Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
sprague
fax 520-621-4933
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
dhunten
F.A.GROSSE
Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania 17870
ABSTRACT
(ICARUS 123, 345-349, 1996)
High-resolution spectra of Mercury show no evidence of emission at the
wavelength of the lithium resonance doublet, 6708 Angstroms.
Observations were made with the 1.5-m telescope at the Catalina
Observatory, near Tucson, Arizona, with the LPL echelle spectrograph
and cooled CCD camera system. With an rms noise level of ~0.1% we set
an upper limit for the Li vertical column abundance < 8.4x10e7
atoms/sq.cm, and the Li/Na ratio is < 5.6x10e-4.