we propose to use iso observations of the 63 micron line of oi to determine the gas phase oxygen abundance in dense interstellar clouds, where complex molecules are found and where the interstellar uv radiation field is attenuated by dust. it has been shown that carbon can be largely accounted for by co and ci measurements, but the predicted molecular reservoirs of oxygen, o_{2} and h_{2}o, have been shown not to account for the anticipated gas phase oxygen by at least an order of magnitude. we expect that the remainder is largely atomic oxygen and propose a method of 63 micron absorption spectroscopy to identify the missing oxygen content of these clouds. in order to separate oi emission from the background continuum source from oi absorption by the foreground source we select lines of sight where the velocity separation of emitter and absorber is greater than the lws resolution of 30 km/s. also, to avoid the effects of strong pdrs we choose absorbing clouds well removed from ionizing stars. further, to aid in the understanding of the relation between the oxygen generated in the pdrs at the cloud surfaces, caused by the ambient interstellar uv field, and oxygen associated with the more shielded molecular region, we measure a set of clouds with a range of h_{2} column densities. the cloud oi absorption should correlate with the h_{2} column densities (determined from trace molecules), whereas the pdr contribution should be roughly a constant.
Instrument
LWS01 , LWS04
Temporal Coverage
1996-09-30T04:38:32Z/1996-10-08T03:33:51Z
Version
1.0
Mission Description
The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) was the world's first true orbiting infrared observatory. Equipped with four highly-sophisticated and versatile scientific instruments, it was launched by Ariane in November 1995 and provided astronomers world-wide with a facility of unprecedented sensitivity and capabilities for a detailed exploration of the Universe at infrared wavelengths.
