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The interstellar abundances of tin and four other heavy elementsSpectra recorded at 1150-1600 A with an instrumental resolution near 16 km/s were obtained with the Goddard High-Resolution Spectrograph on board the HST. The gaseous interstellar abundances of five heavy elements along the light paths to 23 Ori, 15 Mon, 1 Sco, Pi Sco, and Pi Aqr were determined from the observations. The 1400.450 A line of Sn II was detected and identified toward three stars; at Z = 50, tin is the first element from the fifth row of the periodic table to be identified in the interstellar medium. One spectral line of each of Cu II (Z = 29) and Ga II (Z = 31), three lines of Ge II (Z = 32), and two lines of Kr I (Z = 36) were also detected toward some or all of the five stars. The depletions of these five heavy elements generally decrease monotonically with increasing atomic number toward each of the six stars, and tin is generally undepleted within the observational errors. The depletions of 26 elements from the interstellar gas in an average dense interstellar cloud appear to correlate with the elemental 'nebular' condensation temperatures more closely than with the first ionization potentials.
Document ID
19930062234
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Hobbs, L. M.
(Yerkes Observatory Williams Bay, WI, United States)
Welty, D. E.
(Chicago Univ. IL, United States)
Morton, D. C.
(National Research Council of Canada Herzberg Inst. of Astrophysics, Ottawa, United States)
Spitzer, L.
(Princeton Univ. Observatory, NJ, United States)
York, D. G.
(Chicago Univ. IL, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
July 10, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: Astrophysical Journal - Part 1
Volume: 411
Issue: 2
ISSN: 0004-637X
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
93A46231
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS5-26555
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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