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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1979

Catalog of far-ultraviolet objective-prism spectrophotometry: Skylab experiment S-019, ultraviolet steller astronomy

Ultraviolet stellar spectra in the wavelength region from 1300 to 5000 A (130 to 500) were photographed during the three manned Skylab missions using a 15 cm aperture objective-prism telescope. The prismatic dispersion varied from 58 A mm/1 at 1400 A to 1600 A mm/1 at 3000 A. Approximately 1000 spectra representing 500 stars were measured and reduced to observed fluxes. About 100 stars show absorption lines of Si IV, C IV, or C II. Numerous line features are also recorded in supergiant stars, shell stars, A and F stars, and Wolf-Rayet stars. Most of the stars in the catalog are of spectral class B, with a number of O and A type stars and a sampling of WC, WN, F and C type stars. Spectrophotometric results are tabulated for these 500 stars.

Henize, K. G.↗
NASA NTRS1981

IUE observations of variability in winds from hot stars

Observations of variability in stellar winds or envelopes provide an important probe of their dynamics. For this purpose a number of O, B, Be, and Wolf-Rayet stars were repeatedly observed with the IUE satellite in high resolution mode. In the course of analysis, instrumental and data handling effects were found to introduce spurious variability in many of the spectra. software was developed to partially compensate for these effects, but limitations remain on the type of variability that can be identified from IUE spectra. With these contraints, preliminary results of multiple observations of two OB stars, one Wolf-Rayet star, and a Be star are discussed.

Grady, C. A.↗
NASA NTRS1974

The 90-day report for SL4 experiment S019: UV stellar astronomy

The use of Experiment S019 to obtain moderate dispersion stellar spectra extending down to 1300A with sufficient spectral resolution to permit the study of ultraviolet (UV) line spectra and of spectral energy distributions of early-type stars is studied. Data obtained from this experiment should be of sufficient accuracy to permit detailed physical analysis of individual stars and nebulae, but an even more basic consideration is the expectation of obtaining spectra of a sufficient number of stars so that a statistically meaningful survey may be made of the UV spectra of a wide variety of star types. These should include all luminosity classes of spectral types O, B and A, as well as peculiar stars such as Wolf-Rayet stars and Ap or Am stars. An attempt was also made to obtain, in the no-prism mode, low dispersion UV spectra in a number of Milky Way star fields and in nearby galaxies.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1977

Copernicus observations of distant unreddened stars. II - Line of sight to HD 50896

Copernicus UV data on interstellar lines toward HD 50896, a Wolf-Rayet star, are analyzed to study abundances and physical conditions in the line of sight. About 20% of the low-velocity neutral gas is contained in a dense cloud with 10% to 50% of its hydrogen in molecular form; the atomic abundances show typical interstellar depletions. The low-velocity H II gas may be associated with the high ionizing flux of the Wolf-Rayet star or with H II regions along the line of sight. Si III exhibits strong absorption shortward of the low-velocity H II gas, characteristic of a collisionally ionized component at 30,000 to 80,000 K; the possible connections with an unobserved supernova remnant or stellar mass loss are discussed. High-velocity features at 78 and -96 km/sec, in which Fe and Si are near their cosmic abundances, are also indicative of strong shocks.

Shull, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Observations of southern emission-line stars

A catalog of 1929 stars showing H-alpha emission on photographic plates is presented which covers the entire southern sky south of declination -25 deg to a red limiting magnitude of about 11.0. The catalog provides previous designations of known emission-line stars equatorial (1900) and galactic coordinates, visual and photographic magnitudes, H-alpha emission parameters, spectral types, and notes on unusual spectral features. The objects listed include 16 M stars, 25 S stars, 37 carbon stars, 20 symbiotic stars, 40 confirmed or suspected T Tauri stars, 16 novae, 14 planetary nebulae, 11 P Cygni stars, 9 Bep stars, 87 confirmed or suspected Wolf-Rayet stars, and 26 'peculiar' stars. Two new T associations are discovered, one in Lupus and one in Chamaeleon. Objects with variations in continuum or H-alpha intensity are noted, and the distribution by spectral type is analyzed. It is found that the sky distribution of these emission-line stars shows significant concentrations in the region of the small Sagittarius cloud and in the Carina region.

