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At least 937 records · Page 52
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1990

A kinematic determination of the structure of the double ring planetary nebula NGC 2392, the Eskimo

Slit spectra and existing 'velocity cube' data have been used to determine the structure of the double ring PN NGC 2392. The inner shell is a stellar wind-sculpted prolate spheroid with a ratio of axes of 2:1 and the approaching end of the long axis pointed 20 deg from the line of sight in P.A. = 200 deg. The outer ring is caused by an outer disk with density dropping off with distance from the central star and with distance from its plane, which is the same as the equatorial band of high density in the inner shell. The outer disk contains a ring of higher density knots at a distance of 16 arcsec and is losing material through free expansion, forming an outer envelope of increasing velocity. Forbidden S II spectra are used to determine the densities in all of the major regions of the nebula. It is argued that the filamentary cores at the centers of the knots seen in the outer ring originate in the sublimation of bodies formed at the same time as the parent star.

O'Dell, C. R.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Explicit relations in Bowen fluorescence - Applications to nebulae, the sun, Scorpius X-1, and laboratory plasmas

A general analysis of the fluorescent process is described which emphasizes the differing roles of escape probabilities in one-component and two-component gases, and the existence of discrete fluorescent saturation regimes. Explicit formulas are obtained and discussed for astrophysical Bowen fluorescence, as a concrete example, with applications to planetary nebulae, the solar atmosphere and the X-ray binary Sco X-1. An expression is also provided and evaluated for the profile overlap integral involved in the pumping process. A preliminary conclusion is deduced that densities in the fluorescent line-emitting regions of nebular sources may be higher than those derived from forbidden line ratios. The analysis is extended to a proposed laboratory investigation which would exploit the possibility of controlling the determining factors in the fluorescent process, i.e., O III/He II abundance ratio, optical depth, and photoexciting radiation field.

Kastner, S. O.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Ionization fronts and shocked flows - The structure of the Orion Nebula at 0.1 arcsec

Initial results are presented from images of the Orion Nebula obtained with the HST Wide-Field Camera with a resolution of better than about 10 to the 15th cm. The morphology of the forbidden S II emission is markedly different from that seen in H-beta and forbidden O II. The forbidden S II is dominated by filamentary features with widths between 0.1 and 1 arcsesc which sharply highlight ionization fronts moving into dense neutral material. While the surfaces into which these fronts are moving are textured, subarcsec clumps with high density contrast are uncommon. The fields contains a number of HH objects whose structure is revealed by the HST, and which are described.

Hester, J. Jeff↗
NASA NTRS1991

Nitrogen abundances in carbon-rich stars that are progenitors to planetary nebulae

Published data for carbon stars losing more than 10 to the -6th solar mass/yr in the neighborhood of the sun are examined. The stars with higher terminal velocities have significantly higher fluxes of the J = 1-0 emission line of HCN relative to their infrared continuum emission at 60 microns. It is argued that this result is probably a reflection of a higher nitrogen abundance by perhaps a factor of 10 in these outflows. Such a high nitrogen abundance is consistent with the hypothesis that the high terminal velocity carbon stars have more massive main-sequence progenitors than average; these high terminal velocity carbon stars may, themselves, be the progenitors of type I planetary nebulae which display enhanced nitrogen abundances.

Jura, M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Calcic micas in the Allende meteorite - Evidence for hydration reactions in the early solar nebula

Two calcic micas, clintonite and margarite, have been identified in alteration products in a calcium- and aluminum-rich inclusion (CAI) in the Allende meteorite. Clintonite replaces grossular in alteration veins, and margarite occurs as lamellae in anorthite. Their occurrence suggests that, in addition to undergoing high-temperature alteration by a volatile and iron-rich vapor that produced the grossular and anorthite, some CAIs underwent alteration at moderate temperatures (400 K or less). Petrographic evidence suggests that the calcic micas formed before accretion but after the formation of the layered rim sequences that surround the CAI. These calcic micas provide strong evidence that, contrary to theoretical calculations, some hydration reactions occurred in the early solar nebula.

Keller, Lindsay P.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Axisymmetric model of the ionized gas in the Orion Nebula

New ionization and thermal equilibrium models for the ionized gas in the Orion Nebula with an axisymmetric two-dimensional 'blister' geometry/density distribution are presented. The HII region is represented more realistically than in previous models, while the physical detail of the microphysics and radiative transfer of the earlier spherical modeling is maintained. The predicted surface brightnesses are compared with observations for a large set of lines at different positions to determine the best-fitting physical parameters. The model explains the strong singly ionized line emission along the lines of sight near the Trapezium.

