Contents
Images
Upload your image
DSS Images Other Images
Related articles
CN column densities and excitation temperatures
We analyse abundances and rotational temperatures of the interstellar CNmolecule. We have calculated the column densities and excitationtemperatures of the molecule along 73 lines of sight basing on ouroriginal measurements of the B 2?+ -X2?+ (0,0) vibrational band recorded in highsignal-to-noise ratio spectra and also for 88 directions based onmeasurements already available in literature. We compare the columndensities obtained from different bands of CN molecule available toground-based instruments. The obtained excitation temperatures in theanalysed directions show always an excess over the cosmic microwavebackground radiation (CMBR) temperature.
| New Estimates of the Solar-Neighborhood Massive Star Birthrate and the Galactic Supernova Rate
The birthrate of stars of masses >=10 Msolar is estimatedfrom a sample of just over 400 O3-B2 dwarfs within 1.5 kpc of the Sunand the result extrapolated to estimate the Galactic supernova ratecontributed by such stars. The solar-neighborhood Galactic-plane massivestar birthrate is estimated at ~176 stars kpc-3Myr-1. On the basis of a model in which the Galactic stellardensity distribution comprises a ``disk+central hole'' like that of thedust infrared emission (as proposed by Drimmel and Spergel), theGalactic supernova rate is estimated at probably not less than ~1 normore than ~2 per century and the number of O3-B2 dwarfs within the solarcircle at ~200,000.
| 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.
| Catalog of Galactic OB Stars
An all-sky catalog of Galactic OB stars has been created by extendingthe Case-Hamburg Galactic plane luminous-stars surveys to include 5500additional objects drawn from the literature. This work brings the totalnumber of known or reasonably suspected OB stars to over 16,000.Companion databases of UBVβ photometry and MK classifications forthese objects include nearly 30,000 and 20,000 entries, respectively.
| The 74th Special Name-list of Variable Stars
We present the Name-list introducing GCVS names for 3153 variable starsdiscovered by the Hipparcos mission.
| UBV beta Database for Case-Hamburg Northern and Southern Luminous Stars
A database of photoelectric UBV beta photometry for stars listed in theCase-Hamburg northern and southern Milky Way luminous stars surveys hasbeen compiled from the original research literature. Consisting of over16,000 observations of some 7300 stars from over 500 sources, thisdatabase constitutes the most complete compilation of such photometryavailable for intrinsically luminous stars around the Galactic plane.Over 5000 stars listed in the Case-Hamburg surveys still lackfundamental photometric data.
| Diffuse interstellar bands near 9600Å: not due to C60^+^ yet.
High spectral resolution studies of the two Diffuse Interstellar Bands(DIB) previously assigned to C60^+^ (λ9577 and λ9632)confirm that these DIBs have the same full-width-at-half-maximum andbehave similarly in dense cloud environments where the DIBs are weakenedrelative to the diffuse interstellar medium. Their relative strength,however, is less than previously reported and differs from the relativeintensities measured from matrix isolation spectroscopy. A simultaneoussearch for the two laboratory derived vibronic transitions of C60^+^ atabout 9366 and 9419 Å has not lead to the detection of the twoweak counterparts stronger than 15% of λ9577. We conclude thatfor the diffuse band spectrum to be consistent with C60^+^, not only themeasured band positions have to be slightly different in the gas-phase,but also the relative intensity of the two main lines has to differsignificantly from that of the known laboratory data.
| 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.
| A spectroscopic database for Stephenson-Sanduleak Southern Luminous Stars
A database of published spectral classifications for objects in theStepenson-Sanduleak Luminous Stars in the Southern Milky Way catalog hasbeen compiled from the literature. A total of 6182 classifications for2562 stars from 139 sources are incorporated.
| Millimetre observations of southern translucent clouds
Millimetre emission line observations of ^12^CO J=1-0 are presented fora sample of translucent molecular clouds previously studied by opticalabsorption lines towards background stars. The CO maps provideinformation on the extent, structure, mass and kinematics of theregions. In some clouds, the emission is characterized by a singlecomponent which does not vary much across the region. In other cases,multiple close-lying components or sheets are found, which may vary in aself-similar manner across the cloud. None of the clouds is close tosimple virial equilibrium. Sensitive searches for ^13^CO and C^18^OJ=1-0 emission have been made towards the stellar positions. C^18^O hasbeen detected in only 5 clouds, most of which have extinctions well inexcess of 2 mag. The inferred ^13^CO/C^18^O abundance ratios range from7-25, and the lower limits from >13 to >35. These values are asmuch as five times larger than the overall interstellar([^13^C].[^16^O])/([^12^C] .[^18^O]) ratio, suggesting thatisotope-selective photodissociation plays a role in at least some of theclouds. Searches for other molecules at millimetre wavelengths have beenmade for a few of the best characterized clouds. Surprisingly, noemission was detected from the C_2_H or C_3_H_2_ molecules, even thoughthe abundances of diatomic C_2_ and CH are quite large. On the otherhand, the abundance of HCO^+^ appears comparable to that found in denserclouds, and the abundance of HCN may be up to an order of magnitudelarger than the predictions of models in two clouds.
