The depletion of pre-interstellar matter and an examination of Ni II oscillator strengths

IUE absorption-line data obtained at 110-320 nm with resolution 10-30 pm toward the B-star component of the multiple system of Alpha Sco are presented in graphs and tables and used to characterize the circumstellar shell around the M1.5 Iab component. Resonant lines of Ni II are identified at strengths in excess of 4 pm and fit to a growth curve constructed using the Fe II, Si II, and Mn II lines, and the results are found to confirm the oscillator strengths determined by Kurucz and Peytremann (1975) to within 50 percent. Shell depletions 2-20 times smaller than those for dense clouds such as the surrounding Oph complex are calculated and attributed to the formation of circumstellar dust. The implications of the results for the condensation of various elements in dense and diffuse clouds are explored.