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The Extension of the Transition Temperature Plasma into the Lower Galactic Halo
Column densities for H I, Al III, Si IV, C IV, and O VI toward 109 starsand 30 extragalactic objects have been assembled to study the extensionsof these species away from the Galactic plane into the Galactic halo. HI and Al III mostly trace the warm neutral and warm ionized medium,respectively, while Si IV, C IV, and O VI trace a combination of warmphotoionized and collisionally ionized plasmas. The much larger objectsample compared to previous studies allows us to consider and correctfor the effects of the sample bias that has affected earlier but smallersurveys of the gas distributions. We find that Si IV and C IV havesimilar exponential scale heights of 3.2(+1.0, -0.6) and 3.6(+1.0,-0.8) kpc. The scale height of O VI is marginally smaller with h =2.6 ± 0.6 kpc. The transition temperature gas is ~3 times moreextended than the warm ionized medium traced by Al III with h =0.90(+0.62, -0.33) kpc and ~12 times more extended than the warmneutral medium traced by H I with h = 0.24 ± 0.06 kpc. There is afactor of 2 decrease in the dispersion of the log of the column densityratios for transition temperature gas for lines of sight in the Galacticdisk compared to extragalactic lines of sight through the entire halo.The observations are compared to the predictions of the various modelsfor the production of the transition temperature gas in the halo. Theappendix presents a revision to the electron scale height of Gaensler etal.'s 2008 study based on electron dispersion measures.
| A Unified Representation of Gas-Phase Element Depletions in the Interstellar Medium
A study of gas-phase element abundances reported in the literature for17 different elements sampled over 243 sight lines in the local part ofour Galaxy reveals that the depletions into solid form (dust grains) areextremely well characterized by trends that employ only three kinds ofparameters. One is an index that describes the overall level ofdepletion applicable to the gas in any particular sight line, and theother two represent linear coefficients that describe how to derive eachelement's depletion from this sight-line parameter. The information fromthis study reveals the relative proportions of different elements thatare incorporated into dust at different stages of grain growth. Anextremely simple scheme is proposed for deriving the dust contents andmetallicities of absorption-line systems that are seen in the spectra ofdistant quasars or the optical afterglows of gamma-ray bursts. Contraryto presently accepted thinking, the elements sulfur and krypton appearto show measurable changes in their depletions as the general levels ofdepletions of other elements increase, although more data are needed toascertain whether or not these findings are truly compelling. Nitrogenappears to show no such increase. The incorporation of oxygen into solidform in the densest gas regions far exceeds the amounts that can takethe form of silicates or metallic oxides; this conclusion is based ondifferential measurements of depletion and thus is unaffected byuncertainties in the solar abundance reference scale.Based in large part on published observations from (1) the NASA/ESAHubble Space Telescope obtained at the Space Telescope ScienceInstitute, which is operated by the Association of Universities forResearch in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555, (2) theFar Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) mission operated by JohnsHopkins University, supported by NASA contract NAS5-32985, and (3) TheCopernicus satellite, supported by NASA grant NAGW-77 to PrincetonUniversity.
| The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Survey of O VI Absorption in the Disk of the Milky Way
To probe the distribution and physical characteristics of interstellargas at temperatures T~3×105 K in the disk of the MilkyWay, we have used the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) toobserve absorption lines of O VI λ1032 toward 148 early-typestars situated at distances >1 kpc. After subtracting off a mildexcess of O VI arising from the Local Bubble, combining our new resultswith earlier surveys of O VI, and eliminating stars that showconspicuous localized X-ray emission, we find an average O VI midplanedensity n0=1.3×10-8 cm-3. Thedensity decreases away from the plane of the Galaxy in a way that isconsistent with an exponential scale height of 3.2 kpc at negativelatitudes or 4.6 kpc at positive latitudes. Average volume densities ofO VI along different sight lines exhibit a dispersion of about 0.26 dex,irrespective of the distances to the target stars. This indicates that OVI does not arise in randomly situated clouds of a fixed size anddensity, but instead is distributed in regions that have a very broadrange of column densities, with the more strongly absorbing cloudshaving a lower space density. Line widths and centroid velocities aremuch larger than those expected from differential Galactic rotation, butthey are nevertheless correlated with distance and N(O VI), whichreinforces our picture of a diverse population of hot plasma regionsthat are ubiquitous over the entire Galactic disk. The velocity extremesof the O VI profiles show a loose correlation with those of very stronglines of less ionized species, supporting a picture of a turbulent,multiphase medium churned by shock-heated gas from multiple supernovaexplosions.
| Pulkovo compilation of radial velocities for 35495 stars in a common system.
