Observations of interstellar zinc

Journal Article · Mon Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1982 · Astrophys. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/159708· OSTI ID:5201268

York, D G; Jura, M

We have performed IUE observations of interstellar zinc toward 10 stars. We find that zinc is, at most, only slight depleted in the interstellar medium; its abundance may serve as a tracer of the true metallicity in the gas. The local interstellar medium has abundances that apparently are homogeneous to within a factor of 2 when integrated over paths of about 500 pc, and this result is important for understanding the history of nucleosynthesis in the solar neighborhood. In the Appendix, we analyze the intrinsic errors in detecting weak interstellar lines and we suggest how this error limit may be lowered to 5 mA per target observation.

• Research Organization: Princeton University Observatory
• OSTI ID: 5201268
• Journal Information: Astrophys. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Astrophys. J.; (United States) Vol. 254:1; ISSN ASJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640105* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Galaxies
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ABUNDANCE
COSMIC GASES
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
GASES
INTERSTELLAR SPACE
METALS
SPACE
SPECTRA
ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRA
ZINC