CS IN COMETS HALLEY AND WILSON: FLUORESCENCE VS COLLISIONS

  • Kim, Sang-Joon (Department of Astronomy and Space Science, Institute of Natural Sciences, Kyung Hee University)
  • Published : 1997.12.31

Abstract

The A-X (0-0) band of CS, which appears in high dispersion IUE spectra of comets Halley (1982i) and Wilson (19861), has been investigated in detail. We developed models, which include fluorescence and collisional processes We found that in order to account for the observed emission band precisely, IUE tracking errors should be included in line shape calculations it has been found that rotational excitation by electrons is a dominant process in determining populations of rotational ground states. We derived an electron density of $2.0\times10^4/cm^3$ at several thousand kilometers from the comet Wilson's nucleus by examining collisional influence on the CS band structure. We presented a band model for the 0-0 band of $C^{34}S$ and discussed the detectability of $^{34}S$ spectroscopically.

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