Henize, K. G.↗
NASA NTRS1976

A new interpretation of luminous blue stars

A major revision of current theoretical ideas about the brightest blue stars must be made if Carson's (1976) radiative opacities are adopted in stellar models. Unlike earlier opacities, these exhibit a large 'bump' due to CNO ionization, which leads to very strong central condensation, convective instability, and pulsational instability in hot diffuse stellar envelopes. Despite a number of theoretical uncertainties, the new picture of the structure of very luminous stars is reasonably successful in accounting for a variety of previously unexplained observations. The stellar models for the phase of core hydrogen burning predict large radii and rather cool effective temperatures for O stars and a spreading out of the main-sequence band in the H-R diagram toward luminous cool supergiants for masses higher than about 20 solar masses. In massive X-ray binary systems, circular orbits and supergiant-like visual companions are expected to be quite common. Long-period variability is predicted to exist for massive blue supergiants of luminosity class Ia. The models for helium stars predict large radii and rather cool effective temperatures for Wolf-Rayet stars, as well as multimodal pulsational instability and, possibly, surface turbulence for these stars.

Stothers, R.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Classification and distribution of WR stars and an interpretation of the WN sequence.

New observational data for Wolf-Rayet stars are interpreted in areas of atmospheric abundances, absolute magnitudes, Galactic distribution, distribution in M33, and bolometric luminosities. The observational data are used in support of arguments (1) that WN stars are helium stars of eight to fourteen solar masses with atmospheres which contain only a very low proportion of hydrogen, (2) that the properties of the stars are very sensitive to this very small amount of hydrogen, and (3) that consequently this structure explains many of the general properties of the subclasses.

Smith, L. F.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Investigation of ultraviolet fluxes of normal and peculiar stars

Data from Project Celescope, a program that photographed the ultraviolet sky, in order to study several problems in current astrophysics are analyzed. Two star clusters, the Pleiades and the Hyades, reveal differences between the two that we are unable to explain simply from their differences in chemical abundance, rotation, or reddening. Data for Orion show large scatter, which appears to be in the sense that the Orion stars are too faint for their ground-based photometry. Similarly, many supergiants in the association Sco OB1 are too faint in the ultraviolet, but the ultraviolet brightness appears to be only poorly correlated with spectral type. Ultraviolet Celescope data for several groups of peculiar stars have also been analyzed. The strong He I stars are too faint in the ultraviolet, possibly owing to enhancement of O II continuous opacity due to oxygen overabundance. The Be stars appear to have ultraviolet colors normal for their MK spectral types. The P Cygni stars are considerably fainter than main-sequence stars of comparable spectral type, probably owing, at least in part, to line blocking by resonance lines of multiply ionized light metals. The Wolf-Rayet stars have ultraviolet color temperatures of O stars.

Deutschman, W. A.↗
NASA NTRS1977

The spectral energy distribution of Zeta Puppis and HD 50896

The ultraviolet spectral energy distribution of the O5f star Zeta Pup and the WN5 star HD 50896 are derived from OAO-2 observations with the calibration of Bless, Code, and Fairchild (1976). An estimate of the interstellar reddening (0.12 magnitude) of the Wolf-Rayet star is determined from the size of the characteristic interstellar extinction bump at 4.6 inverse microns. After correction for extinction, both stars show a flat energy distribution in the ultraviolet. The distribution of HD 50896 from 1100 A to 2 microns is in good agreement with results of extended model atmospheres, but some uncertainty remains because of the interstellar-extinction correction. The absolute energy distribution of Zeta Pup is fitted by a 42,000-K plane-parallel model if the model's flux is adjusted for the effects of electron scattering in the stellar wind and for UV line blanketing that was determined empirically from high-resolution Copernicus satellite observations. To achieve this fit, it is necessary to push both the spectroscopically determined temperature and the ultraviolet calibration to the limits of their probable errors.

Holm, A. V.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Time variations of UV emission features of Be stars

The UV spectra of three Be stars (gamma Cas, sigma Tau, eta Cen) were studied. Of the six Be stars observed in the first four lines of the Balmer series, three stars showed at least one of the Balmer lines to be variable in the equivalent width amounting to a few percent with time scales of 3 to 30 minutes. Photoelectric spectrum scans of five southern Wolf-Rayet stars showed night-to-night variations. A simple model is proposed to account for the behavior of these emission lines. Scans of gamma square Vel showed rapid variations of emission strengths of He II 4686 and C III - IV 4650. These variations have time scales of 1 minute and longer. Night-to-night variations were also found. Scans of four Be stars in H alpha showed a definite variation of 3 to 4 percent, with time scales of 1 minute and longer in sigma Tau. In 48 Per and kappa Dra the variations are not as well established. No variation of any significance was found for nu Gem.

