Diatomic molecules in the solar infrared spectrum from ATMOS-SL 3 high resolution observations

The ATMOS Fourier Transform Spectrometer has observed, for the first time, the solar infrared spectrum, from 2 to 16 microns, free of any telluric absorption. A very large number of molecular lines are present on these high quality spectra: vibration-rotation lines of CO (Delta-v = 1 and 2; including the isotopic species C-13, O-18 and O-17), CH, NH, OH and pure rotation lines of OH. The analysis of these lines will allow to derive accurate values for the solar abundances of C, N and O and the isotopic ratios C-13/C-12, O-18/O-16, and O-17/O-16, to test the photospheric model from high to deep layers, to test the electric dipole moment functions of the different molecules and to derive much better molecular constants for CH.