Since the apparition of comet Kohoutek 1973 XII, the 18-cm lines of the OH radical have been systematically observed in a number of comets with the Nançay radio telescope. This allowed an evaluation of the cometary water production rates and their evolution with time, as well as a study of several physical processes such as the excitation mechanisms of the OH radio lines, the expansion of the cometary atmospheres, their anisotropy in relation with non-gravitational forces, the Zeeman effect in relation with the cometary magnetic field. Only part of these observations and their analysis have already been published. The Nançay observations of 53 cometary apparitions between 1982 and 1999 are now organized in a database.
The database is described in:
Tables and figures for each comet are available electronically (total of 84 tables and 559 figures). They were prepared with XCOM.
Observations made in 2000-2002 with the upgraded
Nançay radio telescope are described in:
A more comprehensive paper on comets observed since 2000 is in preparation.
This database is prepared with XCOM, a dedicated interactive software to process and display the Nançay cometary spectra, and to retrieve physical parameters such as the OH production rates, using model parameters specified by the user. XCOM is based upon the GILDAS software package. XCOM is not transportable and is only available for our group at Meudon.
Comets observed before 1982, not (or not officially) in the database: 1973 XII 1973f C/1973 E1 Kohoutek KO 1975 IX 1975h C/1975 N1 Kobayashi-Berger-Milon KB 1976 VI 1975n C/1975 V1 West WE 1977 XI 2P/ Encke E1 1977 XIV 1977m C/1977 R1 Kohler KL 1978 VII 1978c C/1978 C1 Bradfield B1 1978 XXI 1978f C/1978 H1 Meier M1 1979 X 1979l C/1979 Y1 Bradfield B2 1980 XI 2P/ Encke E2 1980 XII 1980q C/1980 V1 Meier M2 1980 XV 1980t C/1980 Y1 Bradfield B3 1981 XIX 1981j 64P/ Swift-Gehrels SG Comets observed in 1982-1998, included in the database described in the paper: 1982 I 1980b C/1980 E1 Bowell BO files 1982 IV 1982a 26P/ Grigg-Skjellerup GS files 1982 VI 1982g C/1982 M1 Austin A1 files 1982 VII 1982e 6P/ d'Arrest DA files 1982 VIII 1982f 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko CG files 1984 IV 1983n 27P/ Crommelin CR files 1984 XIII 1984i C/1984 N1 Austin A2 files 1985 XIII 1984e 21P/ Giacobini-Zinner GZ files 1985 XVII 1985l C/1985 R1 Hartley-Good HG files 1985 XIX 1985m C/1985 T1 Thiele TH files 1986 III 1982i 1P/1982 U1 Halley HA files 1987 II 1986n C/1986 V1 Sorrells SO files 1987 III 1987c C/1987 B1 Nishikawa-Takamizawa-Tago NI files 1987 VII 1986l C/1986 P1 Wilson WI files 1987 XXIX 1987s C/1987 P1 Bradfield BR files 1988 I 1987d1 C/1987 W1 Ichimura IC files 1988 V 1988a C/1988 A1 Liller LI files 1988 XV 1988j C/1988 P1 Machholz MA files 1989 X 1989o 23P/1989 N1 Brorsen-Metcalf BM files 1989 XIX 1989r C/1989 Q1 Okazaki-Levy-Rudenko OK files 1989 XXII 1989a1 C/1989 W1 Aarseth-Brewington AA files 1990 V 1989c1 C/1989 X1 Austin A3 files 1990 XX 1990c C/1990 K1 Levy LE files 1992 III 1991g1 C/1991 Y1 Zanotta-Brewington ZB files 1992 VII 1992b C/1992 B1 Bradfield B4 files 1992 VIII 1991h1 C/1991 X2 Mueller MU files 1992 XIX 1991a1 C/1991 T2 Shoemaker-Levy SL files 1992 XXVIII 1992t 109P/1992 S2 Swift-Tuttle ST files 1993 III 1992x 24P/ Schaumasse SC files 1994 V 2P/ Encke (1994) E3 files 1994 IX 1993p C/1993 Q1 Mueller M3 files 1994 XI 1993v C/1993 Y1 McNaught-Russell MR files 1994 XV 1992r 8P/ Tuttle TU files 1994 XXVI 1994o P/1994 P1 Machholz 2 M4 files 1994 XXX 1994l 19P/ Borrelly BY files 15P/ Finlay FI files C/1995 Q1 Bradfield B5 files 73P/ Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 SW files 122P/1995 S1 de Vico DV files 45P/ Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova HM files C/1996 B2 Hyakutake HY files 22P/ Kopff KP files C/1996 Q1 Tabur TA files C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp HB files 46P/ Wirtanen WR files 81P/ Wild 2 WL files 2P/ Encke (1997) E4 files C/1998 J1 SOHO SH files C/1998 P1 Williams WM files 21P/ Giacobini-Zinner G2 files C/1998 U5 LINEAR UL files C/1999 H1 Lee EE files C/1999 N2 Lynn LY files The two-character code refers to internal file names and are the same as for XCOM. The database for comets observed in 2000-2005: C/1999 S4 LINEAR S4 files not in the database C/1999 T1 McNaught-Hartley T1 files C/2000 W1 Utsunomiya-Jones UJ files 73P/ Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 S3 files 45P/ Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova H1 files 24P/ Schaumasse S2 files C/2001 A2 LINEAR L1 files 16P/ Brooks 2 BK files 19P/ Borrelly BZ files C/2000 WM1 LINEAR W1 files 153P/2002 C1 Ikeya-Zhang IZ files C/2002 F1 Utsunomiya UT files 46P/ Wirtanen W2 files C/2002 O6 SWAN SN files C/2002 V1 NEAT V1 files C/2002 X5 Kudo-Fujikawa KF files C/2002 Y1 Juels-Holvorcem Y1 files 2P/ Encke (2003) E5 files C/2004 F4 Bradfield F4 files C/2002 T7 LINEAR T7 files C/2003 T3 Tabur T3 files C/2001 Q4 NEAT Q4 files C/2003 K4 LINEAR K4 files C/2004 Q2 Machholz Q2 files C/2003 T4 LINEAR T4 files 9P/ Tempel 1 TE files The following comets were observed, but their data are not yet publicly available: C/2006 A1 Pojmanski 73P/ Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 4P/ Faye (2006) C/2006 M4 SWAN C/2006 P1 McNaught 96P/ Machholz 1 (2007) 2P/ Encke (2007) 17P/ Holmes C/2007 F1 LONEOS 8P/ Tuttle (2008) 46P/ Wirtanen (2008) C/2007 W1 Boattini 6P/ d'Arrest (2008) C/2008 A1 McNaught C/2007 N3 Lulin 144P/ Kushida (2009) 22P/ Kopff (2009) C/2008 T2 Cardinal C/2006 W3 Christensen C/2007 Q3 Siding Spring 88P/ Howell (2009) 81P/ Wild 2 (2010) C/2009 O2 Catalina C/2009 K5 McNaught C/2009 R1 McNaught 10P/ Tempel 2 (2010) 103P/ Hartley 2 (2010)