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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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NASA NTRS2005

Proper Motions of Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies from Hubble Space Telescope Imaging: Measurement for URSA Minor - 3

This article presents a measurement of the proper motion of the Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal galaxy determined from images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in two distinct fields. Each field contains a quasi-stellar object that serves as the "reference point". Integrating the motion of Ursa Minor in a realistic potential for the Milky Way produces orbital elements. The perigalacticon and apogalacticon are 40 (10, 76) and 89 (78, 160) kpc, respectively, where the values in the parentheses represent the 95% confidence intervals derived from Monte Carlo experiments. The eccentricity of the orbit is 0.39 (0.09, 0.79), and the orbital period is 1.5 (1.1, 2.7) Gyr. The orbit is retrograde and inclined by 124 degrees (94 deg, 36 deg ) to the Galactic plane. Ursa Minor is not a likely member of a proposed stream of galaxies on similar orbits around the Milky Way, nor is the plane of its orbit coincident with a recently proposed planar alignment of galaxies around the Milky Way. Comparing the orbits of Ursa Minor and Carina shows no reason for the different star formation histories of these two galaxies. Ursa Minor must contain dark matter to have a high probability of having survived disruption by the Galactic tidal force until the present.

FLUX RESIDUALS↗
NASA NTRS2007

New Frontiers for Massive Star Winds: Imaging and Spectroscopy with the James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope scheduled for launch in 2013. JWST will find the first stars and galaxies that formed in the early universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way galaxy. JWST will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. JWST's instruments are designed to work primarily in the infrared range of 1 - 28 microns, with some capability in the visible range. JWST will have a large mirror, 6.5 meters in diameter, and will be diffraction-limited at 2 microns (0.1 arcsec resolution). JWST will be placed in an L2 orbit about 1.5 million km from the Earth. The instruments will provide imaging, coronography, and multi-object and integral-field spectroscopy across the full 1 - 28 micron wavelength range. The breakthrough capabilities of JWST will enable new studies of massive star winds from the Milky Way to the early universe.

Sonneborn, George↗
NASA NTRS2007

Imaging and Spectroscopy with the James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope scheduled for launch in 2013. JWST will find the first stars and galaxies that formed in the early universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way galaxy. JWST will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. JWST's instruments are designed to work primarily in the infrared range of 1 - 28 microns, with some capability in the visible range. JWST will have a large mirror, 6.5 meters in diameter, and will be diffraction-limited at 2 microns (0.1 arcsec resolution). JWST will be placed in an L2 orbit about 1.5 million km from the Earth. The instruments will provide imaging, coronography, and multi-object and integral-field spectroscopy across the full 1 - 28 micron wavelength range. The breakthrough capabilities of JWST will enable new studies of star formation and evolution in the Milky Way, nearby galaxies, and the early universe.

Sonneborn, George↗
NASA NTRS2022

Line Emission Mapper Probing Physics of Cosmic Ecosystems

The Line Emission Mapper (LEM) is an X-ray Probe for the 2030s that will answer the outstanding questions of the Universe’s structure formation. It will also provide transformative new observing capabilities for every area of astrophysics, and to heliophysics and planetary physics as well. LEM’s main goal is a comprehensive look at the physics of galaxy formation, including stellar and black-hole feedback and flows of baryonic matter into and out of galaxies. These processes are best studied in X-rays; as emphasized by the 2020 Decadal Survey, emission-line mapping is the pressing need in this area. LEM will use a large microcalorimeter array/IFU (that builds on Athena XIFU technology developments), covering a 30 × 300 field with 1000 angular resolution, to map the soft Xray line emission from objects that constitute galactic ecosystems. These include supernova remnants, star-forming regions, superbubbles, galactic outflows (such as the Fermi/eROSITA bubbles in the Milky Way and their analogs in other galaxies), the Circumgalactic Medium in the Milky Way and other galaxies, and the Intergalactic Medium at the outskirts and beyond the confines of galaxies and clusters. LEM’s 1–2 eV spectral resolution in the 0.2–2 keV band will make it possible to disentangle the faintest emission lines in those objects from the bright Milky Way foreground, providing groundbreaking measurements of the physics of these plasmas, from temperatures, densities, chemical composition to gas dynamics. While the mission is optimized to provide critical observations that will push our understanding of galaxy formation, LEM will provide transformative capability for all classes of astrophysical objects, from the Earth’s magnetosphere, planets and comets to the interstellar medium and X-ray binaries in nearby galaxies, AGN, and cooling gas in galaxy clusters. In addition to pointed observations, LEM will perform a shallow all-sky survey that will dramatically expand the discovery space.