Not Available
| New Estimates of the Solar-Neighborhood Massive Star Birthrate and the Galactic Supernova Rate
The birthrate of stars of masses >=10 Msolar is estimatedfrom a sample of just over 400 O3-B2 dwarfs within 1.5 kpc of the Sunand the result extrapolated to estimate the Galactic supernova ratecontributed by such stars. The solar-neighborhood Galactic-plane massivestar birthrate is estimated at ~176 stars kpc-3Myr-1. On the basis of a model in which the Galactic stellardensity distribution comprises a ``disk+central hole'' like that of thedust infrared emission (as proposed by Drimmel and Spergel), theGalactic supernova rate is estimated at probably not less than ~1 normore than ~2 per century and the number of O3-B2 dwarfs within the solarcircle at ~200,000.
| Potential Variations in the Interstellar N I Abundance
We present Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) and SpaceTelescope Imaging Spectrograph observations of the weak interstellar N Iλ1160 doublet toward 17 high-density sight lines[N(Htot)>=1021 cm-2]. When combinedwith published data, our results reveal variations in the fractional N Iabundance showing a systematic deficiency at large N(Htot).At the FUSE resolution (~20 km s-1), the effects ofunresolved saturation cannot be conclusively ruled out, although O Iλ1356 shows little evidence of saturation. We investigated thepossibility that the N I variability is due to the formation ofN2 in our mostly dense regions. The 0-0 band of thec'41Σ+u-X1Σ+gtransition of N2 at 958 Å should be easily detected inour FUSE data; for 10 of the denser sight lines, N2 is notobserved at a sensitivity level of a few times 1014cm-2. The observed N I variations are suggestive of anincomplete understanding of nitrogen chemistry.Based on observations made with the NASA-CNES-CSA Far UltravioletSpectroscopic Explorer, which is operated for NASA by the Johns HopkinsUniversity under NASA contract NAS 5-32985, and the NASA/ESA HubbleSpace Telescope, obtained from the Multimission Archive at the SpaceTelescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association ofUniversities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under the NASA contractNAS 5-26555.
| Oxygen Gas-Phase Abundance Revisited
We present new measurements of the interstellar gas-phase oxygenabundance along the sight lines toward 19 early-type Galactic stars atan average distance of 2.6 kpc. We derive O I column densities fromHubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS)observations of the weak 1355 Å intersystem transition. We derivetotal hydrogen column densities [N(HI)+2N(H2)] using HST/STISobservations of Lyα and Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer(FUSE) observations of molecular hydrogen. The molecular hydrogencontent of these sight lines ranges fromf(H2)=2N(H2)/[N(HI)+2N(H2)]=0.03 to0.47. The average of6.3×1021 cm-2 mag-1 with astandard deviation of 15% is consistent with previous surveys. The meanoxygen abundance along these sight lines, which probe a wide range ofGalactic environments in the distant interstellar medium, is106 (O/H)gas=408+/-13 (1 σ in the mean). Wesee no evidence for decreasing gas-phase oxygen abundance withincreasing molecular hydrogen fraction, and the relative constancy of(O/H)gas suggests that the component of dust containing theoxygen is not readily destroyed. We estimate that, if 60% of the dustgrains are resilient against destruction by shocks, the distantinterstellar total oxygen abundance can be reconciliated with the solarvalue derived from the most recent measurements of 106(O/H)gassolar=517+/-58 (1 σ). We note thatthe smaller oxygen abundances derived for the interstellar gas within500 pc or from nearby B star surveys are consistent with a localelemental deficit.
| Catalog of Galactic OB Stars
An all-sky catalog of Galactic OB stars has been created by extendingthe Case-Hamburg Galactic plane luminous-stars surveys to include 5500additional objects drawn from the literature. This work brings the totalnumber of known or reasonably suspected OB stars to over 16,000.Companion databases of UBVβ photometry and MK classifications forthese objects include nearly 30,000 and 20,000 entries, respectively.
