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Murthy, Jayant

Publications and source records attributed to Murthy, Jayant.

14 records

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2015

THE MYSTERY OF THE COSMIC DIFFUSE ULTRAVIOLET BACKGROUND RADIATION

The diffuse cosmic background radiation in the Galaxy Evolution Explorer far-ultraviolet (FUV, 1300-1700 Å) is deduced to originate only partially in the dust-scattered radiation of FUV-emitting stars: the source of a substantial fraction of the FUV background radiation remains a mystery. The radiation is remarkably uniform at both far northern and far southern Galactic latitudes and increases toward lower Galactic latitudes at all Galactic longitudes. We examine speculation that this might be due to interaction of the dark matter with the nuclei of the interstellar medium, but we are unable to point to a plausible mechanism for an effective interaction. We also explore the possibility that we are seeing radiation from bright FUV-emitting stars scattering from a ''second population'' of interstellar grains—grains that are small compared with FUV wavelengths. Such grains are known to exist, and they scatter with very high albedo, with an isotropic scattering pattern. However, comparison with the observed distribution (deduced from their 100 μm emission) of grains at high Galactic latitudes shows no correlation between the grains' location and the observed FUV emission. Our modeling of the FUV scattering by small grains also shows that there must be remarkably few such ''smaller'' grains at high Galactic latitudes, both north and south; this likely means simply that there is very little interstellar dust of any kind at the Galactic poles, in agreement with Perry and Johnston. We also review our limited knowledge of the cosmic diffuse background at ultraviolet wavelengths shortward of Lyα—it could be that our ''second component'' of the diffuse FUV background persists shortward of the Lyman limit and is the cause of the reionization of the universe.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

GALEX DIFFUSE OBSERVATIONS OF THE SKY: THE DATA

I present tabulations of the diffuse observations made by the GALEX spacecraft in two UV bands (FUV: 1539 Å and NUV: 2316 Å) from the (almost) final data release of the GALEX spacecraft (GR6/GR7). This data release includes all the FUV observations and the majority of the NUV observations. I discuss overall trends in the data but the primary purpose of this paper is to make the data available to the public. The data files described in this paper are hosted by the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at the Space Telescope Science Insitute from whence they may be downloaded. For ease of use, I have also created maps of the diffuse radiation in both bands over the entire observed sky at 6' resolution.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2012

VOYAGER OBSERVATIONS OF THE DIFFUSE FAR-ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION FIELD

The two Voyager spacecraft have completed their planetary exploration mission and are now probing the outer realms of the heliosphere. The Voyager ultraviolet spectrometers continued to operate well after the Voyager 2 Neptune encounter in 1989. We present a complete database of diffuse radiation observations made by both Voyagers: a total of 1943 spectra (500-1600 A) scattered throughout the sky. These include observations of dust-scattered starlight, emission lines from the hot interstellar medium, and a number of locations where no diffuse radiation was detected, with the very low upper limit of about 25 photons cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} sr{sup -1} A{sup -1}. Many of these observations were from late in the mission when there was significantly less contribution from interplanetary emission lines and thus less contamination of the interstellar signal.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2012

A COMPILATION OF INTERSTELLAR COLUMN DENSITIES

We have collated absorption line data toward 3008 stars in order to create a unified database of interstellar column densities. These data have been taken from a number of different published sources and include many different species and ionizations. The preliminary results from our analysis show a tight relation [N(H)/E(B - V) = 6.12 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 21}] between N(H) and E(B - V). Similar plots have been obtained with many different species, and their correlations along with the correlation coefficients are presented.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2011

OBSERVATIONS OF FAR-ULTRAVIOLET DIFFUSE EMISSION FROM THE SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD

We report the first observations of far-ultraviolet (FUV: 1000-1150 A) diffuse radiation from the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) using observations from the Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. The strength of FUV diffuse surface brightness in the SMC ranges from the detection limit of 2000 photons cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} sr{sup -1} A{sup -1} to a maximum of 3 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 5} photons cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} sr{sup -1} A{sup -1} at 1004 A. The contribution of diffuse emission to the total radiation field was found to be 34% at 1004 A to 44% at 1117 A with a maximum observed uncertainty of 30%. There is a striking difference between the FUV diffuse fraction from the SMC and the Large Magellanic Cloud with the SMC fraction being higher probably because of the higher dust albedo. The FUV diffuse emission correlates with H{alpha} emission in the H II regions of the SMC.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2011

