2004/01/31 by C. J. Evans, D. J. Lennon, C. Trundle +4 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomical Observations and Instrumentation #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Hubble space telescope #Metallicity #Physics #Small Magellanic Cloud #Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph #Spectral line #Spectrograph #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Supergiant #Telescope #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/383306
published as Astrophys.J. 607 (2004) 451-459 · 28 pages, 8 figures, accepted by ApJ; minor revisions prior to acceptance
arxiv created 2004/03/12 · openalex publication_date 2004/05/17 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Ultraviolet spectra from the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) are used to determine terminal velocities for 11 O and B-type giants and supergiants in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) from the Si IV and C IV resonance lines. Using archival data from observations with the Goddard High-Resolution Spectrograph and the International Ultraviolet Explorer telescope, terminal velocities are obtained for a further five B-type supergiants. We discuss the metallicity dependence of stellar terminal velocities for supergiants, finding no evidence for a significant scaling between Galactic and SMC metallicities for T eff < 30,000 K, consistent with the predictions of radiation-driven wind theory. A comparison of the v ∞ / v esc ratio between the SMC and Galactic samples, while consistent with the above statement, emphasizes that the uncertainties in the distances to galactic OB-type stars are a serious obstacle to a detailed comparison with theory. For the SMC sample there is considerable scatter in v ∞ / v esc at a given effective temperature, perhaps indicative of uncertainties in stellar masses.