Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2017
Most of the cometary radicals are thought to be formed in the coma by photodissociation processes. Successful modeling of the coma requires a detailed knowledge of the products that are formed from the various parent molecules, and the energy partitioning among these products. This information has to be obtained as a function of wavelength, because the Sun is not a monochromatic source. in this review, the status of the experimental knowledge of some key molecules will be discussed, along with the prospects of some new laboratory techniques that can fill in the gaps in our present knowledge.