Ralph Kraft↗
NASA NTRS2023

An Unbiased CO Survey Toward the Northern Region of the Small Magellanic Cloud with the Atacama Compact Array. II. CO Cloud Catalog

The nature of molecular clouds and their statistical behavior in subsolar metallicity environments are not fully explored yet. We analyzed data from an unbiased CO (J = 2–1) survey at the spatial resolution of ∼2 pc in the northern region of the Small Magellanic Cloud with the Atacama Compact Array to characterize the CO cloud properties. A cloud-decomposition analysis identified 426 spatially/velocity-independent CO clouds and their substructures. Based on the cross-matching with known infrared catalogs by Spitzer and Herschel, more than 90% CO clouds show spatial correlations with point sources. We investigated the basic properties of the CO clouds and found that the radius–velocity linewidth (R–σ v ) relation follows the Milky Way-like power-law exponent, but the intercept is ∼1.5 times lower than that in the Milky Way. The mass functions (dN/dM) of the CO luminosity and virial mass are characterized by an exponent of ∼1.7, which is consistent with previously reported values in the Large Magellanic Cloud and in the Milky Way.

Local Group↗
NASA NTRS1974

The local complex of O and B stars. I - Distribution of stars and interstellar dust

The O-B5 stars, supergiants, young clusters, and associations within 1 kpc of the sun populate two flat systems inclined to each other by 19 to 22 deg. The historical background, statistical significance, composition, spatial arrangement of the contents, and interstellar extinction in the two belts are discussed. A more or less random distribution in space and in age characterizes the O-B5 stars of the 'galactic belt', which is aligned nearly along the Milky Way. The 'Gould belt' is inclined to the Milky Way (north in Sco-Oph and south in Orion), and exhibits a projected distribution of O-B5 stars in its mean plane that resembles a 'dragonfly', with five major features defining it. A crude 'diameter' of the system is 750 to 1000 pc, and the sun's position is eccentric, lying toward Ophiuchus. The nuclear age of the system, while not unique, may be characterized as 30 m.y. from the spectral type of the broad main-sequence turnup near B2-5. Most of the O-B2 stars and youngest stellar groups near the sun belong to the Gould belt, but both belts have approximately equal space densities of B3-B5 stars and similar average values of interstellar extinction.-

Stothers, R.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Ultraviolet stellar astronomy

The author has identified the following significant results. During all three Skylab missions, prism-on observations were obtained in 188 starfields and prism-off observations in 31 starfields. In general, the fields are concentrated in the Milky Way where the frequency of hot stars is highest. These fields cover an area approximately 3660 degrees and include roughly 24 percent of a band 30 deg wide centered on the plane of the Milky Way. A census of stars in the prism-on fields shows that nearly 6,000 stars have measurable flux data at a wavelength of 2600A, that 1,600 have measurable data at 2000A, and that 400 show useful data at 1500A. Obvious absorption or emission features shortward of 2000A are visible in approximately 120 stars. This represents a bonanza of data useful for statistical studies of stellar classification and of interstellar reddening as well as for studies of various types of peculiar stars.

Henize, K. G.↗
NASA NTRS1978

New Cepheid variables in the Crux-Centaurus region

Two star fields in the southern Milky Way, between galactic longitudes of approximately 294 and 320 deg, have been searched for new variables. At least three long-period (periods greater than 9 days) classical Cepheids have been tentatively identified, as well as one Virginis star. The resultant distribution of Cepheids along the Milky Way in the Crux-Centaurus region indicates a concentration of spiral tracers near a longitude of about 307 deg.

