New molecular probes of astronomical sources
Three molecules were examined to evaluate their potential for refining the knowledge of astronomical molecular sources. The primary project involved HCO in interstellar molecular clouds. The observational results include the verification of the identity of interstellar HCO, the confirmation of the C/sup +/-HCO correlation first suggested by Snyder, Hollis, and Ulich (1976, Ap. J. (Letters), 208, L91), and the detection of an HCO abundance enhancement in the HII-molecular cloud interface region. The second project consisted of a search for the HCN dimer in interstellar molecular clouds. (HCN)/sub 2/, which is bound by van der Waals forces, represents a class of molecules which is not currently considered in interstellar clouds. No detections were made in the nine sources searched for (HCN)/sub 2/ emission, and a comparison between (HCN)/sub 2/ and HCN for Ori A indicates that the HCN dimer abundance is insufficient to appreciably affect the chemistry of the interstellar medium. The third project involved using the Very Large Array to observed 18 cm OH emission at high resolution in Comets Austin and p/Crommelin. Although no OH emission was directly detected with the VLA, this result, when combined with the single-disk detections of these comets, indicates a relative smooth OH coma that is extended on the scale of 10/sup 5/ km.
- Research Organization:
- Illinois Univ., Urbana (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6913447
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ACYL RADICALS
CLOUDS
COMETS
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
CYANIDES
FORMYL RADICALS
H2 REGIONS
HYDROCYANIC ACID
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXYL RADICALS
INORGANIC ACIDS
INTERSTELLAR SPACE
MOLECULES
RADICALS
SPACE