Bahng, J. D. R.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Probing Heavy Axion-like Particles from Massive Stars with X-rays and Gamma Rays

The hot interiors of massive stars in the later stages of their evolution provide an ideal place for the production of heavy axion-like particles (ALPs) with mass up to O(100 keV) range. We show that a fraction of these ALPs could stream out of the stellar photosphere and subsequently decay into two photons that can be potentially detected on or near the Earth. In particular, we estimate the photon flux originating from the spontaneous decay of heavy ALPs produced inside Horizontal Branch and Wolf-Rayet stars, and assess its detectability by current and future $X$-ray and gamma-ray telescopes. Our results indicate that current and future telescopes can probe axion-photon couplings down to $g_{a\gamma} \sim 4\times 10^{-11}$ GeV${}^{-1}$ for $m_a\sim 10-100$ keV, which covers new ground in the ALP parameter space.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS1977

Evolution of helium stars

The evolution of helium stars in the mass range from 4 to 15 solar masses has been followed from the initial helium main sequence to the end of carbon burning in the core, with the use of Carson's (1976) radiative opacities. As compared with earlier work based on smaller opacities, the main-sequence band in the H-R diagram is now both wider and cooler than before. If neutrino losses are neglected in the stellar models, the phase of carbon burning in the core occurs in the red-supergiant region; otherwise, it occurs, as it does in the earlier models with or without neutrino emission, close to the helium main sequence. Observational data for Wolf-Rayet stars and R Coronae Borealis variables are found to lend some support to the present models.

Stothers, R.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Ultraviolet investigations of cosmic X-ray sources and analogous objects

Data on the UV spectrum of the Crab nebula and on UV and radio frequency observations of Wolf-Rayet stars was analyzed. A description of TT Arietis is given. It is concluded that this object must be a double star, since it does not radiate like an ordinary photosphere or a single blackbody. Details of the spectrum are given.

Johnson, H. M.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Infrared spectra of gamma-2 Velorum and zeta Puppis

Observations of gamma-2 Vel and zeta Pup are presented for the spectral region 5800-11,000 per cm, at resolutions of 2 and 4 per cm, respectively. This constitutes the first reported spectroscopy of a Wolf-Rayet star beyond 1.1 microns. The new spectral region contained numerous emission features for the WC8 component of gamma-2 Vel, but only the P-beta line in absorption for the O4f star zeta Pup. Line identifications are given for gamma-2 Vel and are shown to be consistent with visual spectroscopy. The species identified are H, He I-II, and C II-IV.

Barnes, T. G.↗
NASA NTRS1979

X-rays from Eta Carinae and the surrounding nebula

Two X-ray pictures have been obtained of the Eta Car nebula using the imaging detectors of the Einstein Observatory. One covers a field 1-deg square with a resolution of 1 arcmin; the second covers a field 25 arcmin in diameter with resolution of a few arcsec. These show a region of diffuse X-ray emission with luminosity 10 to the 35th ergs/s. The sources have been positively identified as the peculiar object Eta Car, a Wolf-Rayet star, a cluster of O stars, and five individual O stars. The Eta Car X-ray source is extended and coincides with the outer shell of the diffuse object Eta Car itself. One X-ray bright spot may be emission from a central object within Eta Car.

Seward, F. D.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Iron and the formation of astrophysical dust grains

Condensation of metallic iron or the iron carbide cohenite Fe3C is proposed as the source of the approximately 1000 K dust condensate in nova shells, Wolf-Rayet stars, and other objects. Iron grains may serve as nucleation sites for carbon in carbon-star ejecta; however, nucleation of graphite at its equilibrium saturation temperature is almost certainly kinetically inhibited. A gas phase rich in CO, C2H2, and HCN is produced instead.

Lewis, J. S.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Observations of stellar winds in early type stars

The presented review is mainly concerned with the massive population I stars of spectral type OB and the Wolf-Rayet (WR) class. It is pointed out that stellar winds are a ubiquitous phenomenon among the early type stars. Methods to determine the mass loss rate are discussed, taking into account the UV method, the optical method, the infrared method, and the radio method. Current beliefs about early type stars are considered. It is thought that all have stellar winds. The winds are primarily driven by radiation pressure from the UV lines, but other, as yet unknown factors, may determine the density and hence the rates. The stellar winds are highly ionized, more so than would be inferred from their continuum radiation temperatures. The ionization equilibrium in the winds is affected by local X rays which have been detected by the Einstein satellite. Unresolved issues are also pointed out.

Conti, P. S.↗