Molecular Ion Transition Probabilities for Analyses of Comet Spectra

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Drs. Parkinson and Smith at Harvard University will conduct a research project in laboratory physics which will greatly aid our understanding of the makeup of comets. These scientists will create molecular ions in the laboratory, they will excite these ions to higher energy states, and they will measure the decay of these ions back to lower energy states in order to determine radiative lifetimes and absolute oscillator strengths for these molecular species. The interpretation of molecular absorption and emission features in astronomical spectra relies on the accuracy and completeness of laboratory data. Accurate data such as oscillator strengths are necessary for the determination of molecular ion abundances in the atmospheres of comets. Drs. Parkinson and Smith will provide the required data on a number of species of ions known to exist in comets.