| Highly Ionized Gas in the Galactic Halo: A FUSE Survey of O VI Absorption toward 22 Halo Stars
Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) spectra of 22 Galactichalo stars are studied to determine the amount of O VI in the Galactichalo between ~0.3 and ~10 kpc from the Galactic midplane. Strong O VIλ1031.93 absorption was detected toward 21 stars, and a reliable3 σ upper limit was obtained toward HD 97991. The weaker member ofthe O VI doublet at 1037.62 Å could be studied toward only sixstars because of stellar and interstellar blending problems. Themeasured logarithmic total column densities vary from 13.65 to 14.57with =14.17+/-0.28 (1 σ). The observed columns arereasonably consistent with a patchy exponential O VI distribution with amidplane density of 1.7×10-8 cm-3 and scaleheight between 2.3 and 4 kpc. We do not see clear signs of stronghigh-velocity components in O VI absorption along the Galactic sightlines, which indicates the general absence of high-velocity O VI within2-5 kpc of the Galactic midplane. This result is in marked contrast tothe findings of Sembach et al., who reported high-velocity O VIabsorption toward ~60% of the complete halo sight lines observed byFUSE. The line centroid velocities of the O VI absorption do not reflectGalactic rotation well. The O VI velocity dispersions range from 33 to78 km s-1, with an average of =45+/-11 kms-1 (1 σ). These values are much higher than the valueof ~18 km s-1 expected from thermal broadening for gas atT~3×105 K, the temperature at which O VI is expected toreach its peak abundance in collisional ionization equilibrium.Turbulence, inflow, and outflow must have an effect on the shape of theO VI profiles. Kinematical comparisons of O VI with Ar I reveal thateight of 21 sight lines are closely aligned in LSR velocity(|ΔVLSR|<=5 km s-1), while nine of 21exhibit significant velocity differences(|ΔVLSR|>=15 km s-1). This dual behaviormay indicate the presence of two different types of O VI-bearingenvironments toward the Galactic sight lines. The correlation betweenthe H I and O VI intermediate-velocity absorption is poor. We couldidentify the known H I intermediate-velocity components in the Ar Iabsorption but not in the O VI absorption in most cases. Comparison of OVI with other highly ionized species suggests that the high ions areproduced primarily by cooling hot gas in the Galactic fountain flow andthat turbulent mixing also has a significant contribution. The role ofturbulent mixing varies from negligible to dominant. It is mostimportant toward sight lines that sample supernova remnants like Loops Iand IV. The average N(C IV)/N(O VI) ratios for the nearby halo (thiswork) and complete halo (Savage et al.) are similar (~0.6), but thedispersion is larger in the sample of nearby halo sight lines. We areable to show that the O VI enhancement toward the Galactic center regionthat was observed in the FUSE survey of complete halo sight lines(Savage et al.) is likely associated with processes occurring near theGalactic center by comparing the observations toward the nearby HD177566 sight line to those toward extragalactic targets.
| Synthetic High-Resolution Line Spectra of Star-forming Galaxies below 1200 Å
We have generated a set of far-ultraviolet stellar libraries usingspectra of OB and Wolf-Rayet stars in the Galaxy and the Large and SmallMagellanic Cloud. The spectra were collected with the Far UltravioletSpectroscopic Explorer and cover a wavelength range from 1003.1 to1182.7 Å at a resolution of 0.127 Å. The libraries extendfrom the earliest O to late-O and early-B stars for the Magellanic Cloudand Galactic libraries, respectively. Attention is paid to the complexblending of stellar and interstellar lines, which can be significant,especially in models using Galactic stars. The most severe contaminationis due to molecular hydrogen. Using a simple model for the H2line strength, we were able to remove the molecular hydrogen lines in asubset of Magellanic Cloud stars. Variations of the photospheric andwind features of C III λ1176, O VI λλ1032, 1038, PV λλ1118, 1128, and S IV λλ1063, 1073, 1074are discussed as a function of temperature and luminosity class. Thespectral libraries were implemented into the LavalSB and Starburst99packages and used to compute a standard set of synthetic spectra ofstar-forming galaxies. Representative spectra are presented for variousinitial mass functions and star formation histories. The valid parameterspace is confined to the youngest ages of less than ~=10 Myr for aninstantaneous burst, prior to the age when incompleteness of spectraltypes in the libraries sets in. For a continuous burst at solarmetallicity, the parameter space is not limited. The suite of models isuseful for interpreting the rest-frame far-ultraviolet in local andhigh-redshift galaxies. Based on observations made with theNASA-CNES-CSA Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. FUSE is operatedfor NASA by the Johns Hopkins University under NASA contract NAS5-32985.