| Chemical transitions for interstellar C2 and CN in cloud envelopes
Observations were made of absorption from CH, C2, and CN towardmoderately reddened stars in Sco, OB2, Ceo OB3, and Taurus/Auriga. Forthese directions, most of the reddening is associated with a singlecloud complex, for example, the rho Ophiuchus molecular cloud, and as aresult, the observations probe moderately dense material. When combinedwith avaliable data for nearby directions, the survey provides the basisfor a comprehensive analysis of the chemistry for these species. Thechemical transitions affecting C2 and CN in cloud envelopes wereanalyzed. The depth into a cloud at which a transition takes place wascharacterized by tauuv, the grain optical depth at 1000 A.One transition at tauuv approx. = 2, which arises from, theconversion of C(+) into CO, affects the chemistries for both moleculesbecause of the key role this ion plays. A second one involvingproduction terms in the CN chemistry occurs at tauuv ofapprox. = 3; neutral reactions which C2 and CH is more important atlarger values for tauuv. The transition fromphotodissociation to chemical destruction takes place attauuv approx. = 4.5 for C2 and CN. The observational data forstars in Sco OB2, Cep OB3, and Taurus/Auriga were studied with chemicalrate equations containing the most important production and destructionmechanisms. Because the sample of stars in Sco OB2 includes sight lineswith Av ranging from 1-4 mag, sight lines dominated byphotochemistry could be analyzed separately from those controlled bygas-phase destruction. The analysis yielded values for two poorly knownrate constants for reactions involved in the production of CN; thereactions are C2 + N yields CN + C and C(+) + NH yields all products.The other directions were analyzed with the inferred values. Thepredicted column densities for C2 and CN agree with the observed valuesto better than 50%, and in most instances 20%. When combining theestimates for density and temperature derived from chemical modeling andmolecular excitation for a specific cloud, such as the rho Ophiuchusmolecular cloud, the portion of the cloud envelope probed by C2 and CNabsorption was found to be in pressure equilibrium.
| The abundance of CH(+) in translucent molecular clouds - Further tests of shock models
Observations of interstellar absorption lines of CH(+) in the (0, 0) and(1, 0) bands of the A 1Pi - X 1Sigma(+) system are presented for 17stars with reddenings up to E(B-V) about 1.5 mag. Complementary data oninterstellar CH in the (0, 0) bands of the A 2Delta - X 2Pi and B2Sigma(-) - X 2Pi systems and C2 in the A 1Pi(u) - X 1Sigma(g)(+) redsystem have been obtained as well. The derived CH(+) column densitiescontinue to increase with total column density, and values up to 10 exp14/sq cm are reported for highly-reddened lines of sight. In most cases,the CH(+) and CH absorptions are dominated by a single strong component,with weaker features displaced by a few km/s. No significant velocitydifference is found between CH(+) and neutral species such as CH and CNfor this sample of randomly oriented lines of sight. In contrast withCN, the CH(+) abundance does not increase with the density in the cloudas derived from the observed C2 excitation. For the two clouds with thelargest density, HD 62542 and HD 94413, no CH(+) absorption is foundwith CH(+)/CH less than 0.03 and 0.14, respectively. The CH(+) findingsdo not support a single-shock origin for the formation of the ion.
| CN rotational excitation
We report the results of a search for new lines of sight in which tostudy the CN excitation and a statistical analysis of all the excitationtemperatures measured using interstellar CN. This data set stronglyconfirms that the cosmic background radiation (CBR) is the dominantcontributor to the excitation of CN, and demonstrates the homogeneity ofthe CBR. Thirty-five observations is a sufficiently large sample to lookfor the presence of systematic effects in the CN excitation. Theweighted average of the CN excitation temperatures exceeds the T(CBR)obtained by COBE and the Canadian rocket by 82 +/- 30 mK. With the aimof looking at the origin of this difference, we have considered indetail the known mechanisms that could contribute to exciting the CNmolecule. None of the data necessary to quantify these mechanisms are ofsufficient quality to provide a clean explanation of the observeddifference.
| A multi-wavelength analysis of interstellar CN - Comparison of red and violet absorption line observations
New measurements of interstellar CN in translucent molecular clouds arepresented. The CN is observed by optical absorption lines in both the B2Sigma(+) violet and A 2Pi - X 2Sigma(+) red systems and through the N =1-0 emission lines at 113.491 GHz. It is shown how the unsaturated linesof the red system can be used to determine the Doppler parameter b andthus to assess the saturation corrections in the analysis of thestronger lines of the violet system. In all cases, the Doppler parameteris small, b less than about 1 km/s, and agrees well with the velocitydispersion obtained from (C-13)O millimeter emission of lines in thesame direction but averaged over a different volume of gas.
