  We produce SO_2 molecules with a centre of mass velocity near zero using a
Stark decelerator. Since the initial kinetic energy of the supersonic SO_2
molecular beam is high, and the removed kinetic energy per stage is small, 326
deceleration stages are necessary to bring SO_2 to a complete standstill,
significantly more than in other experiments. We show that in such a
decelerator possible loss due to coupling between the motional degrees of
freedom must be considered. Experimental results are compared with 3D
Monte-Carlo simulations and the quantum state selectivity of the Stark
decelerator is demonstrated.
