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At least 487 records · Page 27
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NASA NTRS1992

Stellar population of NGC 1850 in the LMC

Observations of the globular cluster NGC 1850 taken with the HST Wide Field Camera are used to constrain the stellar population of this member of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Three exposures were obtained for each band at exposure times of 10, 100, and 1100 seconds, and the longest exposure was halved to minimize the effects of cosmic noise and the saturation of bright objects. A total of about 12,000 stars with magnitudes of 14-24 and masses of 0.8-13 solar mass are measured, and the age of NGC 1850 is given at approximately 25 million years.

Gilmozzi, Roberto↗
NASA NTRS1992

GB 790305 as a very strongly magnetized neutron star

The March 5 1979 event was the strongest gamma-ray burst ever observed. Its location in the sky is known with an accuracy of about 10 arcsec, and it coincides with the N49 supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The main burst was followed by a soft tail with the periodic 8 s modulation, and 16 soft gamma events over the following few years. If the source is a magnetic neutron star with the 8 s rotation period and the age of about 10 exp 4 years as indicated by N49 then the field strength of about 5 x 10 exp 14 gauss is implied. The corresponding critical luminosity is about 10 exp 4 L(Edd), as the electron scattering opacity is suppressed by the strong magnetic field. This luminosity is consistent with the observed peak flux of the soft tail and the soft repeaters. The soft spectrum may be approximated with the photospheric emission at kT(eff) = 17 keV. The corresponding photospheric radius is about 14 km, compatible with a neutron star hypothesis. The total magnetic energy of the star is about 4 x 10 exp 46 erg, more than enough to power the March 5 event and all its repeaters.

Paczynski, Bohdan↗
NASA NTRS1993

A Hubble Space Telescope planetary camera view of giant H II regions - The Wolf-Rayet content of NGC 595 and NGC 604 in M33

We present images of NGC 595 and NGC 604, the most massive giant H II regions in M33, obtained with the Planetary Camera aboard the HST in order to study their WR population. Fourteen WR and/or Of candidates are detected in NGC 604, and eleven in NGC 595. All previously claimed 'superluminous' WR stars are found to be tight (diameter less than 3 pc) stellar aggregates containing one (or sometimes more) normal WR star. As suspected from ground-based data, the WR/O number ratio is significantly higher in NGC 595 (about 0.3) than in NGC 604 (about 0.1). The WR stars may be major contributors to the output of mechanical power and energy into the interstellar medium in both clusters. Over the observable initial mass range, the initial mass functions (IMFs) have similar slopes. These IMFs are somewhat flatter than those generally derived for massive stars in the Galaxy or the Magellanic Clouds.

Drissen, Laurent↗
NASA NTRS1993

A new luminous blue variable - R143 in 30 Doradus

We have discovered that R143 in the Large Magellanic Cloud is a luminous blue variable (LBV), the first and perhaps the lone LBV in the central cluster of 30 Doradus, and only the sixth known LMC LBV. Photometric and spectroscopic observations over the past 40 yr indicate that during that time R143 moved redward (changing from an F5 to F8 supergiant), then blueward (possibly becoming as early as O9.5), and is now moving back to the red (currently appearing as a late B supergiant). Similarly, the V magnitude of the star has changed by at least 1.4 mag. Images of R143 show very unusual filaments of nebulosity extending from the star to a shell at a distance of 3.5 pc, perhaps due to a similar ejection mechanism that created the spiral jets and shell associated with AG Car, another LBV.

Parker, Joel WM.↗
NASA NTRS1993

The unusual supernova SN1993J in the galaxy M81

Supernova 1993J in the galaxy M81 is the second-brightest type II supernova observed this century, surpassed only by SN1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Here we report the evolution of the photometric and spectral properties of SN1993J for the first 50 d following its discovery. The behavior of this supernova is unusual, showing features typical of type II supernovae near the initial maximum, but with the strong helium lines characteristic of type Ib supernovae at later times. This implies that the progenitor star had an unusually thin hydrogen envelope (compared to normal type II progenitors), suggesting that significant mass loss had taken place before the explosion. Application of an expanding photosphere model to our data provides an estimate of the distance to the supernova of 2.6 +/- 0.4 Mpc, broadly consistent with the distance to M81 determined using Cepheid variable stars. Supernova models that more closely match the atypical spectral features of SN1993J may change the inferred distance, and should provide better constraints on the structure of the progenitor.

