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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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At least 325 records · Page 18
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1971

Cepheid variables and the Magellanic Clouds.

The Magellanic Cloud variables differ from variables in the Galaxy by the number of variables at different periods, by the period-amplitude relation, and by the mean color. Schematic evolutionary tracks are used to demonstrate how a proposed difference between Galactic evolution and Small Magellanic Cloud evolution might be responsible for the observed mean colors and frequencies of occurrence of cepheid variables with different periods. The frequency of short-period cep heids is seen to be a very sensitive indicator of some, not yet fully understood, aspect of abundances. It is demonstrated that the characteristic second-bump feature appearing in the light curves of cepheids with the period range from 7 to 15 days can be used to determine stellar mass and radius on the basis of calculations of interior motions.-

Christy, R. F.↗
NASA NTRS1971

The temperatures, abundances and gravities of F dwarf stars.

Theoretical colors computed from laboratory line data and from model stellar atmospheres have been used to interpret the colors of about 150 F and early G dwarfs. Effective temperatures have been derived from the H-beta index and from R-I, abundances have been obtained from m(sub 1) and from b-y, and gravities have been obtained from c(sub 1) and from b-y. The effective temperatures and gravities are in good agreement with values obtained from spectral scans. Absolute magnitudes have been obtained from the effective temperatures and gravities, the latter being used with assumed stellar masses to yield radii. The present results provide theoretical justification of the empirical formulas given by Crawford and by Stroemgren for the determination of absolute magnitudes and abundances from uvby photometry.

Bell, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Cooling of pulsars.

The effects of the magnetic field and superfluidity on the cooling of neutron stars during the stage when they can be observed as pulsars are considered. A neutron-star model with a stellar mass of 1.07 solar mass, a radius of 12.33 km, and a central energy density of 7.39 x 10 to the 14th power gauss/cu cm was chosen. It appears that during the earlier periods while the star cools by neutrino emission, surface temperatures are somewhat higher at a given age in the presence of stronger magnetic fields. An interesting result is that most pulsars may be very cold.

Tsuruta, S.↗
NASA NTRS1973

UV photometry of eclipsing variables

UV photometric observations of the eclipsing variable CW Cephei by orbiting OAO-2 instrument package reveal the binary to be a system in an active stage of evolution, with evidence for stellar mass loss or mass exchange.

Sobieski, S.↗
NASA NTRS1973

The formation of planetary nebulae

A hydrodynamic model of a star consisting of a helium shell and a hydrogen-rich shell overlying a hard core is proposed in order to find out what causes the ejection of stellar mass with low velocities that form planetary nebulae. Observations indicate that a planetary nebula is composed of hydrogen-rich material, while the remaining remnant of the star is of helium or heavier material.

Sparks, W. M.↗
NASA NTRS1974

On the origin of the solar system. I

The empirical information on protostars is reviewed. 'Globules' are described, found to have the typical range of stellar masses and with gaseous compositions now well known thanks largely to radio astronomy. They also contain particulate matter identified as silicates, ice, and probably graphite and other carbon compounds. Current knowledge of the degree of stability of the planetary orbits over the past 4.5 b.y. is summarized. The statistics on the frequency and masses of asteroids and information on the Kirkwood gaps, both empirical and theoretical, are cited. An analogous discussion is made for the Rings of Saturn, including its extension observed in 1966 to the fourth Saturn satellite, Dione. The three main classes of meteorites - irons, stones, and carbonaceous chondrites - all appear to be of asteroidal origin and they yield the most direct evidence on the early thermal history of the solar system. The author sees in this evidence definite confirmation of the cold origin of the planetary system, followed by a hot phase due to the evolving sun that caused the dissolution of the solar nebula.

Kuiper, G. P.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Distinctive patterns on the surface of slowly rotating stars whose oscillations are nonlinearly coupled

Slowly rotating stars which are oscillating at small amplitude in a broad spectrum of g-modes should display strong surface nonuniformities if even weak nonlinear coupling exists between the modes. Oscillatory power will be concentrated into distinctive patterns which rotate rigidly in spite of differential rotation in the outer stellar layers. Each pattern rotates at a constant rate slower than the star as a whole according to a very simple law of rotation. Virtually all the rotation rates are within 9 per cent of the stellar rate. Evidence is cited that the sun may be oscillating, so other stars along the main sequence may be oscillating, also. If zones obeying the predicted rotation law can be detected in a star, then the rotation rate of the stellar interior becomes known, and differential rotation is negligible over most of the stellar mass.

Wolff, C. L.↗
NASA NTRS1974

The interaction of interstellar gas with stellar density wave packets

We have numerically studied the interaction between interstellar gas and a gravitational perturbation produced by a fluctuation in the stellar mass distribution. For a simple equation of state, shock waves develop even if the gravitational perturbation is aperiodic and transient. In a medium which can change thermal phase, shocks do not form and the gas makes a transition directly to the cold, dense phase. The cold material has an anomalous velocity imparted to it by the gravitational perturbation and it becomes an accretion front moving through the hot gas and capturing it. The accretion fronts trigger thermal phase change on a large scale and can reproduce the extent of observed cold clouds. Furthermore their high mass is favorable to gravitational instability and subsequent star formation.

Baker, P. L.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Excitation of pulsations in the CNO ionization zone of luminous stars

Homogeneous models of luminous hydrogen-and-helium burning stars were constructed on the basis of Carson's new radiative opacities. These opacities exhibit a large 'bump' at moderate temperatures and low densities as a result of the ultimate ionization of the CNO group of elements and they induce in the envelopes of the more massive stars a strong local convection zone, a high central condensation and pulsational instability by means of the kappa-mechanism above a certain stellar mass. This critical mass for Population I hydrogen-burning stars is probably greater than 45 solar masses for the fundamental radial mode, with the overtones being more stable, while for the homogeneous helium-burning stars, the critical mass lies in the range 2-6 solar masses for all modes up to at least the third overtone. Convection is alternately treated by means of the mixing length theory and the assumption of strict adiabaticity.

Stothers, R.↗
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 NTRS1977

The black tide model of QSOs

The paper develops certain aspects of a model wherein a QSO is a massive black hole located in a dense galactic nucleus, with its growth and luminosity fueled by tidal disruption of passing stars. Cross sections for tidal disruptions are calculated, taking into account the thermal energy of stars, relativistic effects, and partial disruption removing only the outer layers of a star. Accretion rates are computed for a realistic distribution of stellar masses and evolutionary phases, the effect of the black hole on the cluster distribution is examined, and the red-giant disruption rate is evaluated for hole mass of at least 300 million solar masses, the cutoff of disruption of main-sequence stars. The results show that this black-tide model can explain QSO luminosities of at least 1 trillion suns if the black hole remains almost maximally Kerr as it grows above 100 million solar masses and if 'loss-cone' depletion of the number of stars in disruptive orbits is unimportant.

Young, P. J.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Spectral evolution of a long X-ray burst

Results are reported for spectroscopic observations of an X-ray burstlike event that had a duration of 100 sec and a peak count range 1.5 times that of the Crab Nebula. The best position determined is 356.4 deg galactic longitude, 2.3 deg galactic latitude. It is shown that the spectrum of the source changed as the event evolved, being very soft during the 20-sec peak of the burst, quickly hardening during the decay, and again softening as the decay proceeded. The spectra are fit best by a blackbody model with kT of 0.87 to 2.33 keV, and it is noted that a weak flux was detected some time after the burst and was well fitted by a 10-keV thermal bremsstrahlung spectrum with an indication of iron line emission. A source size is obtained which suggests a neutron star or a black hole of stellar mass.

Swank, J. H.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Nonradial pulsational instability of massive stars

Pulsational eigenfrequencies and stability coefficients of the lowest modes of nonradial quadrupole (l = 2) oscillation have been obtained for chemically homogeneous stellar models constructed with Carson's (1976) radiative opacities. Instability is found to develop as a result of the same operation of the kappa-mechanism in the CNO ionization zone and at nearly the same stellar masses as was the case for the radial (l = 0) modes studied previously. A survey of the l = 5 modes indicates that the instability gradually declines with increasing degree of the spherical harmonics.

Vemury, S. K.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Observation of X-ray eclipses from LMC X-4

Observations made with the Rotation Modulation Collimator system (RMC) have revealed that X-ray source X-4 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC X-4) is most likely part of a binary system. An analysis of the star's coordinates is presented, with attention given to orbital period and flux intensity variations. Stellar mass and orbital inclination angle are estimated for both X-4 and its companion star.

Li, F.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Highly compact binary X-ray sources

It is proposed that many of the X-ray sources associated with the galactic bulge are accreting neutron stars or black holes with masses of at least about 1 solar mass in ultrashort-period binary systems with very low-mass (no more than about 0.5 solar mass) stellar companions. It is demonstrated that this hypothesis may provide a coherent picture of the evolutionary history and observational properties of these sources, including the apparent lack of conspicuous optical counterparts and the apparent absence of X-ray eclipses.

Joss, P. C.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Compact H II regions in the far-infrared

Far-infrared (40-150 microns) observations of W51 (G49.5-0.4), K3-50, DR 21, NGC 7538, and W3(OH) are presented and discussed. At these wavelengths each source is dominated by a small bright component closely associated with a compact H II region. Their spectra can be explained as emission by dust at temperatures of 30-50 K. Some of the objects appear to be optically thick out to wavelengths of about 60 microns. Of the 10 source components in the five regions, at least four may be powered by pre-main-sequence stars. The far-infrared data are consistent with depletion of volatile components of the dust within compact H II regions, but do not clearly require destruction or expulsion of refractory grains. The bulk of the dust which emits primarily in the far-infrared must lie in a dense shell immediately outside the ionized zone. The sources are possible precursers to open clusters with stellar masses in the range from 1,000 to 10,000 solar masses.

Thronson, H. A., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1979

High resolution spectrograph for the Space Telescope

The high resolution spectrograph (HRS) for ultraviolet astronomy with the Space Telescope will provide a spectral resolution of approximately 120,000 over a nominal wavelength range of 110-320 nm, together with a spatial resolution of about 0.25 arc seconds. The two detectors will consist of 512-element Digicons with cesium telluride and cesium iodide photocathodes, respectively. Photoelectrons in transit between the photocathodes and the diodes within the Digicons can be deflected in two axes with 12-bit resolution. This feature facilitates a design that emphasizes reliability since (once a hermetic seal is opened in orbit), only two moving parts, a grating carrousel and a shutter, are required for regular operation of the HRS. The instrument will be controlled by a computer in the spacecraft. The scientific objectives of the HRS investigation relate to interstellar matter in our own and nearby galaxies, physical processes of stellar mass loss and mass transfer, chemical abundances, bright quasars and Seyfert galaxy nuclei, and solar system phenomena.

Brandt, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1980

X-ray spectra of accreting degenerate stars

X-ray emission from accreting nonmagnetic degenerate dwarfs is discussed. Emphasis is placed on the numerical calculations by Kylafis and Lamb (1979) with regard to the entire range of accretion rates and stellar masses. It is concluded that at moderate and high accretion rates the spectral temperature varies dramatically and the star exhibits a pronounced correlation between X-ray spectral temperature and luminosity. Also considered are the results of Lamb and Masters (1979) of calculations of high-harmonic cyclotron emission from a hot plasma, from which they developed a model of X-ray and UV emission from accreting magnetic degenerate dwarfs. It is found that the position and relative strength of the spectral components change with variations in the accretion rate and differ for different magnetic fields; in addition, magnetic degenerate dwarfs are predicted to be strong UV sources with only a few percent of the total accretion luminosity ordinarily appearing as soft and hard X-rays.

Kylafis, N. D.↗