Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Rotational Transitions?

A diffuse interstellar cloud with a temperature of 50 K contains CO molecules. The cloud is not illuminated by any nearby stars. Explain why an observer might see emission lines from the cloud due to rotational transitions of CO but not due to vibrational transition and at what wavelengths are emission lines due to rotational transitions of CO typically visible? How can rotational transitions be identified from observations at shorter wavelengths?

No comments:

Post a Comment