71 research outputs found
The ORFEUS II Echelle Spectrum of HD 93521: A reference for interstellar molecular hydrogen
During the second flight of the ORFEUS-SPAS mission in November/December
1996, the Echelle spectrometer was used extensively by the Principal and Guest
Investigator teams as one of the two focal plane instruments of the ORFEUS
telescope. The spectrum of HD 93521 was obtained during this mission with a
total integration time of 1740 s. This spectrum shows numerous sharp
interstellar absorption lines. We identified 198 lines of molecular hydrogen
including at least 7 lines with a high velocity component. Also most of the 67
identified interstellar metal lines are visible with a high velocity component.
We present plots of the complete ORFEUS Echelle spectrum together with tables
of all identified interstellar absorption lines including all 14 detectable HI
lines. In addition several identified stellar lines, partially with narrow
absorption components, and stellar wind lines are given in a separate table.Comment: 18 pages, 33 figure
ORFEUS-II Far-Ultraviolet Observations of 3C273: 1. Interstellar and Intergalactic Absorption Lines
We present the first intermediate-resolution (lambda / 3000) spectrum of the
bright quasi-stellar object 3C273 at wavelengths between 900 and 1200 A.
Observations were performed with the Berkeley spectrograph aboard the
ORFEUS-SPAS II mission. We detect Lyman beta counterparts to
previously-identified intergalactic Lyman-alpha features at cz = 19900, 1600,
and 1000 km/s; counterparts to other putative Lyman-alpha clouds along the
sight line are below our detection limit. The strengths of the two very low
redshift Lyman-beta features, which are believed to arise in Virgo intracluster
gas, exceed preflight expectations, suggesting that the previous determination
of the cloud parameters may underestimate the true column densities. A
curve-of-growth analysis sets a minimum H I column density of 4 E14/cm^2 for
the 1600 km/s cloud. We find marginally significant evidence for Galactic H_2
along the sight line, with a total column density of about 1 E15/cm^2. We
detect the stronger interstellar O VI doublet member unambiguously; the weaker
member is blended with other features. If the Doppler b value for O VI is
comparable to that determined for N V then the O VI column density is 7 +/- 2
E14/cm^2, significantly above the only previous estimate. The O VI / N V ratio
is about 10, consistent with the low end of the range observed in the disk.
Additional interstellar species detected for the first time toward 3C273 (at
modest statistical significance) include P II, Fe III, Ar I, and S III.Comment: LaTeX file, 11 pages, 4 encapsulated PostScript figures. Uses
aaspp4.sty and astrobib.sty. (Astrobib is available from
http://www.stsci.edu/software/TeX.html .) The ORFEUS telescope is described
at http://sag-www.ssl.berkeley.edu/orfeus/ . To appear in ApJ (Letters
Spectral Energy Distributions of starburst galaxies in the 900-1200 A range
We present the 970-1175 A spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of 12
starburst galaxies observed with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
FUSE. We take benefit of the high spectral resolution of FUSE to estimate a
continuum as much as possible unaffected by the interstellar lines. The
continuum is rather flat with, in few cases, a decrease at lambda <~1050 A, the
amplitude of which being correlated with various indicators of the dust
extinction. The far-UV SEDs are compared with synthetic population models. The
galaxies with almost no extinction have a SED consistent with an on-going star
formation over some Myrs. We derive a mean dust attenuation law in the
wavelength range 965-1140 A by comparing the SED of obscured galaxies to an
empirical dust-free SED. The extinction is nearly constant longward of 1040 A
but rises at shorter wavelengths. We compare our results with other studies of
the extinction for galaxies and stars in this wavelength range.Comment: 11 pages, 6 postscript figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy
& Astrophysic
The ORFEUS II Echelle Spectrometer: Instrument description, performance and data reduction
During the second flight of the ORFEUS-SPAS mission in November/December
1996, the Echelle spectrometer was used extensively by the Principal and Guest
Investigator teams as one of the two focal plane instruments of the ORFEUS
telescope. We present the in-flight performance and the principles of the data
reduction for this instrument. The wavelength range is 90 nm to 140 nm, the
spectral resolution is significantly better than lambda/(Delta lambda) = 10000,
where Delta lambda is measured as FWHM of the instrumental profile. The
effective area peaks at 1.3 cm^2 near 110 nm. The background is dominated by
straylight from the Echelle grating and is about 15% in an extracted spectrum
for spectra with a rather flat continuum. The internal accuracy of the
wavelength calibration is better than +/- 0.005 nm.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Discovery of molecular hydrogen in a high-velocity cloud of the Galactic halo
We report the discovery of molecular hydrogen absorption in a Galactic
high-velocity cloud (HVC) in the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud. For
the same HVC we derive an iron abundance which is half of the solar value.
Thus, all evidence points to a Galactic origin for high-velocity cloud complex
in front of the LMC.Comment: Published in Nature, this week; 14 pages, 3 figure
HIRDES - The High-Resolution Double-Echelle Spectrograph for the World Space Observatory Ultraviolet (WSO/UV)
The World Space Observatory Ultraviolet (WSO/UV) is a multi-national project
grown out of the needs of the astronomical community to have future access to
the UV range. WSO/UV consists of a single UV telescope with a primary mirror of
1.7m diameter feeding the UV spectrometer and UV imagers. The spectrometer
comprises three different spectrographs, two high-resolution echelle
spectrographs (the High-Resolution Double-Echelle Spectrograph, HIRDES) and a
low-dispersion long-slit instrument. Within HIRDES the 102-310nm spectral band
is split to feed two echelle spectrographs covering the UV range 174-310nm and
the vacuum-UV range 102-176nm with high spectral resolution (R>50,000). The
technical concept is based on the heritage of two previous ORFEUS SPAS
missions. The phase-B1 development activities are described in this paper
considering performance aspects, design drivers, related trade-offs (mechanical
concepts, material selection etc.) and a critical functional and environmental
test verification approach. The current state of other WSO/UV scientific
instruments (imagers) is also described.Comment: Accepted for publication in Advances in Space Researc
Integration of Parallel Opposing Memories Underlies Memory Extinction.
Accurately predicting an outcome requires that animals learn supporting and conflicting evidence from sequential experience. In mammals and invertebrates, learned fear responses can be suppressed by experiencing predictive cues without punishment, a process called memory extinction. Here, we show that extinction of aversive memories in Drosophila requires specific dopaminergic neurons, which indicate that omission of punishment is remembered as a positive experience. Functional imaging revealed co-existence of intracellular calcium traces in different places in the mushroom body output neuron network for both the original aversive memory and a new appetitive extinction memory. Light and ultrastructural anatomy are consistent with parallel competing memories being combined within mushroom body output neurons that direct avoidance. Indeed, extinction-evoked plasticity in a pair of these neurons neutralizes the potentiated odor response imposed in the network by aversive learning. Therefore, flies track the accuracy of learned expectations by accumulating and integrating memories of conflicting events.S.W. was funded by a Wellcome Principal Research Fellowship (200846/Z/16/Z), by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation (GAT3237), and by the Bettencourt-Schueller Foundation. J.F. was supported by the DFG (FE 1563/1-1). G.S.X.E.J. was funded by Medical Research Council. D.D.B. funded by HHMI. G.S.X.E.J., D.D.B., and S.W. were funded by a Wellcome Collaborative Award (203261/Z/16/Z)
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