Engineering topics

O'Connell, Robert W.

Publications and source records attributed to O'Connell, Robert W..

49 records · Page 3

NASA NTRS1991

Ultraviolet imaging of globular clusters and galaxies

The techniques of UV imaging and its scientific potential are reviewed for studies of advanced stellar evolution, the star formation history and interstellar medium of galaxies, active nuclei, and the evolutionary state of systems observed at high redshift. Early Hubble Space Telescope imaging is expected to emphasize such programs since its image quality is excellent by earlier standards for the UV, despite the presence of spherical aberration.

O'Connell, Robert W.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Spectral synthesis in the ultraviolet. III - The spectral morphology of normal stars in the mid-ultraviolet

The morphology of 218 mid-UV spectra of stars ranging from O through K in spectral type is examined. Several new line and continuum indices are defined and their usefulness as temperature, luminosity, and metallicity discriminants is discussed. Mid-UV stellar continua are found to be markedly affected by abundance. A UV excess, delta(2600-V), is computed which is more sensitive by a factor of 10 to (Fe/H) than is delta(U-B). The relative strength of spectral lines in the mid-UV is not as strongly affected by abundance. Mid-UV spectra are much more sensitive to the temperature of the stellar population than to either metallicity or the dwarf/giant ratio. Mg II 2800 shows unexpected behavior, displaying no sensitivity to abundance for cool stars and a reversed sensitivity in FG dwarfs such that metal-poor stars have stronger Mg II strengths at the same temperature than more metal-rich stars.

Fanelli, Michael N.↗

NASA NTRS1990

H I absorption toward cooling flows in clusters of galaxies

An H I survey of 14 cooling flow clusters and two noncooling flow clusters was conducted, and H I absorption features were detected against the nuclear radio continuum sources of two cooling flow dominant (CFD) galaxies, 2A 0335 + 096 and MKW3s. The absorption features are broad and redshifted with respect to the stellar absorption-line velocity of the CFDs by 90-225 km/s. This indicates that the H I is falling onto, and is probably gravitationally bound to, the CFDs. The kinematics of the H I clouds suggest a possible kinematic link between the warm and cold phases of the intracluster medium. The clouds are orders of magnitude smaller in radius and mass and larger in density than Galactic H I clouds. The detected CFDs have mass-accretion rates that are about 2.5 times larger than the CFDs that were not detected.

Mcnamara, Brian R.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Images in the rocket ultraviolet - Star formation and extinction in the M51 system

UV images of M51 with up to 15 arcsec resolution were obtained by a rocket-borne telescope. The bandwidth was 970 A with maximum response at 2650 A. The two most prominent features of M51 in the UV are the bright central region and a region of intense star formation about 2.5 NE of the nucleus toward the companion NGC 5195. This complex is the source of 20 percent of the total UV flux in M51. The companion is much less prominent in the UV than in optical bands. Spiral arms show much higher contrast in UV and U bands than in the R band. The nuclear region in the UV band shows clumped emission from probable star-forming regions, possibly associated with the inner Lindblad resonance. These regions are probably the UV counterparts of FIR sources discovered in an EW scan across the nucleus. UV/U colors of most bright H II regions with known extinction are consistent with O star spectra reddened by amounts estimated from radio and Balmer line measurements. However, some of the brightest H II regions have redder UV/U colors, probably indicating the presence of cooler stars which contribute in the U band. CO and IR observations indicate that the companion NGC 5195 may be a reddened starburst in spite of its faintness in the UV.

Bohlin, Ralph C.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Infrared emission from central dominant galaxies in X-ray luminous clusters

IRAS strip scans are used to study the emission properties of 27 dominant galaxies that lie in the center of clusters rich in hot gas. In this sample, 30 percent of the objects were detected at 12/25 microns, while 46 percent were detected at 60/100 microns. The ratio of the IR to optical flux densities is an order of magnitude greater than for elliptical and S0 galaxies. The presence of IR emission is not obviously correlated with z, m(v), Mv, the presence of young stellar populations, emission-line gas, the X-ray luminosity, or the cooling rate of hot gas.

Bregman, Joel N.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Star formation in cooling flows in clusters of galaxies

Spectrophotometry (wavelength = 3400-5100 A) has been obtained for the nuclei of 13 cD galaxies in cooling flows. Spectral anomalies are found in 8 of the objects, consisting of abnormally strong forbidden O II emission or excess flux effects. Consideration is given to metallicity effects, the relationship between UV excesses and the presence of massive OB stars formed from the cooling flows, and low-level effects related to accretion.

