Published December 1, 1980 | Version v1
Journal article

Comparisons of interstellar CH+ and H2

  • 1. Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago

Description

We have obtained Copernicus observations of H2 toward stars in the Pleiades and 23 Orionis because of their importance in understanding the formation of interstellar CH+. No model of CH+ equilibrium seems to agree very well with these observations; in particular, we apparently can exclude the suggestions that CH+ is formed either from collisions between vibrationally excited H2 and C+ or from radiative association of C+ and H2. These data do suggest that there is a correlation between the amounts of rotationally excited H2 and CH+ which are present. Our observations of the Pleiades also help interpretations of the reflection nebulae near these stars

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astrophys. J.
Journal Volume
242
Journal Issue
2
Series
Astrophys. J.
Journal Page Range
560-567
ISSN
0004-637X