Far-ultraviolet emission from the Taurus molecular cloud

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

13

Astronomical Models, Far Ultraviolet Radiation, Interstellar Gas, Molecular Clouds, Radiative Transfer, Spaceborne Astronomy, Ultraviolet Astronomy, Astronomical Spectroscopy, Continuums, Emission Spectra, Hydrogen, Mathematical Models, Ultraviolet Spectrometers

Scientific paper

Far-ultraviolet spectra of diffuse emission from a region in the Taurus molecular cloud are presented. These data were obtained with the Berkeley spectrometer on NASA's Ultraviolet Experiment (UVX) payload. The intensity of the continuum emission drops as the optical depth increases toward the denser part of the cloud, an effect which is the opposite of that observed for the diffuse flux at high galactic latitudes. At the center of the aperture, the optical depth is very large, and the continuum emission must be produced by backscattering. At the edges of the cloud, the continuum intensity rises by a factor of 2. The data are interpreted with a new radiative transfer model, which is significantly more sophisticated than its predecessors. If the grain scattering properties are constant across the cloud, a unique best-fit combination can be determined from the data. The best-fit albedo is 0.6 +/- 0.1 at 1600 A. The best-fit value for the phase factor g is 0.5 +/- 0.15. The intensity of the flourescence of H2, combined with an upper limit to the column density of atomic hydrogen associated with the cloud, sets a lower limit of about 130/cm to the density in the flourescence region. Our estimate of the flux incident on the cloud at 1000 A is a factor of 2 to 3 lower than the value required to produce the measured flourescence intensity. Most mechanisms which might reconcile the discrepancy reduce the derived albedo and phase factor.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Far-ultraviolet emission from the Taurus molecular cloud 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 Far-ultraviolet emission from the Taurus molecular cloud, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Far-ultraviolet emission from the Taurus molecular cloud will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1788638

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.