DUST-SCATTERED ULTRAVIOLET HALOS AROUND BRIGHT STARS

We have discovered ultraviolet (UV) halos extending as far as 5 deg. around four (of six) bright UV stars using data from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer satellite. These halos are due to scattering of the starlight from nearby thin, foreground dust clouds. We have placed limits of 0.58 {+-} 0.12 and 0.72 {+-} 0.06 on the phase function asymmetry factor (g) in the FUV (1521 A) and NUV (2320 A) bands, respectively. We suggest that these halos are a common feature around bright stars and may be used to explore the scattering function of interstellar grains at small angles.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2010

MAPPING THE DIFFUSE ULTRAVIOLET SKY WITH THE GALAXY EVOLUTION EXPLORER

We present a map of the diffuse ultraviolet cosmic background in two wavelength bands (FUV: 1530 A and NUV: 2310 A) over almost 75% of the sky using archival data from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission. Most of the diffuse flux is due to dust-scattered starlight and follows a cosecant law with slopes of 545 photons cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} sr{sup -1} A{sup -1} and 433 photons cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} sr{sup -1} A{sup -1} in the FUV and NUV bands, respectively. There is a strong correlation with the 100 {mu}m Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) flux with an average UV/IR ratio of 300 photons cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} sr{sup -1} A{sup -1} (MJy sr{sup -1}){sup -1} in the FUV band and that of 220 photons cm{sup -2} s{sup -1} sr{sup -1} A{sup -1} (MJy sr{sup -1}){sup -1} in the NUV band but with significant variations over the sky. In addition to the large-scale distribution of the diffuse light, we note a number of individual features including bright spots around the hot stars Spica and Achernar.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

NASA NTRS2000

1997 Leonid Shower From Space

In November 1997, the Midcourse Space Experiment satellite (MSX) was deployed to observe the Leonid shower from space. The shower lived up to expectations, with abundant bright fireballs. Twenty-nine meteors were detected by a wide-angle, visible wavelength, camera near the limb of the Earth in a 48-minute interval, and three meteors by the narrow field camera. This amounts to a meteoroid influx of 5.5 +/- 0.6 10(exp -5)/sq km hr for masses greater than 0.3 gram. The limiting magnitude for limb observations of Leonid meteors was measured at M(sub v) = -1.5 magn The Leonid shower magnitude population index was 1.6 +/- 0.2 down to M(sub v) = -7 magn., with no sign of an upper mass cut-off.

Jenniskens, Peter↗

NASA NTRS1994

Voyager observations of dust scattering near the Coalsack nebula

We present the results of four observations of the sky in the direction of the Coalsack nebula. These observations were made using the ultraviolet spectrometers aboard the two Voyager spacecraft in the spectral range between 912 and 1600 A. Intense diffuse emission with a spectrum characteristic of an early B star was observed in all four targets, which we interpret as starlight forward scattered by interstellar dust in the foreground of the main mass of the Coalsack. While more detailed modeling is necessary to derive values for the optical constants of the dust grains, our data indicate that there is no decrease in the albedo toward shorter wavelengths, arguing that the far-ultraviolet rise in the interstellar extinction curve is due to an increasing number density of small particles rather than to a new population of low albedo grains.

Murthy, Jayant↗

NASA NTRS1993

Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope observations of far-ultraviolet scattering in NGC 7023 - The dust albedo

We have obtained the first sub-Ly-alpha spectroscopic observations of the reflection nebula NGC 7023 and its illuminating star, HD 200775, using the Hopkins UV Telescope during the Astro-1 mission in December, 1990. The ratio of the nebular to stellar flux is virtually flat between 1100 and 1860 A, indicating that sigma(a), the cross section for absorption, must rise sharply with decreasing wavelength. Independent of any model, this means that much of the far-UV rise in the extinction curve is due to an increase in absorption rather than scattering. If, in addition, we assume a spherical geometry, we derive an albedo of 0.5 at 1100 A with somewhat higher values at longer wavelengths. If the geometry is not spherical, lower values of the albedo may be obtained.

