Nitrogen abundances in the amorphous galaxy NGC 5253

Journal Article · Sat Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987 · Astrophys. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/184954· OSTI ID:5618637

Walsh, J R; Roy, J R

The central complex of ionized gas in the amorphous galaxy NGC 5253 was scanned with the slit of the RGO spectrograph using the imaging spectroscopy system of the Anglo-Australian Telescope. Monochromatic images corresponding to several nebular lines were obtained with a spatial resolution of 2.3 x 1.3 sq arcsec (1 pixel). The very high signal-to-noise ratio of the spectra allowed the measurements of the electron temperature over 78 pixels using the line ratio forbidden O III (4959+5007)/4363 and hence abundances of O, N, He, and Ne. A region of high values of log N/O was found to correspond with the presence of a cluster of Wolf-Rayet stars. Other areas of the gas complex show the normal deficiency in log N/O for this type of object, and no Wolf-Rayet feature is detected. There is an anticorrelation between log N/O versus log O/H, a trend which is not clearly consistent with any existing nucleosynthesis scenario for the origin of nitrogen in low metallicity galaxies. 41 references.

• Research Organization: Anglo-Australian Observatory, Epping, Australia; Observatoire Astronomique du Mont Megantic, Quebec
• OSTI ID: 5618637
• Journal Information: Astrophys. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Astrophys. J.; (United States) Vol. 319; ISSN ASJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640105* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Galaxies
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ABUNDANCE
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
ELEMENTS
ENERGY
FLUIDS
GALAXIES
GASES
HELIUM
IONIZED GASES
MAIN SEQUENCE STARS
NEON
NITROGEN
NONMETALS
NUCLEAR ENERGY
OXYGEN
RARE GASES
RESOLUTION
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
STAR CLUSTERS
STARS
STELLAR ACTIVITY
STELLAR WINDS
WOLF-RAYET STARS