It has often been suggested that comets which are in orbits that bring them into the vicinity of the inner Solar System for the first time may be compositionally different from periodic comets. Specifically, these so called "Oort comets" may have a larger abundance of ices which are more volatile than water ice. Compositional differences between "fresh" and periodic comets could suggest that the Oort comets are more primitive and therefore more representative of the conditions at the time of their formation. This research project will focus a concerted effort on the investigation of the composition and activity of a sample of Oort comets over a large range of heliocentric distances. Observations of comets at large distances will be compared to sublimation models for various ices in order to understand the type of activity found in Oort comets at large distances. Observations at small to moderate heliocentric distances will be used to help constrain the parameters used in the sublimation models. In addition, the continued observations of these comets will keep the orbits current so that they may be observed to extremely large heliocentric distances. This grant is a Research Initiation Award under the Research Opportunities for Women (ROW) program.
