AbstractThe methods of electron impact spectroscopy were applied to gain information about the triplet states of the SO2 molecule. The present studies indicate hitherto undetected triplet excitations at around 4.9, 7.8, 9.3 and 10.5 eV. The angular distribution of the scattered electrons is consistent with a ã 1B1 assignment at 3.4 eV and also shows that triplet excitation(s) is present in the 4.4 eV (Ã 1B1) region. The high‐energy, low‐angle spectrum yielded relative optical absorption coefficients which, when normalized to the optical data at 200 nm, agree well with previous optical measurements in the 320 to 96 nm range. In the present work the absorption coefficients were extended down to 50 nm.