Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001aas...198.4108r&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, 198th AAS Meeting, #41.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 33, p.842
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
At 08:12:20 EDT, 19 July, 1999 the Green Bank 140 Foot Telescope of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory made its last scientific observation, having been given a 12 minute reprieve. That last 12 minute Total Power pair taken toward the H II region S159 to the untrained eye looks like a noise spectrum, like most of the other roughly 25,000 pairs we have obtained since 1982. However, careful examination revealed a hint of of a feature at the frequency of the H130γ recombination line. Our ``target,'' the much weaker hyperfine line of 3 He+, is readily visible in the 11.8 hours of integration acquired toward S159 over the previous three nights. The fact that we could detect 3 He+ in a mere 11.8 hour integration, or indeed that we would be observing an obscure H II region like S159 reflects both the dramatic improvement in receivers and our change in thinking since 1982. We take this time to reflect on the last days of a noble instrument and its contributions toward our knowledge of an isotope whose cosmic abundance can set important astrophysical constraints for theories of primordial nucleosynthesis and the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation (AST 97-31484).
Balser Dana S.
Bania Thomas M.
Rood Robert T.
No associations
LandOfFree
An Old Dog's Last Hunt does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with An Old Dog's Last Hunt, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and An Old Dog's Last Hunt will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1269168