Spectrophotometry of the continuum in the Crab Nebula

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

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Continuous Spectra, Crab Nebula, Stellar Spectrophotometry, Supernovae, Charge Coupled Devices, Stellar Spectra

Scientific paper

Detailed CCD photometry of the Crab Nebula has been made in four narrow wavelength bands centered on 9241, 6450, 5364, and 3808 A as well as through a filter transmitting the O III forbidden line at 5007 A. Fluxes were measured on a 10 x 10 arcsec grid, and the thermal continuum and line emission due to the filamentary shell was subtracted. Spectral indices (alpha) between 9241 and 5364 A were determined, typically with an accuracy of 0.02-0.03 and checked with the observations in the other wavelength bands. While there appears to be a general steepening of the synchrotron spectrum with distance to the pulsar, areas of rather flat spectrum are found at greater distances in the SE. The values of alpha range from just under 0.6 to over 1.0 for E(B-V) = 0.47 m, the color excess adopted for this paper. The wide range of alpha indicates that simple interpretations involving constant injection of relativistic electrons combined with energy loss due to synchrotron radiation are inadequate to explain the data. The overall optical spectrum of the whole Nebula may be fitted smoothly to within the precision of the IR, UV, and X-ray data for values of the interstellar absorption corresponding to E(B-V) = 0.45 +/- 0.04.

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