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Emission from Dust Near High-Latitude Stars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2017

J. Murthy
Affiliation:
National Research Council/Resident Research Associate Lab. for Astronomy and Solar Physics Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 USA
M. W. Werner
Affiliation:
NASA AMES Research Center MS 245–6 Moffett Field, California 94035 USA
H. J. Walker
Affiliation:
NASA AMES Research Center MS 245–6 Moffett Field, California 94035 USA
R. C. Henry
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21218 USA
R. A. Kimble
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21218 USA
J. B. Wofford
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21218 USA

Extract

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The spatial distribution of interstellar dust is clearly important in understanding not only galactic dynamics but also the processing of the dust and the interstellar medium in general. Probably the best spectral region for investigating interstellar dust is the infrared (IR), where the cool dust is likely to radiate. Indeed, one of the most prominent features of the IRAS sky is the ubiquitous cirrus emission, thought to be due to interstellar dust heated by the interstellar radiation field (ISRF), seen at 60 and 100 μm (Low 1984). However, it is difficult to use the cirrus to probe the dust distribution, both because we have no depth information and also because the cirrus, due to its low temperatures (~20 K), is a probe of high-density dust regions. A far more sensitive search could be made if the dust were hotter, that is, in the presence of a greater ultraviolet (UV) flux. We have made use of this fact to search for dust in the vicinity of hot, bright stars, where even a small amount of dust will dominate the total emission along that line of sight.

Type
III. Diffuse Galactic Radiation from Dust and Gas: Observations and Models
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1990 

References

REFERENCES

Low, F. J., et al. 1984, Ap. J. (Letters), 278, L19.Google Scholar