| An Atlas of Galactic OB Spectra Observed with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
An atlas of far-ultraviolet spectra of 45 Galactic OB stars observedwith the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer is presented. The atlascovers the wavelength region between 912 and 1185 Å with aneffective spectral resolution of 0.12 Å. Systematic trends in themorphology and strength of stellar features are discussed. Particularattention is drawn to the variations of the C III λ1176, S IVλλ1063, 1073, and P V λλ1118, 1128 lineprofiles as a function of temperature and luminosity class; and the lackof a luminosity dependence associated with O VI λλ1032,1038. Numerous interstellar lines are also identified. Based onobservations made with the NASA-CNES-CSA Far Ultraviolet SpectroscopicExplorer. FUSE is operated for NASA by the Johns Hopkins Universityunder NASA contract NAS5-32985.
| A New Measurement of the Average Far-Ultraviolet Extinction Curve
We have measured the extinction curve in the far-ultraviolet wavelengthregion of (900-1200 Å) using spectra obtained with the BerkeleyEUV/FUV spectrometer during the ORFEUS I and the ORFEUS II (Orbiting andRetrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer) missions in 1993and 1996. From the complete sample of early-type stars observed duringthese missions, we have selected pairs of stars with the same spectraltype but different reddenings to measure the differential FUVextinction. We model the effects of molecular hydrogen absorption andexclude affected regions of the spectrum to determine the extinctionfrom dust alone. We minimize errors from inaccuracies in the catalogedspectral types of the stars by making our own determinations of spectraltypes based on their IUE spectra. We find substantial scatter in thecurves of individual star pairs and present a detailed examination ofthe uncertainties and their effects on each extinction curve. We findthat, given the potentially large uncertainties inherent in using thepair method at FUV wavelengths, a careful analysis of measurementuncertainties is critical to assessing the true dust extinction. Wepresent a new measurement of the average far-ultraviolet extinctioncurve to the Lyman limit; our new measurement is consistent with anextrapolation of the standard extinction curve of Savage & Mathis.
| The Distribution of Thermal Pressures in the Interstellar Medium from a Survey of C I Fine-Structure Excitation
We used the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) with itssmallest entrance aperture (0.03" wide slit) and highest resolutionechelle gratings (E140H and E230H) to record the interstellar absorptionfeatures for 10 different multiplets of neutral carbon at a resolvingpower of λ/Δλ=200,000 in the UV spectra of 21early-type stars. Our objective was to measure the amount of C I in eachof its three fine-structure levels of the ground electronic state, sothat we could determine the thermal pressures in the absorbing gas andhow much they vary in different regions. Our observations areprincipally along directions out to several kiloparsecs in the Galacticplane near longitudes l=120deg and 300°, with the moredistant stars penetrating nearby portions of the Perseus andSagittarius-Carina arms of the Galaxy. We devised a special analysistechnique to decipher the overlapping absorption features in thedifferent multiplets, each with different arrangements of the closelyspaced transitions. In order to derive internally consistent results forall multiplets, we found that we had to modify the relative transitionf-values in a way that made generally weak transitions stronger thanamounts indicated in the current literature. We compared our measuredrelative populations of the excited fine-structure levels to thoseexpected from equilibria calculated with collisional rate constants forvarious densities, temperatures, and compositions. The median thermalpressure for our entire sample was p/k=2240 cm-3 K, orslightly higher if the representative temperatures of the material aremuch above or below a most favorable temperature of 40 K for theexcitation of the first excited level at a given pressure. For gas thatis moving outside the range of radial velocities permitted bydifferential Galactic rotation between us and the targets, about 15% ofthe C I indicates a thermal pressure p/k>5000 cm-3 K. Forgas within the allowed velocities, this fraction is only 1.5%. Thiscontrast reveals a relationship between pressure enhancements and thekinematics of the gas. Regardless of velocity, we usually can registerthe presence of a very small proportion of the gas that seems to be atp/k>~105 cm-3 K. We interpret these ubiquitouswisps of high-pressure material to arise either from small-scale densityenhancements created by converging flows in a turbulent medium or fromwarm turbulent boundary layers on the surfaces of dense clouds movingthrough an intercloud medium. For turbulent compression, our C Iexcitations indicate that the barytropic indexγeff>~0.90 must apply if the unperturbed gas startsout