scholarly journals Ultraviolet Observations of Be Stars: (Review Paper)

1976 ◽  
Vol 70 ◽  
pp. 165-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara R. Heap

The history of ultraviolet studies of Be stars is barely ten years old. However, in the last decade, twelve major space experiments have observed Be stars in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum, and ultraviolet data for over 30 Be stars are now available in the literature. Table I shows some of the characteristics of the experiments. They include two rockets, five astronomical satellites, three manned satellites, and one planetary probe. Except for the rocket experiments, they are primarily survey instruments, which have provided ultraviolet data on early-type stars in general, and these data have proved to be extremely useful as standards of comparison for Be stars. Of the twelve spacecraft, two are presently operating: Copernicus and ANS. The two experiments complement one another very nicely in that the ANS experiment can obtain absolute continuous flux distributions, while the Princeton experiment can obtain high-resolution line spectra for the brighter Be stars.

2000 ◽  
Vol 175 ◽  
pp. 344-347
Author(s):  
M. Pogodin

AbstractNew results of high-resolution spectroscopy of four pre-main sequence Ae/Be stars are presented. An analysis of parameters of lines originating in different regions of the circumstellar (CS) envelope (Hα, Hβ, He I 5876, DNal) allows to reconstruct a picture of the interaction between the star and the CS environment which can be displayed in different forms. At least two separate processes seem to impact the structural and kinematical properties of the envelope: the stellar wind from the stellar surface and the matter infall onto the star from the CS media. A possible relation between these two phenomena is discussed in the framework of different models. Some similarity between observational phenomena in Herbig Ae/Be and classical Be stars is noted in spite of their difference in evolutionary status.


1987 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 250-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore P. Snow

It was discovered in the early years of the Copernicus satellite operations that the stellar winds in early-type stars are often characterized by degrees of ionization inconsistent with the spectral types of the stars. The most notable early example was the discovery of strong OVI lines in the form of P Cygni profiles in stars too cool to have this ion in their photospheres, such as τ SCO (BOV; Rogerson and Lamers 1975). Systematic studies showed that excess ionization is a general property of the winds in OB stars (e.g. Lamers and Snow 1978).


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (S259) ◽  
pp. 391-392
Author(s):  
James Silvester ◽  
C. Neiner ◽  
H. F. Henrichs ◽  
G. A. Wade ◽  
E. Alecian ◽  
...  

AbstractDiscoveries of magnetic fields in pulsating B and Be stars have been claimed from low-resolution spectropolarimetric observations with FORS1 at VLT. We used the new generation of high-resolution spectropolarimeters, ESPaDOnS at CFHT and NARVAL at TBL, to check for the existence of these fields. We find that most of the claimed magnetic stars do not host a magnetic field. This work shows the importance of a critical analysis of FORS1 data when searching for weak magnetic fields in early-type stars and the advantage of using ESPaDOnS and NARVAL to study such type of stars.


1980 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Whiteoak ◽  
F. F. Gardner

As part of a general investigation of interstellar clouds associated with southern HII regions we have begun a high-resolution study of the sodium D-line absorption in the directions of early-type stars that are likely to be associated with or located behind the clouds.


2000 ◽  
Vol 175 ◽  
pp. 26-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz-Josef Zickgraf

AbstractThe characteristics of the various types of B[e] stars are discussed and compared with those of classical Be stars. Both groups of stars are characterized by the presence of emission lines in their spectra, in particular of hydrogen. However, there are also significant differences between these classes. Classical Be stars lack hot circumstellar dust and strong forbidden low-excitation emission lines, which are typical characteristics produced by B[e]-type stars. While classical Be stars are a rather uniform group of early-type stars, B[e]-type stars form a quite heterogeneous group, very often of poorly known evolutionary status, comprising such diverse types of objects as near main-sequence objects, evolved lowmass proto-planetray nebulae and massive evolved hot supergiants. Even pre-main sequence Herbig Ae/Be stars sometimes find their way into the group of B[e] stars. However, despite these dissimilarities classical Be stars and B[e]-type stars, share a common property, namely the nonsphericity of their circumstellar envelopes.


1991 ◽  
Vol 143 ◽  
pp. 317-317
Author(s):  
R. K. Prinja ◽  
M. J. Barlow ◽  
I. D. Howarth

We argue that easily measured, reliable estimates of terminal velocities for early-type stars are provided (1) by the central velocity asymptotically approached by narrow absorption features in unsaturated UV P Cygni profiles, and (2) by the violet limit of zero residual intensity in saturated P Cygni profiles. We use these estimators and high resolution IUE data to determine terminal velocities, v∞, for 181 O stars, 70 early B supergiants, and 35 Wolf-Rayet stars. For OB stars our values are typically 15-20% smaller than the extreme violet edge velocities, vedge, while for WR stars v∞ = 0.76vedge on average. We give new mass-loss rates for WR stars which are thermal radio emitters, taking into account our new terminal velocities and recent revisions to estimates of distances and to the mean nuclear mass per electron. We examine the relationships between v∞, the surface escape velocities, and effective temperatures.


1976 ◽  
Vol 70 ◽  
pp. 99-103
Author(s):  
R. Viotti ◽  
P. Koubský

The appearance of singly ionized iron emission lines in the spectra of early type stars is studied, and the results of a spectroscopic investigation of EW Lac and other Be stars are given. We also discuss the atomic processes of excitation of Fe ii in the stellar envelopes using a two-parameter diagram W, NeT−1/2e.


1981 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Peter S. Conti

I have been asked to review the “observations” of winds in “early-type” stars. This normally means stars of spectral type OB and those of the Wolf-Rayet (WR) class. In this paper I will concentrate on the massive population I stars of these types, and primarily the O and WR classes on which most of the recent work has been done. The early B type supergiants share many of the wind properties of the O stars but the later supergiant types, Be stars, and main sequence stars may not. Stellar winds are a ubiquitous phenomenon among these early type stars (Snow and Morton 1976). We see evidence of their winds in the resonance line P Cygni profiles in the UV region, in the emission lines of Hα and λ4686 He II in the optical spectrum, and in the free-free emission from the ionized plasma as observed in the IR and radio regions of the spectrum.


1971 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 349-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. De Jager ◽  
A. Hammerschlag ◽  
W. Werner

The paper describes the high-resolution stellar UV-spectrometer, experiment S 59 for ESRO TD-1 A satellite. The experiment utilizes the orbit and attitude control characteristics of the TD-1 A to obtain spectra of about 1 Å resolution from a few hundred bright early type stars with an instrument of moderate size. Attitude control of this large three-axis stabilized spacecraft is such that observing-instruments can search the sky along ecliptic meridians which precess by 360°/annum so that complete sky coverage is obtained in half a year.


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