680 research outputs found
FUSE Measurements of Interstellar Fluorine
The source of fluorine is not well understood, although core-collapse
supernovae, Wolf-Rayet stars, and asymptotic giant branch stars have been
suggested. A search for evidence of the nu process during Type II supernovae is
presented. Absorption from interstellar F I is seen in spectra of HD 208440 and
HD 209339A acquired with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. In order
to extract the column density for F I from the line at 954 A, absorption from
H2 has to be modeled and then removed. Our analysis indicates that for H2
column densities less than about 3 x 10^20 cm^-2, the amount of F I can be
determined from lambda 954. For these two sight lines, there is no clear
indication for enhanced F abundances resulting from the nu process in a region
shaped by past supernovae.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
The Distance to the Vela Supernova Remnant
We have obtained high resolution Ca II and Na I absorption line spectra
toward 68 OB stars in the direction of the Vela Supernova Remnant. The stars
lie at distances of 190 -- 2800 pc as determined by Hipparcos and spectroscopic
parallax estimations. The presence of high velocity absorption attributable to
the remnant along some of the sight lines constrains the remnant distance to
250+/-30 pc. This distance is consistent with several recent investigations
that suggest that the canonical remnant distance of 500 pc is too large.Comment: To be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters Figure 1 y-axis
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Reanalysis of Copernicus Measurements on Interstellar Carbon Monoxide
We used archival data acquired with the Copernicus satellite to reexamine CO
column densities because self-consistent oscillator strengths are now
available. Our focus is on lines of sight containing modest amounts of
molecular species. Our resulting column densities are small enough that
self-shielding from photodissociation is not occurring in the clouds probed by
the observations. While our sample shows that the column densities of CO and H2
are related, no correspondence with the CH column density is evident. The case
for the CH+ column density is less clear. Recent chemical models for these
sight lines suggest that CH is mainly a by-product of CH+ synthesis in low
density gas. The models are most successful in reproducing the amounts of CO in
the densest sight lines. Thus, much of the CO absorption must arise from denser
clumps along the line of sight to account for the trend with H2.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
High Velocity Line Emission in the NLR of NGC 4151
Narrow-band imaging of the nuclear region of NGC 4151 with the Hubble Space
Telescope is presented. The filter bandpasses isolate line emission in various
high velocity ranges in several ions. Slitless and long-slit spectra of the
region with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph also indicate the
locations of high velocity gas. These emission regions are faint and are
interspersed among the bright emission clouds seen in direct images. They have
radial velocities up to 1400 km/s relative to the nucleus, and are found in
both approach and recession on both sides of the nucleus. This contrasts
strongly with the bright emission line clouds which have been discussed
previously as showing bidirectional outflow with velocities within 400 km/s of
the nucleus. We discuss the possible connections of the high velocity material
with the radio jet and the nuclear radiation.Comment: 12 pages plus 6 figures, to be published in A
Superflares on Ordinary Solar-Type Stars
Short duration flares are well known to occur on cool main-sequence stars as
well as on many types of `exotic' stars. Ordinary main-sequence stars are
usually pictured as being static on time scales of millions or billions of
years. Our sun has occasional flares involving up to ergs which
produce optical brightenings too small in amplitude to be detected in
disk-integrated brightness. However, we identify nine cases of superflares
involving to ergs on normal solar-type stars. That is,
these stars are on or near the main-sequence, are of spectral class from F8 to
G8, are single (or in very wide binaries), are not rapid rotators, and are not
exceedingly young in age. This class of stars includes many those recently
discovered to have planets as well as our own Sun, and the consequences for any
life on surrounding planets could be profound. For the case of the Sun,
historical records suggest that no superflares have occurred in the last two
millennia.Comment: 16 pages, accepted for publication in Ap
Cloud Structure and Physical Conditions in Star-forming Regions from Optical Observations. I. Data and Component Structure
We present high-resolution optical spectra (at ~0.6--1.8 km s-1) of
interstellar CN, CH, CH^+, \ion{Ca}{1}, \ion{K}{1}, and \ion{Ca}{2} absorption
toward 29 lines of sight in three star-forming regions, \rho Oph, Cep OB2, and
Cep OB3. The observations and data reduction are described. The agreement
between earlier measurements of the total equivalent widths and our results is
quite good. However, our higher resolution spectra reveal complex structure and
closely blended components in most lines of sight. The velocity component
structure of each species is obtained by analyzing the spectra of the six
species for a given sight line together. The tabulated column densities and
Doppler parameters of individual components are determined by using the method
of profile fitting. Total column densities along lines of sight are computed by
summing results from profile fitting for individual components and are compared
with column densities from the apparent optical depth method. A more detailed
analysis of these data and their implications will be presented in a companion
paper.Comment: 66 pages, 15 figures, accepted to ApJ
Photospheric and chromospheric activity in four young solar-type stars
We present a photometric and spectroscopic study of four G-K dwarfs, namely
HD 166, epsilon Eri, chi1 Ori and kappa1 Cet. In three cases, we find a clear
spatial association between photospheric and chromospheric active regions. For
chi1 Ori we do not find appreciable variations of photospheric temperature, and
chromospheric Halpha emission. We applied a spot/plage model to the observed
rotational modulation of temperature and flux to derive spot/plage parameters
and to reconstruct a rough three-dimensional map of the outer atmosphere of
kappa1 Cet, HD 166 and epsilon Eri.Comment: 12 pages, 3 tables, 9 figures. Submitted to Ap
Abundances and Physical Conditions in the Interstellar Gas toward HD 192 639
We present a study of the abundances and physical conditions in the
interstellar gas toward the heavily reddened star HD 192639 [E_(B-V) = 0.64],
based on analysis of FUSE and HST/STIS spectra covering the range from 912 to
1361 A. This work constitutes a survey of the analyses that can be performed to
study the interstellar gas when combining data from different instruments.
Low-velocity (-18 to -8 km/s) components are seen primarily for various neutral
and singly ionized species such as C I, O I, S I, Mg II, Cl I, Cl II, Mn II, Fe
II and Cu II. Numerous lines of H2 are present in the FUSE spectra, with a
kinetic temperature for the lowest rotational levels T_(01) = (90 +/- 10) K.
Analysis of the C I fine-structure excitation implies an average local density
of hydrogen n_H = (16 +/- 3) cm^-3. The average electron density, derived from
five neutral/first ion pairs under the assumption of photoionization
equilibrium, is n_e = (0.11 +/- 0.02) cm^-3. The relatively complex component
structure seen in high-resolution spectra of K I and Na I, the relatively low
average density, and the measured depletions all suggest that the line of sight
contains a number of diffuse clouds, rather than a single dense, translucent
cloud. Comparisons of the fractions of Cl in Cl I and of hydrogen in molecular
form suggest a higher molecular fraction, in the region(s) where H2 is present,
than that derived considering the average line of sight. In general, such
comparisons may allow the identification and characterization of translucent
portions of such complex lines of sight. The combined data also show
high-velocity components near -80 km/s for various species which appear to be
predominantly ionized, and may be due to a radiative shock. A brief overview of
the conditions in this gas will be given.Comment: 37 pages, accepted for publication in Ap
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