with representative densities and temperatures n=10 cm-3and T=100 K. This value for γeff is larger than thatexpected for interstellar material that remains in thermal equilibriumafter it is compressed from the same initial n and T. However, ifregions of enhanced pressure reach a size smaller than ~0.01 pc, thedynamical time starts to become shorter than the cooling time, andγeff should start to approach the adiabatic valuecp/cv=5/3. Some of the excited C I may arise fromthe target stars' H II regions or by the effects of optical pumping fromthe submillimeter line radiation emitted by them. We argue that thesecontributions are small, and our comparisons of the velocities ofstrongly excited C I to those of excited Si II seem to support thisoutlook. For six stars in the survey, absorption features frominterstellar excited O I could be detected at velocities slightlyshifted from the persistent features of telluric origin. These O I* andO I** features were especially strong in the spectra of HD 93843 and HD210839, the same stars that show exceptionally large C I excitations. Inappendices of this paper, we present evidence that (1) the wavelengthresolving power of STIS in the E14OH mode is indeed about 200,000, and(2) the telluric O I* and O I** features exhibit some evidence formacroscopic motions, since their broadenings are in excess of thatexpected for thermal Doppler broadening at an exospheric temperatureT=1000 K. Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescopeobtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated bythe Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., underNASA contract NAS 5-26555.
| IUE Absorption-Line Observations of the Moderately and Highly Ionized Interstellar Medium toward 164 Early-Type Stars
We present measurements of Galactic interstellar Al III, Si IV, and C IVabsorption recorded in high-resolution archival ultraviolet spectra of164 hot early-type stars observed by the International UltravioletExplorer (IUE) satellite. The objects studied were drawn from the listof hot stars scheduled to be observed with the Far UltravioletSpectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite as part of observing programsdesigned to investigate absorption by O VI in the Galactic disk andhalo. Multiple IUE echelle-mode integrations have been combined toproduce a single ultraviolet (1150-1900 Å) spectrum of each starwith a spectral resolution of ~25 km s-1 (FWHM). Selectedabsorption-line profiles are presented for each star along with plots ofthe apparent column density per unit velocity for each line of the AlIII, Si IV, and C IV doublets. We report absorption-line equivalentwidths, absorption velocities, and integrated column densities based onthe apparent optical depth method of examining interstellar absorptionlines. We also determine column densities and Doppler parameters fromsingle-component curve-of-growth analyses. The scientific analysis ofthese observations will be undertaken after the FUSE satellite producessimilar measurements for absorption by interstellar O IV, Fe III, S III,and other ions. Based on archival data from observations obtained withthe International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite sponsored byNASA, SERC, and ESA.
| Five-colour photometry of OB-stars in the Southern Hemisphere
Observations of OB-stars, made in 1959 and 1960 at the Leiden SouthernStation near Hartebeespoortdam, South Africa, with the VBLUW photometerattached to the 90 cm light-collector, are given in this paper. They arecompared with photometry obtained by \cite[Graham (1968),]{gra68}\cite[Walraven & Walraven (1977),]{wal77} \cite[Lub & Pel(1977)]{lub77} and \cite[Van Genderen et al. (1984).]{gen84} Formulaefor the transformation of the present observations to those of\cite[Walraven & Walraven (1977)]{wal77} and \cite[Lub & Pel(1977)]{lub77} are given. Table 4 is only available in electronic format the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) orvia http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
| UBV beta Database for Case-Hamburg Northern and Southern Luminous Stars
A database of photoelectric UBV beta photometry for stars listed in theCase-Hamburg northern and southern Milky Way luminous stars surveys hasbeen compiled from the original research literature. Consisting of over16,000 observations of some 7300 stars from over 500 sources, thisdatabase constitutes the most complete compilation of such photometryavailable for intrinsically luminous stars around the Galactic plane.Over 5000 stars listed in the Case-Hamburg surveys still lackfundamental photometric data.
| A Radial Velocity Database for Stephenson-Sanduleak Southern Luminous Stars
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1997AJ....113..823R&db_key=AST
| Coronal Gas in the Halo. II. ORFEUS Observations of Galactic Halo Stars
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1996ApJ...465..296H&db_key=AST
| Vitesses radiales. Catalogue WEB: Wilson Evans Batten. Subtittle: Radial velocities: The Wilson-Evans-Batten catalogue.
