On the nature of unidentified cometary emission lines

The nature of unidentified cometary emission lines is discussed. A model of ice particles in cometary halos as a mixture of frozen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and acyclic hydrocarbons is considered. The properties of frozen hydrocarbon particles are described and 5–7% of the unidentified cometary emission lines are considered as the photoluminescence of frozen hydrocarbons. The positions of unidentified emission lines in the spectrum of Comet 19P/Borrelly are compared with the positions of quasi-lines in the photoluminescence spectra of PAHs that were dissolved in acyclic hydrocarbons at a temperature of 77 K and that constitute a polycrystalline solution.