1975ApJ...200L.

147G

The Astrophysical Journal, 200:L147-L149, 1975 September 15

© 1975. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.

DETECTION OF INTERSTELLAR NITROGEN SULFIDE

C. A. Gottlieb, John A. Ball, Elaine W. Gottlieb, C. J. Lada, and H. Peneield
Center for Astrophysics, Harvard College Observatory and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Received 1975 May 23
ABSTRACT
We report the detection and positive identification of interstellar NS. We observed emission toward
Sgr B2 from the J = 5/2 —> 3/2 2IIi/2 c-state (115.16 GHz) and ¿-state (115.6 GHz) transitions of
14 32
N S. The NS column density is ^1014 cm“2 derived from statistical equilibrium calculations. We
have compared the NS results with other sulfur-containing molecules.
Subject headings: molecules, interstellar — radio lines

I. introduction II. EQUIPMENT

We detected a weak emission feature toward Sgr B2
during three observing periods in 1973-1974 with the
16-foot (5 m) antenna of the University of Texas Milli-
meter Wave Observatory1 near Fort Davis, Texas, that
we tentatively attributed to the measured J = 5/2 —>
3/2 2IIi/2 c-state transition (in the notation of Amano
et al. 1969) of 14N32S at 115.16 GHz. Since the strongest
hyperfine component of this transition is only 117 MHz
lower in frequency than the 12C160 1 —* 0 transition, we
could not absolutely rule out from the Texas data alone
that we had observed instead a 12C160 feature in Sgr B2
at +305 km s_1. In 1975 May we reobserved this same
feature with the National Radio Astronomy Observa-
tory2 (NRAO) 36-foot (11 m) telescope at Kitt Peak,
Arizona. We also observed two transitions of the hyper-
fine split J = 5/2 —> 3/2 2ni/2 ¿-state transition of NS
at 115.6 GHz toward Sgr B2 with the NRAO telescope,
thereby conclusively establishing the presence of NS
toward Sgr B2.
The ground electronic state of the NS radical is a 2H
state. Since the ratio of the spin-orbit constant to
rotational constant {A/B) is large and positive, the
2
ni/2 state is lowest in energy and NS is well character-
ized by the Hund’s case (a) coupling scheme. Lambda
doubling causes each transition of the type / + 1 —> /
in the 2IIi/2 ladder to split into two transitions separated
in frequency and labeled “c-state” and “¿-state” transi-
tions by Amano et al. (1969). Since the 14N nucleus has
both a magnetic and electric-quadrupole moment,
transitions in NS are further split by hyperfine interac-
tions. Amano et al. (1969) derived a dipole moment of
1.81 ± 0.02 D.
1
The Millimeter Wave Observatory is operated by the Electri-
cal Engineering Research Laboratory, University of Texas at
Austin, with support from the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, the National Science Foundation, and Mc-
Donald Observatory. The instrumentation used for spectral-line
observations with this antenna was developed jointly by the
University of Texas, Bell Telephone Laboratories, and the Radio
Astronomy Division of the Center for Astrophysics.
2 the F = 3/2 —> 3/2 and F = 5/2-+ 5/2 hyperfine com-
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is operated by
Associated Universities, Inc., under contract with the National
Science Foundation.
L147
The spectral-line equipment used with the Texas
16-foot antenna was described elsewhere (Lada, Dickin-
son, and Penfield 1974). The observations were made
with forty 2-MHz filters, and were taken in a simul-
taneous frequency-switching and telescope-switching
mode.
The 36-foot NRAO antenna was equipped with the
cooled 80-120 GHz mixer. The data were obtained with
256 filters each of 1 MHz and 250 kHz width by switch-
ing the telescope on and off the source every 30 seconds
and subtracting the OFF-source spectra from the on-
source spectra.
Data taken at both telescopes were calibrated by
rotating an absorbing chopper wheel in front of the
feed. The NRAO radiometric system has a 9.5-GHz
frequency separation between sidebands, and according-
ly the calibration of spectra is uncertain by a factor
perhaps as large as 2. Spectra taken at different times
at a specific frequency, however, are reproducible to
within 20 percent. Observation of 12CO toward Orion A
yielded Tb = 34.7 K. If we adopt 60 K as the true ap-
parent brightness temperature of CO toward Orion A
(Ulich and Haas 1975), then the c-state NS temperature
scale should be increased by a factor of about 1.7. The
¿-state NS temperature scale is also uncertain.
III. OBSERVATIONS
The Texas and NRAO spectra are shown in Figure 1.
Note the strong 12CO feature on the high-frequency side
of the spectrum. If we assume that the hyperfine com-
ponents have a velocity of +60 km s_1 with respect to
the local standard of rest, then the feature near the
center of the spectrum is nearly coincident with the
blend of the three strongest c-state (F = 7/2—>5/2,
5/2 —* 3/2, and 3/2—>1/2) components. These three
hyperfine components account for 89 percent of the total
intensity of the c-state transition, if they are present in
their optically thin ratios. Also indicated in Figure 1 are
ponents. A blend of these latter two components is
marginally present in the astronomical spectrum, al-