Rubin, R. H.↗
NASA NTRS1991

ROSAT detection of an X-ray shadow in the 1/4-keV diffuse background in the Draco nebula

The detection by the Roentgen satellite (ROSAT) X-ray telescope of a shadow in the 1/4-keV (C-band, 0.1 to 0.284 keV) cosmic diffuse background is reported. The location and morphology of the local minimum in X-rays are in clear agreement with a discrete H I cloud. The shadow is very deep with a minimum level at 50 percent of the surrounding emission; therefore, a minimum of 50 percent of the observed off-cloud flux must originate on the far side of the cloud. The analysis of H I velocity components links the cloud with the Draco nebula (distance of about 600 parsecs); it then follows that there is significant 1/4-keV X-ray emission at large distance (more than 400 parsecs) from the galactic plane along this line of sight. The extent of the distant emission region is uncertain, and if it indicates the existence of a hot galactic corona, it must be patchy in nature.

Snowden, S. L.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Optical studies of proto-planetary nebulae

A group of cool protoplanetary nebulae (PPN) candidates with bright optical counterparts have been studied. IRAS and ground-based data have been combined for about a dozen of these, and double-peaked flux distribution have been found and fitted with a PPN model. They each possess the spectral types expected for objects in this evolutionary phase. For an additional dozen new, noncataloged sources under similar study, carbon-rich spectra confirms their post-AGB nature.

Hrivnak, Bruce J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Ultraviolet Fe VII absorption and Fe II emission lines of central stars of planetary nebulae

The SWP camera of the IUE satellite was used in the high-dispersion mode to search for Fe VII absorption and Fe II high-excitation emission lines in five additional very hot central stars of planetary nebulae. Some of the Fe VII lines were detected at 1208, 1239, and 1332 A in all the objects of this program, LT 5, NGC 6058, NGC 7094, A43, and Lo 1 (= K1-26), as well as some of the Fe II emission lines at A 1360, 1776, 1869, 1881, 1884, and 1975 A. Two additional objects, NGC 2867 and He 2-131, were obtained from the IUE archive and were evaluated. The present study probably exhausts the list of candidates that are sufficiently bright and hot to be reached with the high-dispersion mode of the IUE.

Cheng, Kwang-Ping↗
NASA NTRS1991

Modeling the Orion nebula as an axisymmetric blister

The ionized gas in the Orion nebula is examined by means of axisymmetric modeling that is based on observational data from the ionized, neutral, and molecular regions. Nonsymmetrical features are omitted, radial dependence from the Trapezium is assumed, and azimuthal symmetry in the plane of the sky is used. Stellar properties and abundances of certain elements are described, and these data are used to compare the present axisymmetric-blister model to a previous spherical model. Strong singly-ionized emission that are visible near the Trapezium are found to originate in the ionization-bounded region in the dense Trapezium zone. The model can be more tightly constrained by adding near-IR data on noncentral zones for (Ar II), (AR III), (Ne II), and (S IV). The quadrant with the 'bar' creates an nonsymmetry that influences the observational data, and the model can therefore be improved with the additional data.

Rubin, R. H.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Particle-gas dynamics in the protoplanetary nebula

In the past year we made significant progress in improving our fundamental understanding of the physics of particle-gas dynamics in the protoplanetary nebula. Having brought our code to a state of fairly robust functionality, we devoted significant effort to optimizing it for running long cases. We optimized the code for vectorization to the extent that it now runs eight times faster than before. The following subject areas are covered: physical improvements to the model; numerical results; Reynolds averaging of fluid equations; and modeling of turbulence and viscosity.

Cuzzi, Jeffrey N.↗
NASA NTRS1991

N III line emission in planetary nebulae - Not Bowen fluorescence

A direct comparison of photometrically observed line ratios in the N III 4640 and 4100 A multiplets emitted by planetary nebulae with theoretically predicted ratios expected from the postulated Bowen process of selective photoexcitation by an O III resonance line shows that the N III lines are not produced by the Bowen process as has been commonly accepted. This will have consequences for the interpretation of these lines in other astrophysical sources. A further, unexpected result is that the N III level populations involved are found to be essentially in statistical equilibrium. Possible populating mechanisms are briefly discussed.

Kastner, S. O.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Gas dynamic heating of chondrule precursor grains in the solar nebula

In the present investigation of solar nebula gasdynamic processes which may account for the melting of chondrule precursor grains, both drag heating due to grain relative motion and heating due to collisions with gas molecules in thermal motion are considered in conjunction with the effect of thermally emitted radiation on grain heating and cooling. The melting of chondrule-sized grains is most directly associated with those dust-rich and optically thick zones in which thermal radiation from neighboring grains balances grain radiative cooling. Nebular shock fronts may be capable of furnishing the requisite relative velocities and heated gas regions.

