Astronomical instrumentation

Abstract:

Spectrophotometry in the range 2.1-4.0 microns is presented for the Seyfert galaxies NGC 1068, NGC 4151 and Mrk 231 and the quasar 3C 273, together with broadband and narrowband observations of the Seyfert galaxies in the range 8-13 microns. The spectra of NGC 1068 and NGC 4151 are found to contain a significant component due to starlight, especially at shorter wavelengths. The nonstellar component in NGC 1068 is observed to fall off rapidly at wavelengths shorter than 4 microns, consistent with the interpretation of the excess beyond 5 microns as thermal reradiation by dust. Observations confirm the variability of NGC 4151, and indicate the presence of two components of the flux other than starlight: a nonthermal variable component predominant at shorter wavelengths and a constant, probably thermal component at wavelengths greater than 3 microns. Mrk 231 and 3C 273 exhibit no discernable stellar component and were not observed to vary by more than 10%. Evidence is obtained for a broad minimum in the 8 to 13 micron spectrum of Mrk 231, as well as possible structure between rest wavelengths of 2.8 and 2.9 microns, and the spectrum is not a power law. The spectrum of 3C 273 is consistent with a power law from 1.2 to 10 microns, with small but significant deviations.

Abstract:

8-13 micron spectrophotometry of V1016 Cyg shows a broad emission feature attributed to radiation from silicate grains. This emission feature more closely resembles that of the circumstellar shells of oxygen-rich supergiants than the more dilute feature, typical of the interstellar medium, which is observed from the Trapezium source in the Orion nebula. It appears to be possible to distinguish the evolutionary status of an object from the form of its silicate excess.

Abstract:

Eight to thirteen-micron spectra are presented of the late Wolf-Rayet stars, Ve 2-45 (WC9), CRL 2104 (WC8), He2-113 (WC10) and CPD-56 deg 8032 (WC10). Both WC10 stars show the unidentified feature at 11.25 microns and one of them that at 8.6 microns; their spectra resemble those of some planetary nebulae. These features are absent in the WC8/9 stars, whose spectra, together with their infrared photometric data, can be understood in terms of approximately 900 K blackbody spectra subject to some interstellar silicate absorption and with a small excess beyond 10 microns, perhaps due to SiC grains. The WC10 objects are characterized by much lower dust temperatures and their evolutionary status appears to be very different from that of the WC8/9 stars.