The Astrophysical Journal · 1981 · 30 citations · 0 references
Natural SciencesAstronomyChemistryAstrochemistryInterstellar MediumSpectroscopyInterstellar Absorption LinesInterstellar ChemistryInterstellar GasInterstellar MoleculesMolecular CloudsCarbonyl Sulfide ChemistryChemical Diagnostics Of Interstellar CloudsColumn Density DistributionColumn Density MeasurementsInterstellar AbundancesInterstellar Gas DensityInterstellar H I CloudsLine Emission Spectra
The OCS molecule has been studied in 24 interstellar and circumstellar molecular clouds and detected in a total of 10 sources and seven different transitions. Analysis of the data using hydrogen densities derived from a study of CS and assuming that the OCS lines are optically thin, yields a mean column density of 3 x 10 to the 14th per sq cm in 10 interstellar clouds, while the average fractional abundance of N(OCS)/N(H2) = 1.6 x 10 to the -9th. The results of maps and analyses of multiple transitions in several sources suggest that the regions responsible for the OCS emission are only marginally resolved with a beamsize of about 2 arcmin.