Mcnamara, Brian R.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Spectral synthesis in the ultraviolet. II - Stellar populations and star formation in blue compact galaxies

An initial attempt to apply optimizing spectral synthesis techniques to the far-UV spectra of blue compact galaxies (BCGs) is presented. The far-UV absorption-line spectra of the galaxies are clearly composite, with the signatures of the main-sequence types between O3 and mid-A. Most of the low-ionization absorption lines have a stellar origin. The Si IV and C IV features in several objects have P Cygni profiles. In Haro I the strength of Si IV indicates a significant blue supergiant population. The metal-poor blue compact dwarf Mrk 209 displays weak absorption lines, evidence that the stellar component has the same low metallicity as observed in the ionized gas. Good fits to the data are obtained the technique of optimizing population synthesis. The solutions yield stellar luminosity functions which display large discontinuities, indicative of discrete star formation episodes or bursts. The amount of UV extinction is low.

Fanelli, Michael N.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Multiple populations on the horizontal branch. I - Observations in the (log g, log T/eff/)-diagram

Log T(eff) and log g have been determined for blue horizontal branch (HB) stars in the globular clusters M15, M3, M5, M92, and NGC 288 as a first step in determining the physical origin of gaps or bimodal distributions in the blue horizontal branches of a number of globular clusters. The (log g, log T/eff/) diagram for the 'normal' HB cluster M5 matches the standard theory quite well. The stars blueward of the gap in NGC 288 and the blue extension of the M3 HB have significantly lower gravity than predicted by the standard theory. The cooler stars in M3 agree well with the standard theory while those of NGC 2988 lie at slightly lower gravity. In M92, the sequence of stars is broadened toward the low gravity side more than expected either from standard evolution or from observational error. The data for M15 are too scattered to support firm conclusions but seem consistent with NGC 288.

Crocker, Deborah A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

The red envelope and the age of the universe

The photometric evolution of old stellar populations is slow in the optical/IR. Consequently, observational error is a strongly limiting factor in the accuracy possible for determining galaxy ages or estimating q0 at high redshifts from indices such as the 4000-A break. Existing observations of the red envelope at z above about 0.3 are consistent with a wide range of evolutionary histories. The middle-UV spectral region (rest wavelengths = 2000-3300 A) appears to promise less ambiguous results.

O'Connell, Robert W.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Evidence for star formation in cooling flows

There is good evidence that star formation occurs in cluster cooling flows. In no case, however, are the observed effects large enough to be consistent with the inflow rates predicted by X-ray data if the initial mass function resembles that in the Galaxy. It seems most likely that the bulk of the inflow in the clusters as well as in normal gE galaxies is deposited in the form of very low mass stars with m much less than 0.7 solar masses. This efficient, low mass mode of star formation is a plausible candidate for the dark matter.

O'Connell, Robert W.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Spectral synthesis in the ultraviolet. I - Far-ultraviolet stellar library

A library of mean stellar energy distributions for use in population synthesis of the ultraviolet spectra of active star-forming galaxies is derived from the ultraviolet spectrophotometry in the IUE Spectral Atlas. The spectra extend from 1230 to 1930 A with a resolution of 6 A. The library contains eight main-sequence groups from O3 to A7 V, four giant groups from O5 to B9 III, and three supergiant groups from O9 to A0 I. Several continuum and spectral line indices are computed, and their usefulness as temperature and luminosity discriminants is discussed. The advantages of analyzing composite stellar populations in the far-ultraviolet, where cool starlight is strongly suppressed, are examined.

Fanelli, Michael N.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Ultraviolet detection of very low-surface-brightness objects

The night-sky surface brightness at excellent ground-based sites is compared to the sky background in space. In directions typical of extragalactic pointings, the background in the space ultraviolet reaches 26 mag/sq arcsec for the wavelength 2000 A, which is a factor of 40 darker than at any wavelength on the ground. This represents an important new 'window' for the study of extragalactic systems with low surface brightness. Taking into account the UV/V energy distributions of potential targets, it is found that in certain favorable circumstances UV photometry may permit the detection of regions with equivalent V band surface brightness as low as 35 mag/sq arcsec, or over 100,000 times fainter than the ground-based sky.

O'Connell, Robert W.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Ultraviolet observations of starburst systems with Astro and the Hubble Space Telescope

The capabilities of the Astro observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) for UV astronomical observations are discussed. The advantages of using UV for studying extragalactic problems are reviewed, including sensitivity to hot sources, the rich UV line spectra, sensitivity to interstellar dust, and dark UV sky background. The HST and Astro instrumentation and plans for launching the systems are described. Possibile uses of HST and Astro include the study of massive stars in the Galaxy and nearby galaxies, interstellar medium, the UV excess component in old stellar populations, deep UV surveys (filter imaging and slitless spectroscopy), active galactic nuclei, quasars, and starburst systems.

O'Connell, Robert W.↗