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Reddening and the Extinction Law at High Galactic Latitude
We present near-infrared (JHKL) photometry of 103 southern stars locatedbehind translucent interstellar clouds at high Galactic latitude. Ourdata are combined with visual photometry and spectral type informationfrom the literature in a detailed analysis of the wavelength dependenceof interstellar extinction by dust in these high-latitude clouds. Weinvestigate the shape of the near-infrared extinction curve and evaluatethe total line-of-sight extinction (AV) and ratio oftotal-to-selective extinction (RV) in each line of sight.Sources of uncertainty in RV arising from photometric errorsand spectral classification errors are carefully assessed and quantifiedas functions of the line-of-sight reddening. We detect appreciabledifferences in our results compared with the average extinction curvefor dust in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) close to the Galacticplane. Assuming a power-law form in the near-infrared, we find the meanfor high-latitude clouds to be well described by~λ-2.3, somewhat steeperthan that for the diffuse ISM(~λ-1.8). Our sampleincludes a substantial number of lines of sight with low RVvalues (47% with RV<2.8) relative to the diffuse ISMaverage of 3.05+/-0.15. We conclude that many high-latitude clouds haveenhanced abundances of relatively small grains.
| High-Resolution Observations of Interstellar Ca I Absorption-Implications for Depletions and Electron Densities in Diffuse Clouds
We present high-resolution (FWHM~0.3-1.5 km s-1) spectra,obtained with the AAT UHRF, the McDonald Observatory 2.7 m coudéspectrograph, and/or the KPNO coudé feed, of interstellar Ca Iabsorption toward 30 Galactic stars. Comparisons of the column densitiesof Ca I, Ca II, K I, and other species-for individual componentsidentified in the line profiles and also when integrated over entirelines of sight-yield information on relative electron densities anddepletions (dependent on assumptions regarding the ionizationequilibrium). There is no obvious relationship between the ratio N(CaI)/N(Ca II) [equal to ne/(Γ/αr) forphotoionization equilibrium] and the fraction of hydrogen in molecularform f(H2) (often taken to be indicative of the local densitynH). For a smaller sample of sight lines for which thethermal pressure (nHT) and local density can be estimated viaanalysis of the C I fine-structure excitation, the average electrondensity inferred from C, Na, and K (assuming photoionizationequilibrium) seems to be independent of nH andnHT. While the electron density (ne) obtained fromthe ratio N(Ca I)/N(Ca II) is often significantly higher than the valuesderived from other elements, the patterns of relative nederived from different elements show both similarities and differencesfor different lines of sight-suggesting that additional processesbesides photoionization and radiative recombination commonly andsignificantly affect the ionization balance of heavy elements in diffuseinterstellar clouds. Such additional processes may also contribute tothe (apparently) larger than expected fractional ionizations(ne/nH) found for some lines of sight withindependent determinations of nH. In general, inclusion of``grain-assisted'' recombination does reduce the inferred ne,but it does not reconcile the ne estimated from differentelements; it may, however, suggest some dependence of ne onnH. The depletion of calcium may have a much weakerdependence on density than was suggested by earlier comparisons with CHand CN. Two appendices present similar high-resolution spectra of Fe Ifor a few stars and give a compilation of column density data for Ca I,Ca II, Fe I, and S I.
| Interstellar CH^+^ in southern OB associations.
Optical absorption line observations of interstellar CH^+^ and CH arepresented towards the southern OB associations CMa OB1, NGC 2439, VelaOB1, NGC 4755, and Cen OB1. A total of 5-11 stars per association wereobserved, with visual extinctions ranging from A_V_=0.5-4.5mag. Thederived CH^+^ and CH velocities agree within the measurement errors.Towards a particular association, the CH^+^ column density N(CH^+^) iscorrelated to the visual extinction of the background star. Thesefindings weaken the possibility that magnetic shocks are the generalmechanism that is required to produce interstellar CH^+^. It is foundthat N(CH^+^) is correlated to N(CH), which indicates that N(CH^+^) iscorrelated to the optical depth of a cloud. The correlations aredifficult to reconcile with scenarios where the sites of CH^+^ formationare constrained to the surface of molecular clouds. The observationssupport ideas which involve turbulence as a major CH^+^ productionmechanism. In particular, the results are in agreement with expectationsfrom a scenario where the CH^+^ formation proceeds in cool gas via afraction of fast, non-Maxwellian H_2_ or C^+^, created by thedissipation of interstellar turbulence.
| Ultraviolet Interstellar Polarization of Galactic Starlight.I.Observations by the Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo Polarimeter Experiment
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1996AJ....112.2726A&db_key=AST
| Photometric and spectroscopic analysis of high galactic latitude molecular clouds. II - High-resolution spectroscopic observations of NA I, CA II, CA I, CH, and CH(+1)
High-resolution spectroscopic observations in the wavelengths of thespecies Na I, Ca II, and Ca I and the molecular species CH and CH(+)have been performed toward stars behind a variety of high galacticlatitude molecular clouds (HLCs). Seventeen new detections of molecularabsorption are reported. The sizes, densities, and molecular contentfound for the HLCs are consistent with an interpretation of HLCmolecular cores as extremely compact structures of enhanced molecularcontent which may have evolved from larger H I shells.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Sagittarius |
| Right ascension: | 19h54m40.95s |
| Declination: | -15°54'49.1" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 8.029 |
| Distance: | 373.134 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | 3.5 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -17.9 |
| B-T magnitude: | 8.383 |
| V-T magnitude: | 8.059 |
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