Search NASASearch

Engineering topics

Sahai, R.

Publications and source records attributed to Sahai, R..

At least 37 records · Page 2

The Etched Hourglass Nebula MyCn18: II A Spatio-Kinematic Model

We have observed MyCn18, a young Planetary Nebulae with HST/WFPC2 and presented the observational results in an earlier paper. Here we present a detailed spatial/kinematical model of H alpha emission from the nebula.

MyCn18 planetary nebulae AGB stars circumstellar m

Saturn's Hydrogen Aurora, WFPC2 Imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope

WFPC2/HST images of Saturn's far-ultraviolet aurora reveal emissions confined to a narrow band of latitudes near Saturn's north and south poles. The aurorae are most prominent in the morning sector with patterns that appear fixed in local time.

far-ultraviolet aurora Hubble Space Telescope WFPC

A search for SiO, OH, CO and HCN radio emission from silicate-carbon stars

We report upper limits for radio emission of SiO at 86 and 43 GHz, of OH at 1612 and 1665/1667 MHz, of CO at 115 GHz and HCN at 88.6 GHz in the silicate-carbon stars. These upper limits of SiO imply that oxygen-rich material has not been detected within 2R(sub star) of a central star even though the detected emission from silicate dust grains, H2O and OH maser establishes the presence of oxygen-rich material from about tens to thousands of AU of a central star. The upper limit of the SiO abundance is consistent with that found in oxygen-rich envelopes. Upper limits of the mass loss rate (based on the CO data) are estimated to be between 10(exp -6) to 10(exp -7) solar mass/yr assuming a distance of 1.5 kpc for these stars. The absence of HCN microwave emission implies that no carbon-rich material can be detected at large distances (thousands of AU) from a central star. The lack of detections of SiO, CO, and HCN emission is most likely due to the large distances of these stars. A number of C stars were detected in CO and HCN, but only the M supergiant VX Sgr was detected in CO.

Little-Marenin, I. R.

Mass loss from red giant stars. II - Carbon stars

A millimeter-wave survey has been made of bright relatively unobscured, carbon stars, chosen on the basis of their optical properties. Out of 26 program objects, (J = 2-1)CO emission is detected from 15. Most of these had not been previously detected. There are many differences among the observed objects, but one rather interesting trend emerges: a positive correlation, at moderate IR excesses, between the IR dust emission and the expansion velocity of the dense wind. A similar, positive correlation with the mass-loss rate implies that stars with larger mass fluxes also accelerate them to larger velocities. At high-IR excesses, both correlations break down, and the momentum rate may be limited by the momentum rate of the stellar radiation. All these effects could be ascribed to differences in the gas-to-dust ratio, assuming that radiation pressure initiates and accelerates the wind.

Wannier, P. G.

Discovery of very high velocity outflow in V Hydra - Wind from an accretion disk in a binary?

High-resolution observations of lines from the CO v = 1-0 vibration-rotation band at 4.6 microns, taken with the FTS/KPNO 4-m telescope, are reported for the carbon-rich red giant V Hydra, which is surrounded by an extended expanding molecular envelope resulting from extensive mass loss. The spectrum shows, in addition to the expected absorption at the outflow velocity of the envelope, absorption extending up to 120 km/s bluewards of the stellar velocity. A comparison of the spectrum observed at two epochs shows that the high-velocity absorption features change with time. It is suggested that the observed high-velocity features in V Hydra arise in a high-velocity polar outflow from an accretion disk in a binary system, as proposed in the mass-loss model for bipolar envelopes by Morris (1988).

Sahai, R.

Abundances in red giant stars - Carbon and oxygen isotopes in carbon-rich molecular envelopes

Millimeter-wave observations have been made of isotopically substituted CO toward the envelopes of 11 carbon-rich stars. In every case, C-13O was detected and model calculations were used to estimate the C-12/C-13 abundance ratio. C-17O was detected toward three, and possibly four, envelopes, with sensitive upper limits for two others. The CO-18 variant was detected in two envelopes. New results include determinations of oxygen isotopic ratios in the two carbon-rich protoplanetary nebulae CRL 26688 and CRL 618. As with other classes of red giant stars, the carbon-rich giants seem to be significantly, though variably, enriched in O-17. These results, in combination with observations in interstellar molecular clouds, indicate that current knowledge of stellar production of the CNO nuclides is far from satisfactory.

Wannier, P. G.

Mass loss from giant and supergiant stars

The 12 m telescope of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory has been used at the J = 2-1 transition of CO to increase the known list of giant and supergiant stars with observable circumstellar envelopes. The candidate objects were generally M-type giants and supergiants, chosen for their strong infrared luminosities. Of the 35 objects which were previously undetected, or only marginally detected, 10 were found to produce detectable CO emission. Physical parameters of the envelopes are derived by source modeling. Mass-loss rates vary from 10 to the -7th to 4 x 10 to the -5th solar mass/yr.

Wannier, P. G.