Abstract
THE first detection of the 18-cm lines of the OH radical was recently reported by Weinreb, Barrett, Meeks and Henry1. The lines were observed in absorption in the spectrum of Cassiopeia A at frequencies agreeing closely with laboratory values. Optical depths of 0.016 and 0.010 were measured corresponding to values of ∼ 3 for hydrogen lines with the same radial velocities. As the optical depth of the zero-velocity hydrogen line in the galactic centre source (Sagittarius A) is also of the order of 3 and its line width is greater than those in Cassiopeia A, it appeared that we might be able to confirm the results given in ref. 1 with easily improvised equipment.
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References
Weinreb, S., Barrett, A. H., Meeks, M. L., and Henry, J. C., Nature, 200, 829 (1963).
Clark, B. G., Radhakrishnan, V., and Wilson, R. W., Astrophys. J., 135, 151 (1962).
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BOLTON, J., VAN DAMME, K., GARDNER, F. et al. Observation of OH Absorption Lines in the Radio Spectrum of the Galactic Centre. Nature 201, 279 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1038/201279a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/201279a0
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