Grayzeck, E. J.↗
NASA NTRS1979

On the Physical Environment in the Galactic Nuclei

Galactic nuclei and quasars emit radiation over the entire electromagnetic spectrum. This suggests that concurrent observations over a wide frequency range may provide useful information in determining appropriate models for the physical environment in which the radiation is produced. In conjunction with observations by the high energy spectrometer on OSO-8, four sources have been studied in this manner; the nucleus of the elliptical galaxy, Centaurus A (NGG 5128); the quasar, 30273; the Seyfert galaxy, NGC 4151 and the nucleus of the Milky Way (GCX). Concurrent observations are used to construct the composite spectra (from radio to X-ray) for Cen A and NGC 4151 while the composite spectra of 30273 and GCX are derived from the OSO-8 data and from other observers. A skymap technique used to analyze observations of the galactic center region yielded data consistent with a significant, hard X-ray source at the radio and infrared position of the nucleus of the Milky Way. A theoretical analysis of the temporal variability of the Cen A data is undertaken and its implications discussed. Similarities between the composite spectra of the observed sources suggest that radio-bright and radio-quiet quasars may represent the emission from galactic nuclei with elliptical and Seyfert-like morphologies, respectively.

Beall, J. H.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Theoretical problems of spiral galaxies

Three theoretical problems concerning the large scale structure of disk galaxies in general, and the Milky Way System, in particular, were proposed to study. They are, namely, modes of spiral density waves, evolutionary change of the abundance distribution of the gas in the Milky Way System and the motions of the cloud medium behind the large scale galactic shock.

Yuan, C.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Ultraviolet interstellar absorption toward stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud. II - Sk 159

On the basis of a study of high-dispersion spectra of stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC) obtained with the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite, Savage and de Boer (1979, 1981) have detected the Milky Way halo gas. The existence of gaseous coronae around both the LMC and SMC was also suggested. The evidence for this included the presence of strong interstellar absorption lines from high-ionization stages (e.g., C IV, Si IV, and Al III). Fitzpatrick and Savage (1983) concluded that the strongest C IV and Si IV features in the spectrum of the SMC star HD 5980 are probably nebular in origin, produced by stellar photoionization in NGC 346. However, other evidence indicated that at least one additional region of high-ionization stage gas is present in the HD 5980 line of sight. The present investigation is concerned with a reobservation of the star SK 159. It is found that the Milky Way disk and halo absorption features toward Sk 159, except for Al III are very similar to those seen toward HD 5980, also in the SMC.

Fitzpatrick, E. L.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Inflow of halo gas from the direction of the Galactic north pole

A far-UV echelle spectrum has been obtained of the UV-bright star vZ1128 in the globular cluster M3. This cluster lies in a direction 11 deg off the Galactic north pole at a distance of about 10 kpc. Only the usually strong interstellar lines are recognizable in the faint spectrum, and they show absorption at velocities from near +40 km/s to -100 km/s. Since in the direction observed the line-of-sight component of the Milky Way rotation is negligible, the detected velocities demonstrate for this direction the motion of gas from the Milky Way halo toward the disk. Gas returning to the disk in a galactic fountainlike flow may explain the observations.

De Boer, K. S.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Gamma ray astronomy from satellites and balloons

A survey is given of gamma ray astronomy topics presented at the Cosmic Ray Conference. The major conclusions at the Cosmic Ray Conference in the field of gamma ray astronomy are given. (1) MeV-emission of gamma-ray bursts is a common feature. Variations in duration and energy spectra from burst to burst may explain the discrepancy between the measured log N - log S dependence and the observed isotropy of bursts. (2) The gamma-ray line at 1.809 MeV from Al(26) is the first detected line from a radioactive nucleosynthesis product. In order to understand its origin it will be necessary to measure its longitude distribution in the Milky Way. (3) The indications of a gamma-ray excess found from the direction of Loop I is consistent with the picture that the bulk of cosmic rays below 100 GeV is produced in galactic supernova remnants. (4) The interpretation of the large scale distribution of gamma rays in the Milky Way is controversial. At present an extragalactic origin of the cosmic ray nuclei in the GeV-range cannot be excluded from the gamma ray data. (5) The detection of MeV-emission from Cen A is a promising step towards the interesting field of extragalactic gamma ray astronomy.