Hood, L. L.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Sublimation and reformation of icy grains in the primitive solar nebula

The quantity of water ice that sublimates during the free fall of grains into the solar nebula from a surrounding interstellar cloud varies from over 90 percent of the grain mass as 30 AU from the nebular center to less than 10 percent at more than 100 AU. Virtually all the water that is sublimated ultimately recondenses, since the cold nebular gas lying beyond 10 AU is unable to hold more than a small portion as vapor. The return of most of the gas to solid phase near the nebular ambient temperature, of about 50 K, may result in at least two grain populations consisting, in one case, of unaltered interstellar grains which did not undergo sublimation, and in the other of water ice which cocondensed with more volatile gases at nebular ambient temperatures to yield volatile-rich amorphous phases.

Lunine, Jonathan I.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Unusual 3 micron emission features in three proto-planetary nebulae

Medium-resolution 3-4 micron spectra have been obtained of three objects, IRAS 04296 + 3429, IRAS 22272 + 5435, and CRL 2688, which are in transition between the asymptotic red giant branch and the planetary nebula phase. All three show unusual 3-micron emission features. The two IRAS objects, already unusual in having 21 micron features, have remarkably strong 3.4-3.5 micron emission relative to the usually dominant 3.3-micron feature, with the spectrum of IRAS 04296 + 3429 being nearly identical to that of IRAS 05341 + 0852 (previously published). CRL 2688's spectrum bears some resemblance to those of the IRAS objects, but its 3.4-3.5 micron emission is not as strong. The relationships between the various emission features are discussed. CRL 2688 may be completing a transition between the '21-micron phase' and the 'normal phase', which is associated with dominant 3.3-micron emission, weak 3.4-3.6 micron features and plateau, and a lack of 21-micron emission.

Geballe, T. R.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Near-infrared observations of the proto-planetary nebula AFGL 618

Near-IR images and spectroscopy of the bipolar protoplanetary nebula AFGL 618 are presented. Emission from molecular hydrogen is detected in the 0.90-1.34-micron spectrum. A visual extinction of 3.4 +4.0/-2.0 mag to the H2-emitting region is derived from molecular hydrogen line ratios. Models of collisionally excited and fluorescent H2 emission are compared with the data: the near-IR H2 spectrum is found to be dominated by emission from collisionally excited molecules at Tex of about 2000 K, but a component of fluorescent emission is also present. It is shown that this type of near-IR spectrum is an excellent tool for discriminating relatively low levels of fluorescent H2 emission from a strong collisionally excited component. Images in the H- and K-bandpasses are analyzed using models which assume single scattering of photons from the central objects. The models indicate that the bipolar axis is inclined to the plane of the sky by about 45 deg. The emission in the H- and K-bands is found to be consistent with single scattering of photons by dust with a distribution such that the dust density increases with increasing stellar latitude and is nearly zero at the poles.

Latter, William B.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The inverse Compton gamma-ray spectrum of the Crab nebula

The observed TeV flux from the Crab can be explained by inverse Compton scattering in the nebula if the average nebular field is indeed approximately equal to 0.0003 G as is predicted by the spectral break between radio and optical. The estimated spectral index at TeV energies also agrees with the observed value. The unpulsed high energy gamma-rays seen by COS-B are not explained by this inverse Compton component but can be explained by synchrotron radiation requiring electrons up to at least 10 exp 16 eV, most likely accelerated at the shock in the pulsar wind. The detection of a spectral depression at about 1 GeV would allow an estimate of the maximum electron energy. The flux estimates also predict the detection of a steady flux of unpulsed UHE gamma-rays from near the shock with sensitive detectors if the field strength increases downstream with increasing radius as is predicted by MHD theory.

De Jager, O. C.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Variability of emission lines in the planetary nebulae IC 4997 and NGC 6572

New IUE high-dispersion data and recent ground-based spectra of the planetary nebulae IC 4997 and NGC 6572 are compared with equivalent IUE observations taken in 1980 and optical data taken in 1974-1990. Significant changes are detected in many emission-line fluxes in IC 4997, and primarily in He II and C IV for NGC 6572. These changes are interpreted as due to recent temperature increases in the central stars of the planetaries which are known to belong to a small set which have shown variability in the past.

Feibelman, Walter A.↗