Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21336005g&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #360.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.510
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The Herschel Oxygen Project (HOP) is an Open Time Key Project on the Herschel Space Observatory currently scheduled for launch in March 2009. The goals of the project are to determine the abundance of the oxygen molecule (O2) in a variety of regions of the dense interstellar medium. Thirty scientists from six countries are participating in this project, which has been granted 140 hours of observing time to observe three of the rotational transitions of O2 at 487 GHz, 774 GHz, and 1121 GHz with the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) high resolution spectrometer. Previous observations with the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) and Odin missions have indicated that the abundance of O2 is 2 orders of magnitude below that expected from gas phase chemical models. A number of theoretical explanations have been proposed that have a broad impact on molecular abundances and their distribution within insterstellar clouds. With Herschel we have a far smaller beam (0.3 - 0.7 arcmin compared to 4 - 10 arcmin used for earlier O2 observations) which will allow us to probe selected regions including PDRs, XDRs, shocked gas, and regions around embedded sources with warm dust. In these, we will be able to assess the contributions of different chemical pathways and thus make a valuable comparison with theoretical models. The much improved sensitivity of the SIS and HEB mixer receivers used in HIFI compared to those previous employed will allow us to reach fractional abundances that will test critical aspects of interstellar chemistry and provide valuable information on the abundances of key species in the molecular ISM. This work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.
Goldsmith Paul
Herschel Oxygen Project Team
No associations
LandOfFree
The Herschel Oxygen Project 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 The Herschel Oxygen Project, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Herschel Oxygen Project will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1700795