C2 photolytic processes in cometary comae

Abstract

The C2 column densities toward comets Tuttle (1980h) and Meier (1980q) are determined on the basis of 1.15-nm-resolution 340-620-nm observations obtained with the IDS spectrograph on the 2.7-m telescope at McDonald Observatory in December 1980, and February 1981 (1980q only). The data are presented in graphs and fit with the nonequilibrium-chemistry model of Cochran (1982), and the rates of the photolytic creation and destruction of C2 are calculated as 5 x 10 to the -4th/sec and 4 x 10 to the -6th/sec, respectively.