Laboratory and Astronomical Spectroscopy of C 3H 2, the First Interstellar Organic Ring
Abstract
The first laboratory and astronomical observations of the carbene ring molecule C3H2 briefly reported in a recent Letter are described in detail. In the laboratory, 22 millimeter-wave lines have been measured in a He and C2H2 discharge. From these the three rotational constants and the five fourth-order centrifugal distortion constants of C3H2 have been determined to high precision, allowing, in turn, calculation to 0.1 km/s of the most important lines in the radio and far-IR spectrum; 123 lines in the rotational spectrum with E/K less than 100 K are tabulated. Eleven astronomical transitions have been identified, and in Sgr B2 and Orion KL, rotational temperatures and column densities were derived and compared with those of other hydrocarbons with a similar number of C atoms.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- March 1987
- DOI:
- 10.1086/165099
- Bibcode:
- 1987ApJ...314..716V
- Keywords:
-
- Astronomical Spectroscopy;
- Carbenes;
- Interstellar Matter;
- Molecular Spectra;
- Cyclic Hydrocarbons;
- Electron Transitions;
- Line Spectra;
- Millimeter Waves;
- Rotational Spectra;
- Astrophysics;
- INTERSTELLAR: MOLECULES;
- LABORATORY SPECTRA;
- LINE IDENTIFICATIONS