Interstellar C_2 in Dense Optical Clouds

Details Interstellar C_2 in Dense Optical Clouds Interstellar C_2 in Dense Optical Clouds

Dec 1992

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992aas...181.4802l&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 181st AAS Meeting, #48.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 24, p.1198

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

High resolution observations of the near infrared spectra of nine stars with visual extinctions ranging between 1 and 10 magnitudes were carried out using the echelle spectrograph on the 4-m Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Rotational absorption lines due to the (2--0) Phillips band of diatomic carbon (C_2) in the intervening interstellar medium were identified and corresponding line-of-sight column densities for each of the rotational levels of the ground state were derived using curve-of-growth analyses. In three of the nine cases, a single rotational temperature described the rotational population distribution, leading to a direct determination of the total column densities for C_2 in each. For the remaining six cases, the rotational abundances could not be fit by a single rotational temperature. For these cases a two-temperature model was employed to estimate the average kinetic temperature of the interstellar cloud. The two temperature distributions were used to determine the total line-of-sight molecular abundance toward each of the stars. The results were compared to Van Dishoeck's radiative pumping models to derive the total gas density in each interstellar cloud. An unsuccessful search for interstellar (12) C(13) C in the spectrum of VI Cygni No. 12 led to a lower limit to the (12) C/(13) C ratio in the intervening interstellar cloud. K. Sheth's participation in this project was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through an REU grant to Northern Arizona University and by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through the Arizona Space Grant Consortium.

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