Schoenfelder, V.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Carbon star radial velocities and dark matter in the universe

Optical radial velocities of carbon stars in the Milky Way are compared to center-of-mass velocities derived from CO radio emission produced in their circumstellar envelopes. It seems that there is an intrinsic velocity dispersion in the optically measured radial velocities. If the carbon stars in the dwarf spheroidals behave in a fashion similar to those in the Milky Way, then the use of their optical radial velocities to infer the mass-to-light ratio of dwarf spheroidal galaxies and the nature of the dark matter in the universe is suspect. Measurement of the radial velocities of K giants may possibly avoid these uncertainties associated with atmospheric motions.

Jura, M.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Masses, luminosities and dynamics of galactic molecular clouds

Star formation in galaxies takes place in molecular clouds and the Milky Way is the only galaxy in which it is possible to resolve and study the physical properties and star formation activity of individual clouds. The masses, luminosities, dynamics, and distribution of molecular clouds, primarily giant molecular clouds in the Milky Way are described and analyzed. The observational data sets are the Massachusetts-Stony Brook CO Galactic Plane Survey and the IRAS far IR images. The molecular mass and infrared luminosities of glactic clouds are then compared with the molecular mass and infrared luminosities of external galaxies.

Solomon, P. M.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Aperture synthesis mapping of molecular gas in high-luminosity IRAS galaxies

The Owens Valley millimeter-wave interferometer has been used for high-resolution mapping of the 2.6 mm CO emission from the high-luminosity infrared galaxies NGC 520 (Arp 157), NGC 7469 (Arp 298), and Arp 55. Assuming the same empirical relationship between CO brightness and molecular hydrogen surface mass density as has been found for giant molecular clouds in the Milky Way, it is found that the masses of H2 gas in these concentrations are 10 to the 9th - 10 to the 10th solar masses, typically one-third of the total molecular gas content of these galaxies. The interferometric sizes correspond to radii of 0.8 kpc (NGC 520), 1.4 kpc (NGC 7469), and less than 2.8 kpc (Arp 55). For the same regions the dynamical masses estimated from the CO line width and size of the emission region are only a factor of 3-5 higher. The mean molecular gas surface densities averaged over these regions are in the range 610-825 solar masses/sq pc, a factor of 10 brighter than those obtained for corresponding regions in the nucleus of the Milky Way. The high mass fractions obtained for the interstellar medium in the central regions of these three galaxies strongly suggest that large-scale gravitational instability in the gas may play an important role in the further concentration of the gas in the nucleus and in possibly precipitating a large-scale burst of star formation.

Sanders, D. B.↗
NASA NTRS1988

An analysis of the shapes of ultraviolet extinction curves. II - The far-UV extinction

In this paper the properties of interstellar extinction in the far-ultraviolet region are examined utilizing IUE extinction curves for a primary data sample of 45 reddened Milky Way OB stars. These results are combined with those derived for the 2175 A bump in a previous study. It is found that IUE extinction curves can be represented by linear combinations of a Lorentzian-like 2175 A bump profile, a well-determined FUV curvature term, and an underlying linear component. The parameters of the linear component are strongly correlated and therefore only five free parameters are required to fit all of the curves in our sample. Three parameters describe the 2175 A bump, one parameter describes the linear background, and one parameter describes the strength of the FUV curvature term. The shape of the FUV curvature is found to be identical, to within the observational errors, for all the curves in the sample - which spans virtually the entire range of extinction curve morphologies observed in the Milky Way.

Fitzpatrick, Edward L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

An H I absorption line survey of Messier 31

The 21-cm absorption through the disk of M31 has been observed, using the VLA to study the cool atomic phase of the interstellar medium in this nearby spiral galaxy. It is found that the abundance of diffuse clouds with tau between 0.125 and 1 in M31 is no higher than in the solar neighborhood of the Milky Way. The mean spin temperature, 300 K, is similar to or higher than the local value. The fraction of the neutral atomic hydrogen in the cool phase is about 0.25 or less. These results imply that M31 has a mixture of warm and cool interstellar phases similar to that in our vicinity of the Milky Way, which suggests either that the heating and cooling balance occurs in a similar pressure environment, or that whatever dynamical processes determine the mixture of warm and cool gas reach a similar equilibrium in M31 as here. Specifically, the warm neutral medium seems to be a robust phase, with a much larger filling-factor than the cool clouds.

Dickey, John M.↗