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Houck, T. E.

Publications and source records attributed to Houck, T. E..

7 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1972

Further evidence for a black hole in Beta Lyrae.

Comments regarding an interpretation of the OAO-2 observations of Beta Lyrae are presented. This interpretation had been reported by Wilson (1971). Six color UV curves represent the first continual coverage of a single cycle of Beta Lyr. Explanations for the deepening secondary minimum in the far UV are discussed. It is pointed out that the secondary component is apparently a massive object. The 'black hole' model represents one approach to interpret the observations of Beta Lyr.

Kondo, Y.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Ultraviolet observations of comets

The first observations of a comet in the vacuum ultraviolet were obtained on January 14, 1970, when OAO-2 recorded the spectrum of the bright comet Tago-Sato-Kosaka (1969g). The observations revealed, among other things, the predicted extensive hydrogen Lyman alpha halo. OAO-2 continued to collect spectrophotometric measurements of this comet throughout January of that year; a photograph of the nucleus in Lyman alpha revealed finer scale structures. In February of 1970, the bright comet Bennet (1969i) became favorable for space observations. On the basis of the OAO discovery, OGO-V made several measurements of comet Bennet with low spatial resolution photometers. Comet Enke was detected by OGO in January of 1971 at a large heliocentric distance from its Lyman alpha emission.

Code, A. D.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Spectrophotometry of beta Lyrae

Two hundred and fourteen scans over the wavelength region 1100 A to 1800 A with 10 A resolution were obtained by OAO spacecraft for the eclipsing binary Beta Lyrae between JD 2440889.5 and JD 2440904.5. Preliminary results indicate that: (1) The intensity at primary minimum is almost exactly one-half that at maximum and that the primary eclipse is less deep than that in the visual or longer ultraviolet wavelengths; (2) except for the 1100 to 1200 A region, the depth of the primary eclipse appears independent of wavelength; (3) the energy distribution at secondary minimum is similar to that at primary; (4) the two most prominent emission lines match well both with Si IV and C IV emission observed in gamma Vel and imply an exciting source of high temperature; (5) the emission lines do not show variation with phase.

Houck, T. E.↗
NASA NTRS1972

OAO-2 observations of beta Lyrae and a provisional interpretation

Six-color ultraviolet photoelectric observations of beta Lyrae obtained with OAO-2 are presented. These observations, made at 1380, 1500, 1920, 2460, 2980 and 3330 A, represent the first truly continual coverage of the light changes of beta Lyrae during one orbital revolution and were obtained in November 1970. The photometric data are supplemented by spectral scans in the wavelength intervals 3800-1800 A and 2000-1050 A; the latter interval was scanned at 10 A resolution once during every OAO-2 orbit, i.e., about 100 minutes. Anomalous features, such as asymmetries and short and long term variations, are present in the light curves. A tentative discussion of solutions of the light curves is given.

Kondo, Y.↗