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Abundance of interstellar oxygen toward zeta Ophiuchi

Journal Article · · Astrophys. J.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6216595
Zeippen, Seaton, and Morton recently published profiles of interstellar neutral oxygen lines in zeta Oph. From a reconsideration of the profiles of visual interstellar lines to that star, it follows that the cloud dominating the O I absorption could have a very small velocity spread bapprox. =0.5 km s/sup -1/. Analysis of the profile of the 1302 A line gives a column density of O I in that cloud of 6.0 +- 0.5 x 10/sup 17/ cm/sup -2/. This implies an upward revision of the abundance of free oxygen by a factor 1.5 and hence that oxygen is only 25% depleted in the gas to zeta Oph, contrary to the minimum depletion of a factor 1.8 found by Zeippen, Seaton, and Morton. This small depletion of oxygen in interstellar gas is consistent with the widespread absence of the absorption by H/sub 2/O ice mantles on interstellar dust grains.
Research Organization:
Washburn Observatory, University of Wisconsin-Madison
OSTI ID:
6216595
Journal Information:
Astrophys. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Astrophys. J.; (United States) Vol. 229:1; ISSN ASJOA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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