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High energy X ray sky survey data on decreased intensity of Cen XR-2, and X ray energy flux from Magellanic clouds - Mildura, Australia, October 15 and 24, 1967
Energetic X ray intensities from large and small Magellanic clouds investigated by balloon flight sky survey, noting energy flux upper limits
Extragalactic background soft X ray diffuse flux consistent with absorption by Small Magellanic Cloud
Description of three sources in the Large Magellanic Cloud and one in the Small Cloud which have been discovered by Uhuru. These sources each emit about 10 to the 38th erg/sec in the 2- to 7-keV band, and they account for more than 90% of the total emission from the Clouds. The source in the Small Cloud shows time variability on time scales of hours.
Available evidence on the chemical composition of the Magellanic Clouds (when compared to the Galaxy) is not sufficient for a detailed theory of the chemical evolution of the Clouds to be developed at present. However, this evidence is thus far compatible with the view that much of the material of the Clouds went through a considerable amount of nucleosynthesis early in its history. The Clouds could once have been part of the Galaxy, or they could have formed as satellites when the protogalaxy condensed. The general problem of the chemical evolution is tied closely to the problem of galaxy formation which remains unsolved.
A soft X-ray survey (0.15-1.5 keV) of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) during a sounding rocket flight, reveals possible emission from the centrally located barlike structure. No evidence was seen for absorption of the soft X-ray 'background' in the direction of the LMC. Both of these observations support the hypothesis of a local production of the soft X-ray background.
Observations of the Large Magellanic Cloud with the 1-40 keV X-ray detectors on the OSO-7 satellite are reported. Results include the discovery of a previously unreported source LMC X-5, measurements of the spectral characteristics of four sources, and observations of their variability on time scales of months.
The Large Magellanic Cloud was observed by the far ultraviolet camera spectrograph from the lunar surface during the Apollo 16 mission 22 April 1972. Images were obtained with about 3 arc min resolution, in the 1,050 to 1,600 and 1,250 to 1,600 A wavelength ranges, of nearly the entire LMC. Spectra were also obtained in the 1,050 to 1,600 and 900 to 1,600 A ranges along a strip 1/4 deg wide (determined by the instrument's grid collimator) passing across the LMC. The images and spectra have been scanned with a PDS microdensitometer, and isodensity contour plots have been prepared using the Univac 1108 computer.
A total soft X-ray luminosity of approximately 10 to the 38th power ergs/s was observed from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) during pointed rocket observations in November 1973. Simple spectral parameters are derived and discussed. Upper limits at 1 KeV to several known LMC point sources are presented. A diffuse bar source reported previously was not detected. Strong limits are placed on the fraction of halo and extragalactic diffuse X-ray flux observed in the direction of the LMC due to the lack of correlation of the 0.25-KeV diffuse flux with interstellar hydrogen in the Galaxy and in the LMC.
Simulated color photographs of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds were produced from black and white photographs taken with the Schmidt telescope at Cerro Tololo using multichannel projection techniques. A brief discussion of the techniques employed, the color photographs obtained, and the potential of future work of this type is given.
During the Apollo 17 mission, low-resolution far-ultraviolet spectra were obtained for two parts of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The spectra are reasonably well fit by a model of a 30,000-K star reddened by a (B-V) color excess of 0.3 magnitude, but other combinations of temperature and reddening provide equally good fits.
Spectra in the wavelength ranges from 900 to 1600 A and 1050 to 1600 A of some OB associations in the Large Magellanic Cloud were obtained from the lunar surface by the Apollo-16 far-ultraviolet camera/spectrograph on April 22, 1972. The observed spectral distributions appear consistent with a stellar model having an effective temperature of 30,000 K, reddened by E(B-V) = 0.3, and characterized by the average far-ultraviolet extinction curve of Bless and Savage (1972). However, the absolute intensity of the far-ultraviolet spectrum of the associations NGC 2050 and 2055 seems somewhat too bright in comparison with ground-based photometry.
The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) was observed with a far-ultraviolet camera/spectrograph (Experiment S-201) from the lunar surface during the Apollo 16 mission. Images were obtained with about 3-arcmin resolution, in the 1050-1600- and 1250-1600-A wavelengths ranges, of nearly the entire LMC. Spectra were also obtained in the 1050-1600- and 900-1600-A ranges with 30-40-A resolution along a strip 0.25 deg wide passing across the LMC. The images and spectra have been scanned with a microdensitometer, and analyses of the data to date are discussed.
Far-infrared emission has been measured from four Large Magellanic Cloud H II regions: the 30 Doradus nebula, MC75, MC76 and MC77. The far-infrared radiation is thermal emission from dust heated by starlight. The results show that the LMC H II regions, like H II regions in the Galaxy, have far-infrared luminosities comparable to the total luminosity of their exciting stars.
The contribution to the diffuse X-ray background near 1 keV cosmic (extragalactic) origin is poorly known. Data from a slow scan across the Small Magellanic Cloud by the Wisconsin soft X-ray experiment on OSO 8 are analyzed to search for absorption of a possible cosmic component to the diffuse flux. No indication of an X-ray shadow near 1 keV is found, setting an upper limit to the intensity of the flux originating beyond the SMC that is inconsistent with a cosmic spectrum of 11 E to the -1.4 photons per (sq cm s sr keV), even allowing for depletion of the absorbing elements in the SMC. Unless emission by the SMC or an upward fluctuation in the galactic or cosmic diffuse flux at the position of the SMC has canceled out the expected absorption, the contribution to the diffuse flux at 1 keV from beyond the SMC must be less than 50% of that expected for an extrapolated E to the -1.4 source spectrum.
X-ray emission from 10 previously identified supernova remnants (SNR) in the Large Magellanic Cloud has been discovered in a partially completed survey of this nearby galaxy with the imaging proportional counter on the Einstein Observatory. The X-ray luminosities (0.5-3.0 keV) of these remnants range from 3 x 10 to the 35th to 4 x 10 to the 37th ergs/s. N157B and N158A, whose identifications as SNR were previously based solely on their radio spectra, have been detected as strong X-ray emitters. Two other objects from an optically selected list of candidate SNR were found to coincide with X-ray sources and therefore probably are SNR. The value of obtaining such a uniform sample of SNR at a known distance is illustrated by comparing the properties of the remnants and by fitting standard evolutionary models to the results.
X-ray observations of the Large Magellanic Cloud were made with two collimated proportional counters having high angular resolution, a wide spectral dynamic range and a large aperture. Counting rates in the two detectors during the entire rocket flight are presented, and a number of soft X-ray (0.5-2 keV) sources were found in the bar of the LMC, having luminosities between 10 to the 37th and 10 to the 38th ergs/s. Emission in the 0.15-0.28 keV band from LMC X-3 was also detected.
An extended survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud with the SAS 3 X-ray observatory detected SMC X-1 but no other source with a luminosity greater than 1.0 x 10 to the 37th ergs/sec. In particular, SMC X-2 and SMC X-3, observed one month earlier at luminosities of 7 x 10 to the 37th and 10 x 10 to the 37th ergs/sec, respectively, were not detected, which proves that they are both highly variable. The results indicate that the maximum luminosities of early-type X-ray stars in the SMC congregate near 10 to the 38th ergs/sec, which is about five times the maximum luminosity of similar sources in the Galaxy.