Abstract
THE presence of NH radicals in the coma of comets has been generally attributed to photodissociation of ammonia. However, vacuum ultra-violet photolysis1 (1236 Å) of ammonia results in emission at 3240 Å: while the cometary emission at 3360 Å corresponds to: The energy-level diagram for NH showing the position of the states and the transitions under discussion is shown in Fig. 1. In the vacuum ultra-violet flash photolysis of ammonia2,3, the NH absorption band at 3360 Å (AΠ3 ← X3Σ−) was observed.
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STIEF, L., DECARLO, V. Origin of NH(A3Π)→NH(X3Σ−) Emission in Comets. Nature 205, 889 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1038/205889a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/205889a0
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