2002/01/18 by J. W. Kruk, J. C. Howk, M. Andre +13 · 54 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Absorption spectroscopy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Cosmochemistry #Ionization #Line (geometry) #Line-of-sight #Spectral line #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Ultraviolet #Ultraviolet astronomy #White dwarf #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/339131
published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 140(1), 19-36 (Institute of Physics) · 52 pages, 12 figures. To be published in the May ApJS 2002
arxiv created 2002/01/18 · openalex publication_date 2002/05/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We present an analysis of interstellar absorption along the line of sight to the nearby white dwarf star HZ 43A. The distance to this star is 68 ± 13 pc, and the line of sight extends toward the north Galactic pole. Column densities of O I, N I, and N II were derived from spectra obtained by the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer ( FUSE ), the column density of D I was derived from a combination of our FUSE spectra and an archival Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ) GHRS spectrum, and the column density of H I was derived from a combination of the GHRS spectrum and values derived from Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer ( EUVE ) data obtained from the literature. We find the following abundance ratios (with 2 σ uncertainties): D /H = (1.66 ± 0.28) × 10 -5 , O /H = (3.63 ± 0.84) × 10 -4 , and N /H = (3.80 ± 0.74) × 10 -5 . The N II column density was slightly greater than that of N I, indicating that ionization corrections are important when deriving nitrogen abundances. Other interstellar species detected along the line of sight were C II, C III, O VI, Si II, Ar I, Mg II, and Fe II; an upper limit was determined for N III. No elements other than H I were detected in the stellar photosphere.