Schmidt, Brian P.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The onset of galactic winds in early-type galaxies

We completed the spectral analysis of 31 early-type galaxies to investigate whether their x-ray emission was predominantly due to thermal bremsstrahlung from a hot gaseous corona or emission from discrete, galactic sources such as x-ray binaries. If a corona dominates the x-ray emission, its spectra is expected to be relatively cool (0.5 - 1 keV) compared to the harder emission associated with x-ray binaries in our galaxy, the Magellanic Clouds and M31. While it is generally accepted that the x-ray emission in luminous E and S0 galaxies arises from hot coronae, the status of hot gas in lower luminosity (and hence lower mass) galaxies is less clear. Calculations show that, for a given supernova rate, a critical galaxy luminosity (mass) exists below which the gas cannot be gravitationally confined and a galactic wind is predicted to be effective in expelling gas from the galaxy. Since significant mass (a dark halo) is required to hold a hot, gaseous corona around a galaxy, we expect that the faintest, smallest galaxies will not have a hot corona, but their x-ray emission will be dominated by galactic sources or by an active galactic nuclei. In the sample we tested which spanned the absolute magnitude range from -21.5 to -19.5, we found that except for two galaxies whose x-ray emission was dominated by an active nucleus, that the others were consistent with emission from hot gas. We also found that there is a correlation between gas temperature and galaxy magnitude (mass), such that the brighter, more luminous galaxies have hotter gas temperatures. Thus even at relatively faint magnitudes, the dominant emission from early-type galaxies appears to be hot gas. We also carried out an investigation of the x-ray surface brightness distribution of the x-ray emission for about 100 early type galaxies to determine whether the x-ray emission from galaxies are extended. Extended x-ray emission is expected if the emission is due to a hot gaseous corona. We determined the ratio of the source counts in two annuli (0-80 arc seconds and 80-160 arc seconds) for each galaxy and analyzed these ratios using a maximum likelihood estimator to determine the errors on the ratios. Even for weak sources, this ratio provides a sensitive test for source extent. We then compared these ratios to a sample of quasars (all unresolved sources) and have determined which galaxies are extended and which are consistent with point sources. A first paper including the Einstein x-ray fluxes for 147 early-type galaxies has been published in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (with Roberts, Hogg, Bregman, Forman entitled 'Interstellar Matter in Early-Type Galaxies'). A second paper will describe the spectral and extent analysis carried out for this galaxy sample. These results also have been presented at scientific conferences and in colloquia.

Jones, Christine↗
NASA NTRS1992

How to handle 6GBytes a night and not get swamped

The Macho Project has undertaken a 5 year effort to search for dark matter in the halo of the Galaxy by scanning the Magellanic Clouds for micro-lensing events. Each evening's raw image data will be reduced in real-time into the observed stars' photometric measurements. The actual search for micro-lensing events will be a post-processing operation. The theoretical prediction of the rate of such events necessitates the collection of a large number of repeated exposures. The project designed camera subsystem delivers 64 Mbytes per exposure with exposures typically occurring every 500 seconds. An ideal evening's observing will provide 6 Gbytes of raw image data and 40 Mbytes of reduced photometric measurements. Recognizing the difficulty of digging out from a snowballing cascade of raw data, the project requires the real-time reduction of each evening's data. The software team's implementation strategy centered on this non-negotiable mandate. Accepting the reality that 2 full time people needed to implement the core real-time control and data management system within 6 months, off-the-shelf vendor components were explored to provide quick solutions to the classic needs for file management, data management, and process control. Where vendor solutions were lacking, state-of-the-art models were used for hand tailored subsystems. In particular, petri nets manage process control, memory mapped bulletin boards provide interprocess communication between the multi-tasked processes, and C++ class libraries provide memory mapped, disk resident databases. The differences between the implementation strategy and the final implementation reality are presented. The necessity of validating vendor product claims are explored. Both the successful and hindsight decisions enabling the collection and processing of the nightly data barrage are reviewed.

Allsman, R.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Investigation relative to the Roentgen Satellite (ROSAT)

Reports include: High Resolution Observations of the Central Region of M31; The X-ray Emission of Low-X-ray-Luminosity Early-Type Galaxies: Gas Versus Compact Sources; Interaction Between Cluster Gas and Radio Features of Cygnus A; Hot Gas and Dark Halos in Early-Type Galaxies; A Gravitational Lens in X-rays - 0957+461; How Massive are Early-Type Galaxies?; Three Crab-Like SNR in the Large Magellanic Cloud; and Soft X-ray Emission from Boundary Layers in Cataclysmic Variables. Papers submitted to the Astrophysical Journal are attached.

Elvis, Martin S.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The physics of black hole x ray novae

X-ray transients that are established or plausible black hole candidates have been discovered at a rate of about one per year in the galaxy for the last five years. There are now well over a dozen black hole candidates, most being in the category of X-ray novae with low-mass companions. There may be hundreds of such transient systems in the galaxy yet to be discovered. Classic black hole candidates like Cygnus X-1 with massive companions are in the minority, and their census in the galaxy and magellanic clouds is likely to be complete. The black hole X-ray novae (BHXN) do not represent only the most common environment in which to discover black holes. Their time dependence gives a major new probe with which to study the physics of accretion into black holes. The BHXN show both a soft X-ray flux from an optically thick disk and a hard power law tail that is reminiscent of AGN spectra. The result may be new insight into the classical systems like Cyg X-1 and LMC X-1 that show similar power law tails, but also to accretion into supermassive black holes and AGN.