Murthy, Jayant↗

NASA NTRS1992

The low filling factor of dust in the Galaxy

The neighborhood of 745 luminous stars in the IRAS Skyflux plates was examined for the presence of dust heated by the nearby star. One-hundred twenty-three dust clouds were found around only 106 of the stars with a volume filling factor of 0.006 and an intercloud separation of 46 pc. Nowhere was a region found where the dust is smoothly distributed through the volume of space heated by the star; hence an upper limit of 0.06/cu cm is placed on the equivalent gas density in the intercloud regions. Due to the lack of IR emission near the star, it is found that less than 1 percent of the stellar luminosity is reprocessed within 10 pc of the star. The clouds have an average density of 0.22/cu cm and a radius of 1.9 pc, albeit with wide variations in their properties. Two different scale heights of 140 and 540 pc were found for the number of clouds around different groups of stars, which are interpreted as evidence for different distributions of dust in and out of the Galactic disk.

Murthy, Jayant↗

NASA NTRS1991

Constraints on the optical properties of interstellar dust in the far-ultraviolet - Voyager observations of the diffuse sky background

Four regions of the sky have been observed at various Galactic latitudes and H I column densities, with the ultraviolet spectrometer aboard Voyager 2 finding no evidence for the presence of a diffuse radiation field between 912 and 1100 A at a level of 100-200 photons per sq cm s sr A. As starlight scattered by dust grains may be expected to be a major contributor to the diffuse background, especially at low Galactic latitudes, it is possible to place a very stringent upper limit of less than 0.1 on the reflectivity of the dust in this spectral range. This albedo is much lower than the canonical value of about 0.5 for standard graphite-silicate dust models.

Murthy, Jayant↗

NASA NTRS1989

Observations of the diffuse UV radiation field

Spectra are presented for the diffuse UV radiation field between 1250 to 3100 A from eight different regions of the sky, which were obtained with the Johns Hopkins UVX experiment. UVX flew aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-61C) in January 1986 as part of the Get-Away Special project. The experiment consisted of two 1/4 m Ebert-Fastie spectrometers, covering the spectral range 1250 to 1700 A at 17 A resolution and 1600 to 3100 A at 27 A resolution, respectively, with a field of view of 4 x .25 deg, sufficiently small to pick out regions of the sky with no stars in the line of sight. Values were found for the diffuse cosmic background ranging in intensity from 300 to 900 photons/sq cm/sec/sr/A. The cosmic background is spectrally flat from 1250 to 3100 A, within the uncertainties of each spectrometer. The zodiacal light begins to play a significant role in the diffuse radiation field above 2000 A, and its brightness was determined relative to the solar emission. Observed brightnesses of the zodiacal light in the UV remain almost constant with ecliptic latitude, unlike the declining visible brightnesses, possibly indicating that those (smaller) grains responsible for the UV scattering have a much more uniform distribution with distance from the ecliptic plane than do those grains responsible for the visible scattering.

Murthy, Jayant↗

NASA NTRS1989

Studying the spatial distribution of interstellar dust

The spacial distribution of interstellar dust reflects both interstellar dynamics and the processes which form and destroy dust in the interstellar medium (ISM). The IRAS survey, because of its high sensitivity to thermal emission from dust in the IR, provides new approaches to determining the spatial distribution of dust. The initial results are reported of an attempt to use the IRAS data to probe the spatial distribution of dust - by searching for thermal emission from dust in the vicinity of bright stars. These results show that this technique (which relies on finding IR emission associated with randomly selected stars) can ultimately be used to study the distribution of dust in the ISM. The density of the cloud producing the IR emission may be derived by assuming that the dust is at its projected distance from the star and that the heating is due to the star's (known) radiation field. The heating radiation is folded into a grain model, and the number of emitting grains adjusted to reproduce the observed energy distribution. It is noted that this technique is capable in principle of detecting dust densities much lower than those typical of the cirrus clouds.

Walker, Helen J.↗