We give a common version of the two catalogues of Mean Radial Velocitiesby Wilson (1963) and Evans (1978) to which we have added the catalogueof spectroscopic binary systems (Batten et al. 1989). For each star,when possible, we give: 1) an acronym to enter SIMBAD (Set ofIdentifications Measurements and Bibliography for Astronomical Data) ofthe CDS (Centre de Donnees Astronomiques de Strasbourg). 2) the numberHIC of the HIPPARCOS catalogue (Turon 1992). 3) the CCDM number(Catalogue des Composantes des etoiles Doubles et Multiples) byDommanget & Nys (1994). For the cluster stars, a precise study hasbeen done, on the identificator numbers. Numerous remarks point out theproblems we have had to deal with.
| A spectroscopic database for Stephenson-Sanduleak Southern Luminous Stars
A database of published spectral classifications for objects in theStepenson-Sanduleak Luminous Stars in the Southern Milky Way catalog hasbeen compiled from the literature. A total of 6182 classifications for2562 stars from 139 sources are incorporated.
| The distribution of neutral hydrogen in the interstellar medium. 1: The data
We compile, from the existing literature, the largest sample to date(842 data points) of hydrogen column density measurements, N(H I), ofthe gas in the interstellar medium. We include only results obtainedfrom absorption measurements toward individual stars (594 in our sample)in an effort to construct a three-dimensional picture of theinterstellar gas. We derive hydrogen column densities toward a fractionof the stars in the sample from published column density measurements ofmetal ions. A three-dimensional physical model derived from this dataset will be presented in a companion paper. The observed stars spandistances from a few parsecs to a few thousand parsecs, and more thanhalf of the sample serves to describe the local interstellar mediumwithin a few hundred parsecs of the Sun. Hydrogen column densities rangefrom 1017 to 1022/sq cm. We describe here thevarious observational methods used to estimate the hydrogen columndensities and present the table with the stellar and hydrogen columndensity data. The provided table is intended as a global reference work,not to introduce new results.
| An IUE survey of interstellar H I LY alpha absorption. 1: Column densities
We measure Galactic interstellar neutral hydrogen column densities byanalyzing archival interstellar Ly alpha absorption line data toward 554B2 and hotter stars observed at high resolution with the IUE satellite.This study more than doubles the number of lines of sight with measuresof N(H I) based on Ly alpha. We have included the scattered lightbackground correction algorithm of Bianchi and Bohlin in our datareduction. We use the correlation between the Balmer discontinuity(c1) index and the stellar Ly alpha absorption in order toassess the effects of stellar Ly alpha contamination. Approximately 40%of the B stars with measured (c1) index, exhibit seriousstellar Ly alpha contamination. One table contains the derived values ofthe interstellar N(H I) for 393 stars with at most small amounts ofstellar contamination. Another lists the observed values of total N(H I)for 161 stars with suspected stellar Ly alpha contamination and/oruncertain stellar parameters.
| The distribution of interstellar AL III away from the Galactic plane
IUE spectra are analyzed to study the density distribution ofinterstellar Al III away from the Galactic plane. In most cases, themeasured values of the relative line strengths are consistent with onlymodest levels of line saturation. Al III is found to have an exponentialscale height and 1 sigma errors of 1.02(+0.36, -0.24) kpc. For the sameset of 70 stars, the scale height and 1 sigma errors for H I are0.67(+0.21, -0.16) kpc. The Al III scale height is similar to the valueobtained for free electrons from pulsar dispersion measures. The ionizedgas traced by Al III is somewhat more extended than the neutral gastraced by H I but less extended than the very highly ionized gas tracedby Si IV, C IV, and N V.
| Terminal velocities of the winds from rapidly rotating OB stars
This paper presents measurements of terminal velocities of OB starswhich are rapid rotators, based on archival high-dispersion IUE spectraof the C IV resonance doublet. The terminal velocities of the mostrapidly rotating stars appear to be systematically lower than those ofthe less rapidly rotating stars (at least for the cooler stars),although the number of very rapid rotators is only three. The modifiedline-radiation driven wind model of Friend and Abbott, which takes intoaccount the finite size of the star as well as its rotation, predictsthat the terminal velocity should drop with increasing rotationalvelocity. However, when a smaller but very homogeneous subset of thedata is used (BO giants only), the correlation between terminal velocityand rotational velocity disappears.
