Kim, Sang Joon

NH emissions in comets - Fluorescence vs collisions

Cochran's (1986) spectrum of NH in Comet P/Halley is presently demonstrated to be due to pure fluorescence, whose efficiency is lower by a factor of 5 than previously calculated. The influence of collisions is found to be negligible, and held to indicate NH's existence farther from the nucleus than 30,000 km; it is therefore not a direct dissociation product of NH3 from the nucleus. Attention is given to the implications of the primary existence of NH far from the nucleus for chemical models.