Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...20915023l&link_type=abstract
2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, #150.23; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society,
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dust formation has been thought to occur in material ejected from core collapse supernovae, and was first detected optically in the Crab Nebula by Woltjer & Vèron-Cetty in 1987. In this poster we examine dust throughout the entire nebula at 0.1” resolution using a Hubble Space Telescope WFPC-2 mosaic taken in the F547M (continuum) filter. Our data show that features noted in ground-based studies are comprised of many smaller, concentrated clumps of dust. Blair et al. (1997 ApJS, 109, 473) noted that the dust extinction correlates with the visible line emission that surrounds the synchrotron nebula. By combining our continuum mosaic with three HST WFPC-2 mosaics in [S II], [O I] and [O III], we can quantify the correlation between the dust extinction features and line emission. Dust extinction can only occur on the front-side of the remnant, therefore we used Fabry-Perot data (Lawrence et al. 1995 AJ, 109.2635) to distinguish between the front-side and the back-side and also to estimate the amount of emission falling outside of the filter bandpasses. Our analysis shows that most low ionization cores on the front side of the remnant do contain dust. Dust is never found where there is no low-ionization line emission. Since dense concentrations of low-ionization gas form in the Crab as a result of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities at the edge of the synchrotron nebula (Hester et al. 1996 ApJ, 456, 255), much of the dust is found within Rayleigh-Taylor fingers. We have found one case where there is a dust extinction feature surrounded by, but within, a hole of [O I] and [S II] emission where we believe molecular hydrogen could be found. There are a few places on the front of the remnant where dust is not found despite strong low-ionization emission, and these anomalies will also be discussed.
Blair William
Hester Jeff J.
Loll Allison M.
Sankrit Ravi
No associations
LandOfFree
A Hubble Space Telescope WFPC-2 Optical Survey of Dust in the Crab Nebula 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 A Hubble Space Telescope WFPC-2 Optical Survey of Dust in the Crab Nebula, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A Hubble Space Telescope WFPC-2 Optical Survey of Dust in the Crab Nebula will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1161800