On the detection of newly created CN radicals in comets |
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| Authors: | Bertram Donn Regina J Cody |
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| Institution: | Astrochemistry Branch, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA |
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| Abstract: | Laboratory investigations of CN radical formation by photodissociation of parent molecules have suggested the possibility of observing emission lines in cometary spectra from newly formed CN radicals. These laboratory studies have shown that high initial internal excitation of CN is the rule with excitation of rotational levels N up to 70. In the collisionless environment of the cometary atmosphere this initial excitation would yield a corresponding distribution for the lowest vibrational level of the ground X2Σ+ state. Our calculations show that it is feasible with present observational techniques to detect photochemically excited lines with N ～ 30 in the 0-0 band of the violet system. |
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