Image Details
Caption: Figure 8.
A summary of the CO and N2 reported in various comets with respect to parent molecule (top) and with respect to water (bottom). The CO/CO2 ratios are reported by O. H. Pinto et al. (2022) and references within. N2 abundances with respect to water are directly reported for three of these comets (N. Iro et al. 2003; L. Le Roy et al. 2015; A. J. McKay et al. 2019), and we calculated the N2 abundances for C/2001 Q4 and C/1961 R1 from the N2/CO and CO/H2O ratios compiled by S. Anderson et al. (2023). For Comet 67P, we use the N2 abundance reported by M. Rubin et al. (2019), and the CO, CO2, and NH3 values reported by M. Läuter et al. (2020). For clarity, we exclude the results from Comet C/2016 R2, which report CO and N2 abundances relative to water of (30,800% ± 3500%) and (1550% ± 370%), respectively (A. J. McKay et al. 2019). Comet 67P markers are star shaped for emphasis. Shaded orange and blue regions represent the CO and N2 abundances reported following photolysis and radiolysis, respectively. Downward-pointing arrows indicate upper limits on reported hypervolatile abundances.
© 2026. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.