Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Jul 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009hst..prop12278a&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #12278. Cycle 18
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Stars are the luminous backbone of the Universe, and without them, it would be a dull and dreary place indeed: no light, no heavy elements, no planets, no life. It also is safe to say that stellar spectroscopy is a cornerstone of astrophysics, providing much of what we know concerning temperatures and masses of stars, their compositions, planets, and the dynamics and evolution of the galaxies they inhabit. The proper interpretation of stellar spectra thus is fundamental to modern astronomy. This is especially true for the satellite ultraviolet, owing to the rich collection of atomic and ionic transitions found there. Unfortunately, the existing archive of Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph rarely achieves the high S/N of the best ground-based spectra, and relatively few objects have the full wavelength coverage for which the powerful, highly multiplexed, second generation Hubble instrument was designed. With UVES at ESO and ESPaDOnS at CFHT, for example, astronomers routinely are obtaining broad-coverage optical spectra with S/N > 100 and resolving power of 100,000 to fuel ground-breaking analyses. Our objective is to collect comparable STIS UV echelle spectra for a diverse sample of representative stars, to build an Advanced Spectral Library; a foundation for astrophysical exploration: stellar, interstellar, and beyond. Our first effort involves cool stars, whose main contribution to the UV is through magnetic activity, an enigmatic phenomenon subject to close scrutiny on the Sun, and of undeniable importance to a broad range of cosmic situations: Space Weather, T-Tauri disk winds, red dwarf flares, erosion of exoplanet atmospheres, and so forth.The main product of our Treasury program will be detailed stellar "atlases," based on advanced processing of the STIS echellegrams. Members of our broad collaboration will analyze these data for specific purposes, such as detection of rare species in sharp-lined F stars, properties and kinematics of local interstellar clouds, and dynamics of chromospheres, coronae, and winds of cool stars; but rapid public release {based on the "StarCAT" model} will enable many other investigations by a much wider community, for decades to come.;
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