2002/08/09 by Brian E. Wood, Seth Redfield, Jeffrey L. Linsky +1 · 4 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Atmospheric Ozone and Climate #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/344407
published as Astrophys.J. 581 (2002) 1168-1179 · 31 pages, 10 figures; AASTEX v5.0 plus EPSF extensions in mkfig.sty; accepted by ApJ
arxiv created 2002/08/09 · openalex publication_date 2002/12/16 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We use ultraviolet spectra of Capella from the Hubble Space Telescope and Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer satellites to study interstellar absorption lines from the Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC). Measurements of these lines are used to empirically determine the ionization states of carbon, nitrogen, and silicon in the LIC, for comparison with the predictions of theoretical photoionization models. We find that the observed ionization states are consistent with previously published photoionization predictions. Total abundances are determined for the elements mentioned above, and others, for comparison with solar abundances. Magnesium, aluminum, silicon, and iron are all depleted by at least a factor of 10 toward Capella. The abundances of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen are essentially solar, although the error bars are large enough to also allow depletions of about a factor of 2 for these elements.