Circumstellar masers around oxygen-rich stars

Journal Article · Thu Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1990 · Astronomical Journal; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/115366· OSTI ID:6904843

Lewis, B M ^[1]

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1. Arecibo Observatory (Puerto Rico)

The far-IR colors of bright oxygen-rich stars define a clear sequence from sources along the blackbody curve with temperatures above 2000 K, across a small gap at color temperatures in the range 1000-2000 K, down to temperatures of about 300 K, where stars are heavily obscured. Circumstellar masers follow the same sequence from the red edge of the gap through the whole temperature sweep, which, with the addition of the heavily obscured OH/IR stars, extends even further to the red. This survey of the detection statistics exhibited by masers in circumstellar shells in association with their far-IR colors allows the evolution of shells to be traced from their inception, when stellar types are generally of low M type, through the steady addition of new masing species as a shell increases its ability to shield molecules from interstellar UV photodissociation, while it grows in radius and density. This has been previously foreshadowed as part of the Chronological Paradigm (Lewis, 1989). 61 refs.

• OSTI ID: 6904843
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal; (USA), Journal Name: Astronomical Journal; (USA) Vol. 99; ISSN 0004-6256; ISSN ANJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640102* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AMPLIFIERS
BLACKBODY RADIATION
DETECTION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
FAR INFRARED RADIATION
INFRARED RADIATION
INTERSTELLAR SPACE
MASERS
MASS TRANSFER
MICROWAVE AMPLIFIERS
MICROWAVE EQUIPMENT
NONMETALS
OXYGEN
RADIATIONS
SPACE
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
VARIABLE STARS