Wheeler, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1994

FOC SV support and science data analysis

The main activity of NASA grant NAG5-1733 has been the study of Planetary Nebulae in the Magellanic Clouds through observations using the ESA Faint Object Camera conducted during Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Observing Cycles 1 and 2 in the pre-Costar era and in Cycle 4 with Costar and the FOC. A table of the observations obtained during these observing periods is attached along with figures showing the final images. Both the table and the figures are intended for publication later this year in the Astrophysical journal. Work that had been carried out under this grant included: astrometric measurement of ground-based images and preparation of detailed observing proposals; re-calibration of FOC images; deconvolution; and data analysis and measurement. The work has resulted in two papers, the first already published and the second in preparation by Blades, Osmer and Barlow. A reprint of the first paper is attached. The second paper will enlarge upon the results described in the first paper, bearing in mind the much larger sample of objects. Finally, the recently acquired images in Cycle 4 with the corrected optics will allow us to make direct and quantitative comparison between the pre- and post-correction for FOC. This work will be carried out under a separate grant. All the observations concerning Planetary Nebulae as described in an earlier status report have been collected and measured. In addition, a preliminary study of the photometric response of the FOC was begun under this grant but not completed because the analysis of the Cycle 2 Planetary Nebulae took much longer and was much more difficult than originally envisaged (due to the spherical aberration problem). However, because our data covers a long time period, we shall be able to deduce the photometric properties now using the actual PN themselves. This work will be carried out under a separate grant.

Blades, J. Chris↗
NASA NTRS1994

Neutral gas and diffuse interstellar bands in the LMC

Tracing the dynamics of the neutral gas and observing diffuse interstellar bands in the LMC (Large Magellanic Cloud) was the focus of this study. The S/N values, a Quartz lamp exposure, a T horium Argon Comparision lamp exposure, and spectral plots for each star observed were taken. The stars observed were selected to sample the 30 Dor vicinty. NaI absorption profiles are included.

Danks, Anthony C.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Galactic stars applied to tests of the criterion for convection and semiconvection in an inhomogeneous star

The question of the effective criterion for convection and semiconvection to use in the inhomogeneous layers of models of massive stars is addressed here in terms of a choice between the Schwarzschild (temperature-gradient) criterion and the Ledoux (density-gradient) criterion. These two extremes give rise to and suppress, respectively, a fully convective zone (FCZ) in the layers immediately above the hydrogen-burning shell, if the star's mass is neither too low nor too high. Specifically, the existence of a large FCZ delays or prevents the star during core helium burning from becoming a red supergiant. The applicable range of initial stellar masses for a solar metallicity is approximately 13 to 30 solar mass. Nine different tests for the effective criterion for convection and semiconvection in Galactic supergiants, as well as a test using SN 1987A of the Large Magellanic Cloud, are performed, or reexamined, by using both old and new theoretical data, while three of the Galactic tests are repeated for association supergiants separately from cluster supergiants. Although eight of the 13 tests yield inconclusive results, five do support the Ledoux criterion, and three do so strongly.

Stothers, Richard B.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Postburst nebular emission of soft gamma-ray repeaters

The soft gamma ray repeater SGR 1806-20 has been shown to be unambiguously associated with the central region of the radio nebula G10.0-0.3. The nebula surrounding SGR 1806-20 is probably a supernova remnant and has a nonthermal radio spectrum typical of a 'plerion,' circumstellar gas energized by a relativistic particle outflow from a central source. The association of soft gamma ray repeaters (SGRs) with supernova remnants is supported by the likely association of another repeater, SGR 0525-66, with the nebula N49 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Gas nebulae surrounding SGRs provide ideal calorimeters to tap both the impulsive and steady state energy released from these bursting sources. We discuss in this Letter a simple model of high-energy emission produced by impulsive release of relativistic particles in nebulae surrounding SGRs following bursting episodes. This nebular X-ray and gamma ray emission can be detected and monitored by ROSAT, ASCA, and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.