| A radiation-driven stellar wind model with a line force cutoff
This paper presents a model for a radiation-driven stellar wind in whichthe driving force is abruptly cut off at an adjustable distance from thestar. The model is intended to give a first approximation of the effectsof ionizing shocks in a stellar wind on the terminal velocity andmass-loss rate. As expected, the wind velocity is found to decreaseafter the line force is cut off. The terminal velocity depends directlyon the velocity of the wind at the point where the driving force is cutoff. The mass-loss rate is found to be unaffected as long as the cutoffis outside the critical point of the flow. The model is applied to thestar Tau Sco, a strong X-ray source with an anomalously low terminalvelocity. It is shown that this low terminal velocity can be caused by acutoff of the line force at a distance which is consistent with the ideathat the observed X-rate emission is produced by shocks in the wind.
| The density distribution of refractory elements away from the Galactic plane
The density distributions of the three refractory elements Ti II, Ca II,and Fe II away from the Galactic plane are compared with thedistribution of hydrogen and dust by examining plots of N s in b versusz. It is found that Ti II and Ca II are considerably more extended in zthan the H I and dust and that Fe II has an intermediate extension.Although the results are strongly influenced by sample bias, theindicated exponential scale heights for the data sample are h(Ti II) notless than 2 kpc, h(Ca II) = 1 kpc, h(Fe II) = 0.5 kpc, H(H I) = 0.3 kpc,and h(E/B-V) = 0.1 kpc. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that Ti II andCa II are much more smoothly distributed in space than the hydrogen ordust. The large scale heights for Ti II and Ca II and their smoothdistributions are most easily understood as the effect of a mixturealong the line of sight of two H I phases namely, a diffuse cloud phase,in which nearly all of the Ti and Ca are tied up in dust, and anintercloud medium, where refractory elements are less depleted. It isfound that Ti II and Ca II mostly trace the smoothly distributedintercloud medium. The smoothness of the distributions of Ti II and CaII makes them candidates for use as distance indicators.
| Highly ionized interstellar gas located in the Galactic disk and halo
High-resolution IUE absorption line spectra have been obtained for 40distant stars in order to study the distribution of interstellar H I, SiIV, C IV, and N V in the Galactic disk and lower halo. Respectivemidplane densities of 2 x 10 to the -9th, 7 x 10 to the -9th, and 3 x 10to the -9th are found for Si IV, C IV, and Ni V. Both column density andvelocity data indicate that the highly ionized gas (HIG) is considerablymore extended in directions away from the Galactic plane than is H I orSi II. The absorption-line velocities for the halo HIG are consistentwith the notion that halo gas in the inner Galaxy rotates more slowlythan gas in the underlying disk. The derived column densities suggest anexponential scale height for the HIG of about 3 kpc; however, a simpleexponential distribution is a poor representation of the distribution ofthe gas. It is concluded that a full explanation of the origin of thehalo HIG will probably require a blending of ideas from the Galacticfountain and the photoionized halo models.
| UBV photometry for southern OB stars
New UBV photometry of 1227 OB stars in the southern Milky Way ispresented. For 1113 of these stars, MK spectral types have been reportedpreviously in a comprehensive survey to B = 10.0 mag.
| On the 4430 A interstellar band - A visual classification
A system of visual classification of the strength of the interstellarband 4430 A has been developed, based on spectra taken at spectralclassification dispersion. The intensity of the band was divided into 8main classes, defined by a group of selected standard stars. The systemwas applied to 1,111 southern OB stars contained in the catalog ofspectral types by Garrison, Hiltner, and Schild (1977). The mean errorin the classification was estimated to be plus or minus 1 class.Equivalent widths were measured for 100 stars; an excellent correlationwith the visual estimations was obtained. A calibration between thesetwo parameters is given.
| MK spectral classifications for southern OB stars
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1977ApJS...35..111G&db_key=AST
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Τρόπις |
| Right ascension: | 10h07m31.78s |
| Declination: | -62°39'12.8" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 8.312 |
| Distance: | 840.336 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | -6.5 |
| Proper motion Dec: | 4.7 |
| B-T magnitude: | 8.259 |
| V-T magnitude: | 8.308 |
Catalogs and designations:
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