Our understanding of stellar evolution hinges to a large extent on our ability to interpret the spectra of cool stars. The Principal and Co- Investigators (PI's) plan to continue a long-term program of laboratory measurements of the emission spectra of molecules of astrophysical interests. The PI's measurements will determine wavelengths, level structure, excitation energies, and transition probabilities from measurements made with an electric furnace mounted in the beam of the Fourier Transform Spectrometer at the McMath Solar Telescope on Kitt Peak. These data will be transformed to spectral atlases for use in molecular identification and molecular synthesis by astronomers interested in determining the physical conditions (including chemical composition) of the atmospheres of cool stars.
