Related papers: Composition of the Interstellar Medium
Nearby spiral galaxies show an extremely tight correlation between tracers of molecular hydrogen (H_2) in the interstellar medium (ISM) and tracers of recent star formation, but it is unclear whether this correlation is fundamental or…
The fine-structure lines of singly ([Ne II] 12.8 micron) and doubly ([Ne III] 15.6 micron) ionized neon are among the most prominent features in the mid-infrared spectra of star-forming regions, and have the potential to be a powerful new…
We analyze local ISM absorption observed in the Lyman-alpha and Mg II h & k lines of six nearby K dwarf stars, using UV spectra of these stars obtained with the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. For four of…
Using high-resolution (~85000) and high signal-to-noise ratio (~200) optical spectra acquired with the European Southern Observatory Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph, we have determined the interstellar column densities of C2 for…
We present the results of near-infrared spectroscopic observations for a sample of 12 star-forming galaxies at 1.0<z<1.5, drawn from the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey. H-beta, [OIII], H-alpha, and [NII] emission-line fluxes are measured for…
Detections of CO, CS, SO, C2H, HCO+, HCN, HNC, H2CO, and C3H2 reported from LIRS 36, a star-forming region in the Small Magellanic Cloud. C18O, NO, CH3OH, and most notably CN have not been detected, while the rare isotopes 13CO and,…
We report initial results from the far-infrared fine structure line observations of a sample of 44 local starbursts, Seyfert galaxies and infrared luminous galaxies obtained with the PACS spectrometer on board Herschel. We show that the…
S-type AGB stars are thought to be in the transitional phase between M-type and C-type AGB stars. Because of their peculiar chemical composition, one may expect a strong influence of the stellar C/O ratio on the molecular chemistry and the…
Obtaining a complete census of gas in the local interstellar medium (<100 pc) is challenging given the limited available tracers of the warm, partially-ionized medium. Medium-to-high resolution UV absorption spectroscopy toward individual…
The diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) is an integral part of the evolution of the entire Galaxy. Metals are produced by stars and their abundances are the direct testimony of the history of stellar evolution. However, the interstellar dust…
Observations of infrared fine-structure lines provide direct information on the metallicity and ionization structure of HII regions and indirectly on the hardness of the radiation field ionizing these nebulae. We have analyzed a sample of…
We report on the first near-IR [Fe II] line imaging survey of extragalactic SNRs. Observations of a sample of 42 objects drawn from an optically-selected catalogue of SNRs in M33 provide evidence for a wide range in the [Fe II] 1.644…
Over the course of its motion through the Galaxy, our solar system has encountered many interstellar environments of varying characteristics. Interstellar medium (ISM) density variations spanning seven orders of magnitude are commonly seen…
We present interstellar elemental abundance measurements derived from Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph echelle observations of 47 sight lines extending up to 6.5 kpc through the Galactic disk. These paths probe a variety of interstellar…
The C$^{+}$ ion is an important coolant of interstellar gas, and so the [CII] fine structure line is frequently observed in the interstellar medium. However, the physical and chemical properties of the [CII]-emitting gas are still unclear.…
We report on measurements of interstellar O VI, H2, P II, Si II, Ar I, and Fe II absorption along the line of sight to Sk -67 05, a B0 Ia star in a diffuse H II region in the western edge of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We find log N(O…
The discovery of amino acids in meteorites and the detection of glycine in samples returned from a comet to Earth suggest that the interstellar chemistry is capable of producing such complex organic molecules. Our goal is to investigate the…
We report results from a FUSE survey of interstellar molecular hydrogen (H2) along 45 sight lines to AGN at high Galactic latitudes (|b| > 20 degrees). Most (39 of 45) of the sight lines show detectable Galactic H2 absorption from Lyman and…
M 2 has been claimed to posses three distinct stellar components that are enhanced in iron relative to each other. We use equivalent width measurements from 14 red giant branch stars from which Yong et al. detect a $\sim$0.8 dex wide,…
We present the chemical analysis of 49 giant stars of the globular cluster NGC 2419, using medium resolution spectra collected with the multi-object spectrograph DEIMOS@Keck. Previous analysis of this cluster revealed a large dispersion in…