U.S.-Australia Cooperative Research: Carbon Isotopes in Comets

该奖项将支持Peter A. 亚利桑那州州立大学的Wehinger、滕佩和布鲁斯A. 山的彼得森斯特罗姆洛和赛丁泉天文台 澳大利亚国立大学，堪培拉。 调查人员打算 通过测定星际物质的含量 明亮彗星样本中的碳同位素丰度比， 将这个比例与哈雷彗星的比例进行比较， 通过观测， 分子和分子离子在视线内的吸收线 明亮的O型和B型恒星。 彗星丰度比为 数百万年前星际物质的特征， 两个测量值将进行比较，以阐明 星际物质演化的本质。 该项目结合了两位调查人员的专业知识， 他们是测定天文光谱的专家 测量，谁一起工作，研究同位素 哈雷本身的丰度比，在山。斯特罗姆洛天文台 澳大利亚 除了提供关于 星际物质的组成、技术的进步 从这项研究中可以预期解释同位素谱。

This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Peter A. Wehinger of Arizona State University, Tempe, and Dr. Bruce A. Peterson of the Mt. Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories of the Australian National University, Canberra. The investigators intend to uncover new information about interstellar matter by determining the carbon isotopic abundance ratio in a sample of bright comets, and comparing that ratio to that in comet Halley; and to determine the abundance ratio in the local interstellar medium by observing absorption lines of molecules and molecular ions in the lines-of-sight of bright O- and B-type stars. Cometary abundance ratios are characteristic of the interstellar matter millions of years ago, and the two measurements will be compared, in order to illuminate the nature of the evolution of the interstellar matter. The project combines the expertise of the two investigators, both of whom are experts in the determination of spectra from astronomical measurements, and who have worked together to study the isotopic abundance ratio of Halley itself, at the Mt. Stromlo Observatory in Australia. In addition to giving providing new information about the composition of interstellar matter, advances in techniques for interpreting isotopic spectra may be expected from this research.