 12-18 Dec. period comprise a 2mm spectral survey, which covers 25GHz, and a 1mm survey which covers 62GHz. The gas outflow velocity and kinetic temperature have been accurately constrained by the observations.

We derive abundances of 11 molecules, some being identified remotely for the first time in a Jupiter-family comet, including complex organic molecules such as formamide, ethylene glycol, acetaldehyde or ethanol. Sensitive upper limits on the abundances of 24 other molecules are obtained. The comet is found to be relatively rich in methanol (3.4% relative to water) but relatively depleted in CO, CS, HNC, HNCO or HCOOH.