Mahendra Singh*, B. B. Sanwal and Brijesh Kumar
Aryabhatta Reseaech Institute of Observational
Sciences, Manora Peak, Nainital 263 129, India
Abstract. Spectrophotometric observations of the comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) were taken on three nights of May 13, 18 and 19, 2004 near its perihelion distance using 104-cm telescope of ARIES, Nainital. The Cassegrain HR-320 spectrograph with 1K ×1K CCD camera gives a visible spectral coverage of 3500-7000A°.
The prominent emission bands CN (3888A°) and C2 (4695, 5165 and 5538A°)were identified. An estimate of the CN aand C2 abundances and the production rates for these molecules and dust at those heliocentric distances were determined.
Keywords:Comet spectrophotometry, column densities and production rates