The detection of interstellar 15NH3.
Abstract
The detection of the (J, K) (1, 1), (2, 2), and (3, 3) metastable lines of (N-15)H3 near 23 GHz toward the Orion Molecular Cloud is reported. The (N-15)H3 lines are fitted with single Gaussian profiles, and the line width is forced to agree with that obtained from synthetic profiles. Rotational temperatures close to the kinetic temperature of the Orion Molecular Cloud are derived from the line ratios. An (N-14)H3/(N-15)H3 ratio of 635 + or - 180, more than twice the terrestrial value, is determined on the assumption that the excitation temperature of the NH3 transitions is 70 K.
- Publication:
-
Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- March 1979
- Bibcode:
- 1979A&A....73L..10W
- Keywords:
-
- Ammonia;
- Brightness Temperature;
- Interstellar Matter;
- Interstellar Radiation;
- Molecular Rotation;
- Absorption Spectra;
- Abundance;
- Radial Velocity;
- Spectral Line Width;
- Astrophysics;
- Ammonia:Interstellar Molecules;
- Interstellar Molecules