| The anomalous A-type supergiants in the Magellanic Clouds - Evidence for post-red supergiant evolution
Non-LTE model atmospheres are used to show that the strength of thehydrogen lines and the Balmer jump in a group of A-type supergiants inthe Large and Small Magellanic Clouds can best be explained by enhancedhelium in the atmospheres of these supergiants. On the HR diagram thesestars are found between M(Bol) is approximately equal to -6 to -8 mag,corresponding to an initial mass of 10 to 20 solar masses. Given theirlocation on the HR diagram, their spectral and color anomalies which canbe explained by enhanced helium, and the existence of spectroscopicallynormal A supergiants in the same luminosity range, it is suggested thatthese anomalous A-type supergiants are He-burning postred supergiantsand that they are excellent candidates for the predecessor of the kindof star that became SN 1987a.
| The calibration of the Stromgren photometric system for A, F and early G supergiants. I - The observational data
An empirical calibration of the Stromgren uvby-beta photometric systemfor the A, F, and early G supergiants is being derived. This paperexplains the observational program and the photometric reductiontechniques used and presents a catalog of new Stromgren photometry forover 600 A, F, and G supergiants.
| Interstellar C2, CH, and CN in translucent molecular clouds
Optical absorption-line techniques have been applied to the study of anumber of translucent molecular clouds in which the total columndensities are large enough that substantial molecular abundances can bemaintained. Results are presented for a survey of absorption lines ofinterstellar C2, CH, and CN. Detections of CN through the A 2Pi-X2Sigma(+) (1,O) and (2,O) bands of the red system are reported andcompared with observations of the violet system for one line of sight.The population distributions in C2 provide diagnostic information ontemperature and density. The measured column densities of the threespecies can be used to test details of the theory of molecule formationin clouds where photoprocesses still play a significant role. The C2 andCH column densities are strongly correlated with each other and probablyalso with the H2 column density. In contrast, the CN column densitiesare found to vary greatly from cloud to cloud. The observations arediscussed with reference to detailed theoretical models.
| UBV Photoelectric Photometry Catalogue (1986). III Errors and Problems on DM and HD Stars
Not Available
| UBV photometry for southern OB stars
New UBV photometry of 1227 OB stars in the southern Milky Way ispresented. For 1113 of these stars, MK spectral types have been reportedpreviously in a comprehensive survey to B = 10.0 mag.
| Variability and mass loss in IA O-B-A supergiants
Recently completed catalogs of MK spectral types and UBV photometry of1227 OB stars in the southern Milky Way have been analyzed toinvestigate brightness and color variability among the Ia supergiants.It is found that brightness variability is common among the O9-B1supergiants with typical amplitudes about 0.1 and time scales longerthan a week and shorter than 1000 days. Among the A supergiantsfluctuations in U-B color are found on similar time scales and withamplitude about 0.1. For many early Ia supergaints there is a poorcorrelation between Balmer jump and spectral type, as had been knownpreviously. An attempt to correlate the Balmer jump deficiency with massloss rate yielded uncertain results.
| Studies of luminous stars in nearby galaxies. I. Supergiants and O stars in the Milky Way.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1978ApJS...38..309H&db_key=AST
| Study of NGC 2439 association.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1977AJ.....82..805T
| MK spectral classifications for southern OB stars
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1977ApJS...35..111G&db_key=AST
| Observations of southern emission-line stars
A catalog of 1929 stars showing H-alpha emission on photographic platesis presented which covers the entire southern sky south of declination-25 deg to a red limiting magnitude of about 11.0. The catalog providesprevious designations of known emission-line stars equatorial (1900) andgalactic coordinates, visual and photographic magnitudes, H-alphaemission parameters, spectral types, and notes on unusual spectralfeatures. The objects listed include 16 M stars, 25 S stars, 37 carbonstars, 20 symbiotic stars, 40 confirmed or suspected T Tauri stars, 16novae, 14 planetary nebulae, 11 P Cygni stars, 9 Bep stars, 87 confirmedor suspected Wolf-Rayet stars, and 26 'peculiar' stars. Two new Tassociations are discovered, one in Lupus and one in Chamaeleon. Objectswith variations in continuum or H-alpha intensity are noted, and thedistribution by spectral type is analyzed. It is found that the skydistribution of these emission-line stars shows significantconcentrations in the region of the small Sagittarius cloud and in theCarina region.
| Finding list and spectral classifications for southern luminous stars.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1976AJ.....81..225M&db_key=AST
| Wavelength dependence of interstellar polarization and ratio of total to selective extinction
A multichannel polarimeter-photometer which uses dichroic filters toseparate the (UBVR) spectral regions is described. The instrument wasused with a 24-inch rotatable tube telescope for polarimetricobservation of nearby stars. Polarization data for 364 nearby stars aretabulated, together with the wavelength dependence of linear andinterstellar polarization.
| Interstellar Polarization in the Southern Milky way.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1956ApJ...124...43V&db_key=AST
| A Finding List of High-Luminosity Stars. II.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1951ApJ...114..482M&db_key=AST
| A Finding List of High-Luminosity Stars.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1951ApJ...113..309M&db_key=AST
| Second Supplement to the Mount Wilson Catalogue and Bibliography of Stars of Classes B and a whose Spectra have Bright Hydrogen Lines.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1949ApJ...110..387M&db_key=AST
|
Submit a new article
Related links
Submit a new link
Member of following groups:
|
Observation and Astrometry data
Catalogs and designations:
|
