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White Dwarf Probes of Interstellar Deuterium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

Wayne Landsman*
Affiliation:
Raytheon I TSS, Code 681, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771

Abstract

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We review the advantages of using hot white dwarfs (WDs) as probes of the deuterium abundance in the local interstellar medium. We then discuss advantages of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) for such observations, as compared with earlier observations with the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS). The GHRS Ly α profile of the white dwarf HZ 43 is probably modified by the hot ‘hydrogen wall’ surrounding the Sun; but despite this complication, the sightline remains a promising one for an accurate determination of the deuterium abundance in the local interstellar medium.

Type
6. Stellar Knowledge to and from Light Elements
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2000 

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