The identification of interstellar nitrogen sulfide (NS) was reported in 1975 in
back-to-back Letters in the Astrophysical Journal by
Gottlieb et al. and
Kuiper et al.. Both detections were toward
Sgr B2 and were made with the
11m telescope at
Kitt Peak and the 4.9m telescope at the Unversity of Texas Millimeter
Wave Observatory on
Mount Locke
(McDonald Observatory) that
operated until 1989.
Confirming observations include the 1997 report by McGonagle and Irvine,
which reported the observation of three rotational transitions toward twelve
giant molecular clouds.
NS was observed in the Seyfert galaxy
NGC 253 by
Martin et al. in 2003. Nitrogen sulfide was also
detected in comet Hale-Bopp by
Irvine et al. and in comet
Hyakutake by
Canaves et al.
The figures below depict the σ and π bonding in nitrogen sulfide (also known as the
thionitrosyl radical) and the associated orbitals
(cut-away to show the amplitude contours).
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Bonding Couplings
| σ - 2 e-
| π - 4 e-
| π* - 1 e-
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