Photodissociation branching ratios of ¹²C¹⁶O into the channel (a) C(³ P) + O(³ P); (b) C(¹ D) + O(³ P) (black) and C(³P) + O(¹ D) (blue); (c) C(¹ S) + O(³ P); (d) C⁺ ion photofragment spectrum in the photon energy range 110 500–113 045 cm⁻¹. The drop line indicates the position of the ionisation energy of ¹²C¹⁶O at 113 031.3 cm⁻¹ (Erman et al. 1993). The photoionisation cross-sections used are from Burke & Taylor (1979) and Cantu et al. (1981). The error bars represent the standard deviations (1σ) of 3–5 independent measurements. The relative intensities of the spectrum are not normalised according to the corresponding VUV intensities. See Appendix A for details.