Tavani, Marco↗
NASA NTRS1994

Dust extinction of the stellar continua in starburst galaxies: The ultraviolet and optical extinction law

We analyze the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) UV and the optical spectra of 39 starburst and blue compact galaxies in order to study the average properties of dust extinction in extended regions of galaxies. The optical spectra have been obtained using an aperture which matches that of IUE, so comparable regions within each galaxy are sampled. The data from the 39 galaxies are compared with five models for the geometrical distribution of dust, adopting as extinction laws both the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud laws. The commonly used uniform dust screen is included among the models. We find that none of the five models is in satisfactory agreement with the data. In order to understand the discrepancy between the data and the models, we have derived an extinction law directly from the data in the UV and optical wavelength range. The resulting curve is characterized by an overall slope which is more gray than the Milky Way extinction law's slope, and by the absence of the 2175 A dust feature. Remarkably, the difference in optical depth between the Balmer emission lines H(sub alpha) and H(sub beta) is about a factor of 2 larger than the difference in the optical depth between the continuum underlying the two Balmer lines. We interpret this discrepancy as a consequence of the fact that the hot ionizing stars are associated with dustier regions than the cold stellar population is. The absence of the 2175 A dust feature can be due either to the effects of the scattering and clumpiness of the dust or to a chemical composition different from that of the Milky Way dust grains. Disentangling the two interpretations is not easy because of the complexity of the spatial distribution of the emitting regions. The extinction law of the UV and optical spectral continua of extended regions can be applied to the spectra of medium- and high-redshift galaxies, where extended regions of a galaxy are, by necessity, sampled.

Calzetti, Daniela↗
NASA NTRS1994

Can MACHOs probe the shape of the galaxy halo ?

Microlensing searches in our galaxy have recently discovered several candidates in the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We study the prospects for such searches to yield useful information about the flattening of the Galaxy dark matter halo, using a self-consistent oblate halo model and allowing for the possibility of misalignment between the disk and halo symmetry axes. The microlensing optical depth for the LMC, tau(LMC), depends sensitively on the disk-halo tilt angle in the Milky Way, as does the ratio tau(SMC)/tau(LMC). If the tilt angle is as large as 30 deg, a much larger spread in values for tau(LMC) is consistent with rotation curve constraints than previously thought. Disk-halo tilt and halo flattening do not significantly affect the massive compact halo object (MACHO) masses inferred from event durations.

Frieman, Joshua↗
NASA NTRS1994

Ionization nebulae surrounding supersoft X-ray sources

In this work we carry out a theoretical investigation of a new type of astrophysical gaseous nebula, viz., ionized regions surrounding supersoft X-ray sources. Supersoft X-ray sources, many of which have characteristic luminosities of approximately 10(exp 37)-(10(exp 38) ergs/s and effective temperatures of approximately 4 x 10(exp 5) K, were first discovered with the Einstein Observatory. These sources have now been shown to constitute a distinct class of X-ray source and are being found in substantial numbers with ROSAT. We predict that these sources should be surrounded by regions of ionized hydrogen and helium with properties that are distinct from other astrophysical gaseous nebulae. We present caluations of the ionization and temperature structure of these ionization nebulae, as well as the expected optical line fluxes. The ionization profiles for both hydrogen and helium exhibit substantially more gradual transitions from the ionized to the unionized state than is the case for conventional H II regions. The calculated optical line intensitites are presented as absolute fluxes from sources in the Large Magellanic Cloud and as fractions of the central source luminosity. We find, in particular, that (O III) lambda 5008 and He II lambda 4686 are especially prominent in these ionization nebulae as compared to other astrophysical nebulae. We propose that searches for supersoft X-rays via their characteristic optical lines may reveal sources in regions where the soft X-rays are nearly completely absorbed by the interstellar medium.

Rappaport, S.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Internal motions of HII regions and giant HII regions

We report new echelle observations of the kinematics of 30 HII regions in the Large Magellanic Clouds (LMC), including the 30 Doradus giant HII region. All of the HII regions possess supersonic velocity dispersions, which can be attributed to a combination of turbulent motions and discrete velocity splitting produced by stellar winds and/or embedded supernova remnants (SNRs). The core of 30 Dor is unique, with a complex velocity structure that parallels its chaotic optical morphology. We use our calibrated echelle data to measure the physical properties and energetic requirements of these velocity structures. The most spectacular structures in 30 Dor are several fast expanding shells, which appear to be produced at least partially by SNRs.

Chu, You-Hua↗
NASA NTRS1994

X-ray spectroscopy of SNR E0102-72 with the ASCA satellite

The Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics (ASCA) satellite has obtained a moderate-resolution energy spectrum of E0102-72, the brightest Supernova Remnant (SNR) in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). This paper reports on the first results of the analysis of the high quality spectrum of E0102-72. The spectrum shows resolved emission lines of He-like K alpha, H-like K alpha and K beta from oxygen, neon, and magnesium. The intensity ratios of these lines cannot be explained by a multi-component plasma model with uniform abundances, but requires abundance inhomogeneity in the plasma. We demonstrate how the spectral capabilities of the ASCA SIS make available new diagnostics of X-ray plasmas in a state of non-equilibrium ionization. Some interpretation based on the spectral analysis is also given.

Hayashi, Ichizo↗