© American Astronomical Society • Provided by the NASA Astrophysics Data System

LUS GOTTLIEB, BALL, GOTTLIEB, LADA, AND PENFIELD
LSR FREQUENCY (MHz)
Fig. 1.—Spectra of the J = 5/2 —► 3/2 2IIi/2 c-state transition
of 14N32S observed toward Sgr B2 («1950 = 17h44mlls, Sigso =
— 28°22'30") with the University of Texas 5-m antenna (see
insert
12 16
for spectrum) and the NRAO 11-m antenna. Strong
C 0 emission is present in the high-frequency portion of the
NRAO spectrum. The spectral resolution is 2 MHz for the
Texas data and 1 MHz for the NRAO data. The vertical lines
below the NRAO spectrum indicate the positions of the NS
hyperfine components in their optically thin ratios at an assumed
velocity of +60 km s-1. The frequency scale is referred to the
local standard of rest. The temperature scales are apparent
brightness temperature referred to outside the Earth’s atmosphere,
but without corrections applicable to the NRAO data as dis-
cussed in the text. The total integration time is 600 minutes for
the Texas data and 160 minutes for the NRAO data.
though more integration time is needed to definitely
establish their presence.
We assumed that the hyperfine components are
optically thin and in their LTE ratios, and we used a
computer program (Ball 1975) to recover the spectrum
that would have been seen if the molecule had had no
hyperfine splitting. The resulting spectral feature is at
59+1 km s_1 with respect to the local standard of rest
and is 21 + 2 km s-1 wide, in agreement with other
molecules observed toward Sgr B2.
Figure 2 is the ¿/-state spectrum observed with the
NRAO antenna on 1975 May 7 and 13. Data taken on
the latter day were shifted by 35 MHz, thereby con-
firming that both lines seen in Figure 2 are in the correct
sideband. Detection of the F — 7/2—>5/2 component
{Tb = 0.21 + 0.02 K [uncorrected], FiSr = 59 + 1 km
s_1, and AF = 23 + 3 km s-1) and a blend of the
F = 5/2—>3/2 and F = 3/2—> 1/2 components con-
clusively identifies NS. The line width and velocity of
the unblended feature agree well with those derived for
other molecules observed toward Sgr B2.
Upper limits to 7^ (corrected) for the c-state transi-
tion were obtained toward the Kleinmann-Low Nebula
in Orion A (<0.2 K), IRC +10216 (<0.3 K), M17
REFERENCES
Amano, T., Saito, S., Hirota, E., and Morino, Y. 1969, /. Mol. Ball, J. A. 1975, in Methods in Computational Physics, Vol. 14,
Spectrosc., 32, 97.
© American Astronomical Society • Provided by the NASA Astrophysics Data System
Vol. 200
LSR FREQUENCY (MHz)
Fig. 2.—Spectrum of the J = 5/2 —* 3/2 2ni/2 ¿-state transition
of NS observed with the NRAO antenna. The total integration
time is 335 minutes. All other comments from Fig. 1 apply.
SW (<0.4 K), W51 (<0.4 K), and DR 21 (OH)
(<0.8 K).
IV. DISCUSSION
Following the procedure outlined by Litvak (1972),
estimates of the NS column density were obtained by
solving the equations of statistical equilibrium for the
20 lowest states in the 2ni/2 ladder (up to / = 19/2).
The 2n3/2 ladder begins 322 K above the ground state,
and so was not included in the calculation. If we assume
a kinetic temperature of 20 K, a typical collision rate of
5 X 10-6 s-1 (nn ~ 104-105 cm-3), and no strong selec-
tion rules governing excitation and de-excitation by
collision, then the total NS column density toward Sgr
B2 is 1014 cm-2. In Orion A the NS column density is
< 1014 cm-2. We obtained similar numbers for the case
of dipole selection rules governing collisions.
Other sulfur-containing molecules detected in Sgr B2
are SO, CS, H2S, OCS, and CH2S. Oppenheimer and
Dalgarno (1974) calculated the abundances of these
molecules and NS assuming that they are formed via
ion-molecule reactions. Oppenheimer and Dalgarno
predict that NS and SO would be comparable in abun-
dance. Gottlieb et al. (1975) estimate that the SO column
density toward Sgr B2 is 5 X 1014 cm-2, somewhat
greater than NS. In this sense the Oppenheimer and
Dalgarno model is in qualitative agreement with the
observations.
We thank the staff of the National Radio Astronomy
Observatory, Tucson, Arizona for their help with the
observations. We gratefully acknowledge Professor
A. E. Lilley and Dr. M. M. Litvak for helpful discus-
sions. Radio Astronomy at Harvard is supported in part
by NSF grant MPS 74-24063.
ed. M. Rotenberg (New York: Academic Press), in press.
1975ApJ...200L.147G

No. 3, 1975 DETECTION OF INTERSTELLAR NS L149

Gottlieb, C. A., Penfield, H., Ball, J. A., Gottlieb, E. W., Litvak,
M. M., and Lada, C. J. 1975, in preparation.
Lada, C. J., Dickinson, D. F., and Penfield, H. 1974, Ap. J.
{Letters), 189, L35.
Litvak, M. M. 1972, in Atoms and Molecules in Astrophysics,
ed. T. A. Carson and M. J. Roberts (London: Academic Press),
p. 201.
Oppenheimer, M., and Dalgarno, A. 1974, Ap. J., 187, 231.
Ulich, B. L., and Haas, R. W. 1975, Ap. J. Suppl., in press.

C. A. Gottlieb, John A. Ball, Elaine W. Gottlieb, C. J. Lada, and H. Penfield: Harvard College Observatory,
60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

© American Astronomical Society • Provided by the NASA Astrophysics Data System