Observations of interstellar chlorine and phosphorus

Journal Article · Wed Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1978 · Astrophys. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/155847· OSTI ID:5035392

Jura, M; York, D G

Observations of interstellar Cl i and Cl ii and upper limits for HCl have been obtained toward 10 star with the Copernicus satellite. Since the cosmic abundance of chlorine is not well established and the f-values of the weak Cl i lines are not well known, we can show only that the average chlorine depletion is not greater than a factor of 3; chlorine may very well be generally undepleted. Even for clouds of widely different densities, we find that the chlorine abundance is uniform to within a factor of 3, and our results are consistent with the view that the interstellar medium within 1000 pc of the Sun is well mixed. Qualitatively, our observations support models of interstellar chlorine chemistry, and our results can be used to constrain models of interstellar clouds. We have also obtained estimates of the phosphorus gas-phase abundance. Because phosphorus and iron have nearly the same condensation temperature, yet very different depletions, our results cast doubts on models that grains are mostly formed in hot regions near 1200 K. Instead, it appears possible that much of the depletion onto grains occurs in the interstellar medium itself.

• Research Organization: Princeton University Observatory
• OSTI ID: 5035392
• Journal Information: Astrophys. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Astrophys. J.; (United States) Vol. 219:3; ISSN ASJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640105* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Galaxies
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
CHLORINE
COSMOCHEMISTRY
ELEMENTS
FUNCTIONS
HALOGENS
INTERSTELLAR GRAINS
INTERSTELLAR SPACE
NONMETALS
PARTICLES
PHOSPHORUS
SPACE
SPECTRA
SPECTRAL FUNCTIONS
ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRA