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At least 433 records · Page 24
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NASA NTRS1981

The extinction toward the galactic center from observations of interstellar lines

H2CO absorption observations against Sgr A are used to select the molecular material lying in front of the galactic center, and an analysis similar to that of Blitz and Shu (1980) is carried out. The ratio of visual extinction to equivalent width of the 6 cm line of H2CO is found to be similar for several nearby interstellar clouds. By considering only the molecular components in front of the infrared cluster, the estimate for the extinction is decreased to 15-46 mag. These results are consistent with those from infrared observations toward the galactic center. Extinction estimates based on other interstellar species are also considered. Atomic gas is seen as contributing less than 10 mag of extinction.

Federman, S. R.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Solar flare and galactic cosmic ray tracks in lunar samples and meteorites - What they tell us about the ancient sun

Evidence regarding the past activity of the sun in the form of nuclear particle tracks in lunar samples and meteorites produced by heavy ions in galactic cosmic rays and solar flares is reviewed. Observations of track-rich grains found in deep lunar cores and meteorite interiors are discussed which demonstrate the presence of solar flare activity for at least the past 4 billion years, and the similarity of track density profiles from various lunar and meteoritic samples with those in a glass filter from Surveyor 3 exposed at the lunar surface for almost three years is presented as evidence of the relative constancy of the solar flare energy spectrum over the same period. Indications of a heavy ion enrichment in solar flares are considered which are confirmed by recent satellite measurements, although difficult to quantify in lunar soil grains. Finally, it is argued that, despite previous claims, there exists as yet no conclusive evidence for either a higher solar activity during the early history of the moon or a change in galactic cosmic ray intensity, average composition or spectrum over the last 50 million years.

Crozaz, G.↗
NASA NTRS1981

The interstellar medium and galactic structure

High energy gamma rays are produced by the interaction of cosmic rays with the interstellar matter in the galaxy. By combining the gamma ray information with radio data, a picture of the galaxy is presented with regard to the general structure and the effects of cosmic ray pressure. The interaction processes and galactic matter distribution are discussed. Galactic cosmic ray distribution and current gamma ray results are reported.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1982

Documentation for the machine-readable version of the catalog of galactic O type stars

The Catalog of Galactic O-Type Stars (Garmany, Conti and Chiosi 1982), a compilation from the literature of all O-type stars for which spectral types, luminosity classes and UBV photometry exist, contains 765 stars, for each of which designation (HD, DM, etc.), spectral type, V, B-V, cluster membership, Galactic coordinates, and source references are given. Derived values of absolute visual and bolometric magnitudes, and distances are included. The source reference should be consulted for additional details concerning the derived quantities. This description of the machine-readable version of the catalog seeks to enable users to read and process the data with a minimum of guesswork. A copy of this document should be distributed with any machine readable version of the catalog.

Warren, W. H., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Confinement and acceleration of cosmic rays in galactic superbubbles

The role of the newly discovered galactic superbubbles on the confinement and acceleration of cosmic rays is examined. It is shown that these structures naturally account for the lifetime and the local origin of the cosmic rays, as well as for the location of galactic gamma-ray sources not associated with pulsars.

Kafatos, M.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Predicted star counts in selected fields and photometric bands Applications to galactic structure, the disk luminosity function, and the detection of a massive halo

Tables are presented of predicted star counts in 17 selected directions on the sky as a function of apparent B, V, R, and I magnitudes and absolute visual magnitudes calculated from the Bahcall-Soneira Galaxy model. It is noted that eight of the fields were selected ab initio for their usefulness in determining from star counts either parameters of galactic structure, the faint end of the disk luminosity function, or the detection of a massive stellar halo. Star counts in specified fields to m sub I = 19 mag are able to reveal the faint end of the disk luminosity function down to the end of the hydrogen-burning main sequence. It is thought that star counts at high galactic latitudes to m sub I = 22 mag should reveal the stellar constituents of a massive halo if they are massive enough to be on the hydrogen-burning main sequence.

Bahcall, J. N.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Gradients of galactic cosmic rays and anomalous helium to more than 23 A.U. during the increase of solar modulation in 1978-80

During the transition to solar maximum (1978-81) the radial gradient of high energy galactic cosmic rays increased slightly, while the gradients of lower energy cosmic rays and the anomalous helium decreased. It is concluded that (1) Pioneer-10 at about 23 AU was still deep in a modulation region extending to more than 50 AU for both the galactic cosmic rays and the anomalous helium component, and (2) the modulation is controlled by changes in the size/geometry of heliospheric magnetic fields and/or propagation parameters, changes associated with large solar-flare shocks in 1978 and later.

Bastian, T. S.↗
NASA NTRS1982

The gaseous galactic halo as inferred from the line spectra of the galaxies Markarian 509 and Fairall 9

Narrow interstellar absorption lines of S II 1259.52, Si II 1260.42, and Fe II 1608.46 due to gas in the disk and the halo of the Galaxy have been detected in the spectrum of the Seyfert galaxy Mrk 509 with the International Ultraviolet Explorer. This gas is also seen at higher resolution in the Ca II and Na I absorption lines in two components at LSR velocities of +6 and +62 km/s. In addition, narrow Ly-alpha and C IV absorption near the Seyfert redshift seem to be present in the spectrum. Si II 1260.42 absorption from the galactic disk and from the Magellanic Stream or the halo of the SMC have been detected with the IUE in the spectrum of Fairall 9. The observations of these two objects when combined with existing results are shown to be consistent with a corotating galactic halo having a height of less than 10 kpc at the sun.

York, D. G.↗
NASA NTRS1982

The heliospheric intensity gradients of the anomalous He4 and the galactic cosmic-ray components

Measurements made with Pioneers 10 and 11 over the radial range of 1 to about 25 AU from 1972 to 1981 are presented to show that at solar minimum (1972-1977), the radial gradient for the anomalous helium component from 11 to 20 MeV/n is about 14%/AU. This result is significantly smaller than that predicted for either charge state of the component based on the observed spectrum and assumptions of conventional solar modulation for particles propagating inward from the heliospheric boundary. It is confirmed that the solar modulation mechanism that determines the level and distribution of low-energy galactic cosmic rays in the heliosphere, also modulates the He(A) spectrum. With increasing modulation between solar minimum and maximum, the 10-20 MeV/n He(A) flux decreases below the flux of modulated galactic He first at 1 AU and then progressively outward to 22-25 AU over an approximately two year period.

Mckibben, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Galactic and zodiacal light surface brightness measurements with the Atmosphere Explorer satellites

Galactic and zodiacal light surface maps based on the Atmosphere Explorer-C, -D, and -E satellite data are presented at 7320, 6300, 5577, 5200, and 4278 A. A procedure used to generate these maps, which involves separation of the individual stars and diffuse starlight from the zodiacal light, is described in detail. The maps can be used in atmospheric emission studies to correct for galactic emissions which contaminate satellite as well as ground-based photometric observations. The zodiacal light maps show enhanced features which are important for understanding the nature of interplanetary dust.

Abreu, V. J.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Positron annihilation radiation from the galactic center region

Measurements of 0.511 MeV radiation from the vicinity of the galactic center performed by the high resolution gamma ray spectrometer aboard the HEAO 3 spacecraft are discussed. The spectrometer is described and an exploded view of it exhibited, and scans in the 50-244 keV region as well as 0.511 MeV are shown. The intensity from the Crab nebula remained constant while that of the Cygnus source increased considerably, and there was a decrease in the radiation from the vicinity of the galactic center. The flux emanating from the center implies an annihilation rate of 10 to the 43rd per second. The apparent time variation and the spatial extent observed tend to limit the source to a single object and the annihilation region to a size less than about one light year.

Jacobson, A. S.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Far-ultraviolet studies. VI - Further limits on diffuse galactic light scattered at large angles by dust

The Apollo 17 wide-field far-ultraviolet spectrometer was used to scan six large bands of the sky during trans-earth coast. After accounting for internal scattered light and the light expected from stars in the field of view, no significant residual flux remains. This imposes important constraints on the scattering properties of the interstellar dust grains: either the grains are extremely strongly forward scattering, or the albedo of the grains is low. The absence of a scattered light signal from dusty, moderate galactic latitude regions of the sky indicates that the high galactic latitude flux reported by Henry et al. (1977) and by Anderson et al. (1979) does not represent starlight backscattered by dust.

Anderson, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Stellar contributions to the hard X-ray galactic ridge

The number density of serendipitous sources in galactic plane Einstein Observatory IPC fields are compared with predictions based on the intensity of the HEAO-1 A2 unresolved hrd X-ray galactic ridge emission. It is concluded that theoretically predicted X-ray source populations of luminosity 8 x 10 to the 32nd power to 3 x 10 to the 34th power ergs s have 2 KeV to 10 KeV local surface densities of less than approximately .0008 L(32) pc/2 and are unlikely to be the dominant contributors to the hard X-ray ridge. An estimate for Be/neutron star binary systems, such as X Persei, gives a 2 keV to 10 keV local surface density of approximately 26 x 10 to the -5 power L(32) pc/2. Stellar systems of low luminosity, are more likely contributors. Both RS CVn and cataclysmic variable systems contribute 43% + or - 18% of the ridge. A more sensitive measurement of the ridge's hard X-ray spectrum should reveal Fe-line emission. We speculate that dM stars are further major contributors.

Worrall, S. M.↗
NASA NTRS1983

An Electron-positron Jet Model for the Galactic Center

High energy observations of the galactic center on the subparsec scale seem to be consistent with electron-positron production in the form of relativistic jets. These jets could be produced by an approximately 1,000,000 solar mass black hole dynamo transportating pairs away from the massive core. An electromagnetic cascade shower would develop first from ambient soft protons and then nonlinearly; the shower using itself as a scattering medium. This is suited to producing, cooling and transporting pairs to the observed annihilation region. It is possible the center of our galaxy is a miniature version of more powerful active galactic nuclei that exhibit jet activity.

Burns, M. L.↗
NASA NTRS1983

The Origin of the Galactic Annihilation Radiation

Observations of the e(+)-e(-) annihilation radiation from the galactic center are reviewed and the implications of these and other observations on the positron production process, the annihilation region and the fundamental nature of the galactic center source are discussed.

Lingenfelter, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS1983

The galactic spheroid

Analytic approximations and numerical simulations are used to derive the characteristic behavior of star counts in a galactic spheroidal population, whose visible stars' stellar luminosity function is obtainable for galactocentric distances between about 4 and 12 kpc from star count observations above 30 deg galactic latitude. The total densities of stars and of mass in the spheroid at the solar position are evaluated using different assumed luminosity functions, in order to extrapolate the measured values to a wider range of absolute magnitudes. The upper limits to the frequency of intermediate population stars are derived for the absolute visual magnitude range of 5-8. If such stars occur in either a flat disk with a scale height of 3 kpc or a spheroid with an ellipticity of 0.5, their local surface density is less than 1.8 times that of the spheroid.

Bahcall, J. N.↗
NASA NTRS1983

An extensive galactic search for conformer II glycine

The most extensive galactic search reported to date for conformer II glycine, a higher energy form of the simplest amino acid has been conducted. The search utilized four glycine transitions at centimeter wavelengths and 21 at millimeter wavelengths to observe 18 galactic molecular sources and one comet. No conformer II glycine lines were detected, and measurements of representative sources were used to compute upper limits on total column densities. Several unidentified lines were detected and are reported here with some suggested possible identifications.

Snyder, L. E.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Galactic cosmic rays and N2 dissociation on Titan

The electromagnetic and particle cascade resulting from the absorption of galactic cosmic rays in the atmosphere of Titan is shown to be an important mechanism for driving the photochemistry at pressures of 1 to 50 mbar in the atmosphere. In particular, the cosmic ray cascade dissociates N2, a process necessary for the synthesis of nitrogen organics such as HCN. The important interactions of the cosmic ray cascade with the atmosphere are discussed. The N2 excitation and dissociation rates and the ionization rates of the principal atmospheric consituents are computed for a Titan model atmosphere that is consistent with Voyager 1 observations. It is suggested that HCN may be formed efficiently in the lower atmosphere through the photodissociation of methylamine. It is also argued that models of nitrogen and hydrocarbon photochemistry in the lower atmosphere of Titan should include the absorption of galactic cosmic rays as an important energy source.

Capone, L. A.↗