ALBERT

Description: SOFIA, (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) is a planned 2.5 meter telescope to be installed in a Boeing 747 aircraft and operated at altitudes from 41,000 to 46,000 feet. It will permit routine measurement of infrared radiation inaccessible from the ground-based sites, and observation of astronomical objects and transient events from anywhere in the world. The concept is based on 18 years of experience with NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO), which SOFIA would replace.

Description: The carbon kinetic isotope effect in the CH4 + HO reaction is measured experimentally and the use of carbon isotope ratios to diagnose atmospheric methane is examined. The chemical, photolysis, and analytical experimental conditions and procedures are described. It is determined that the CH4 + HO reaction has a carbon kinetic isotope effect of 1.010 + or 0.007 for k(12)k(13) (rate constants ratio) at 297 + or - 3 K. This value is compared with the data of Rust and Stevens (1980). Causes for the poor correlation between the data at high methane conversions are discussed. It is supposed that the difference between the k(12) and k(13) values is due to a difference in the activation energy of the two reactions.

Description: Airborne observations with the The University of Chicago polarimeter, Stokes (Platt et al. 1991), have produced maps of far infrared polarization over large areas in molecular clouds. Subsequent papers will discuss the implications of the results concerning the magnetic fields of individual objects. Our purpose here is to show a broad sample of the results and to point out certain general characteristics of the polarized emission.

Description: Maps are presented for 10, 20, and 30 micrometers of the central 60' X 90' (RA X Dec) of the galaxy made at approximately 4' resolution with the MSFC bolometer array. The maps are the first to show the thermal emission from dust particles in both the ionized cavity and the neutral-gas ring with high sensitivity and an angular resolution as good as several arcsec.

Description: We present an 11" resolution map of the central 2 pc of the Galaxy in the CO J = 7 --〉 6 rotational transition. The CO emission shows rotation about Sgr A* but also evidence for noncircular turbulent motion and a clumpy morphology. We combine our data set with available CO measurements to model the physical conditions in the disk. We find that the molecular gas in the region is both warm and dense, with T approx. 200-300 K and n(sub H2) approx. (5-7) x 10(exp 4) cm(exp -3). The mass of warm molecular gas we measure in the central 2 pc is at least 2000 M(solar), about 20 times the UV-excited atomic gas mass, ruling out a UV heating scenario for the molecular material. We compare the available spectral tracers with theoretical models and conclude that molecular gas is heated with magnetohydrodynamic shocks with v approx. 10-20 km s(exp -1) and B approx. 0.3- 0.5 mG. Using the conditions derived with the CO analysis, we include the other important coolants, neutral oxygen and molecular hydrogen, to estimate the total cooling budget of the molecular material. We derive a mass-to-luminosity ratio of approx. 2-3 M(solar)(L(solar)exp -1), which is consistent with the total power dissipated via turbulent decay in 0.1 pc cells with v(sub rms) approx. 15 kilometers per second. These size and velocity scales are comparable to the observed clumping scale and the velocity dispersion. At this rate, the material near Sgr A* is dissipating its orbital energy on an orbital timescale and cannot last for more than a few orbits. Our conclusions support a scenario in which the features near Sgr A* such as the circumnuclear disk and northern arm are generated by infalling clouds with low specific angular momentum.

Description: Observations of Vega at 193 microns indicate that the far-infrared emission from the circumstellar material discovered by IRAS (Aumann et al. 1984) may decline more rapidly than a Planck spectrum at wavelengths greater than 100 microns. This suggests that the emitting particles may be smaller than the millimeter-sized objects proposed by Aumann et al. (1984). Small grains would be driven from the stellar system by radiation pressure, or their orbits would decay as a result of Poynting -Robertson drag. In order to maintain a state of dynamic equilibrium, a continuous supply of new particles would be required. It is hypothesized that the small grains are ejected by sublimation of volatile material from larger comet-like bodies in a partially coalesced preplanetary disk. A reservoir containing less than a few hundred earth masses could sustain the source over the lifetime of the star.

Description: The two cores of the S255 cloud were mapped at 60, 100, 185, and 400 microns and 40-400 microns maps were made of the cores and S255, OMC-1 and W3. Absolute flux densities were determined with an accuracy of 30 percent. The luminosities and masses of the S255 cores were equivalent to those of the other objects, including the concentration of a compact H II region around young objects. The densified regions are regarded as typical of areas where massive objects are forming. The observed 1.4-4 km/sec velocity differences between two cores in any one cloud indicates that the angular momentum of the original clouds, which drove the collapse of the cores, is transferred to the massive young stars.

Description: Results are reported for an experimental study of the reactions of O(1D) with CCl4, CFCl3, CF2Cl2, CHFCl2, CHF2Cl, and CF2ClCFCl2 over the temperature range from 173 to 343 K, based on the time-resolved emission of O(1D) at 630 nm. The experiments involved photolysis of O3 by Nd-YAG laser pulses and measurements of 630-nm emission intensity in mixtures with He and the various halocarbons. Pseudo-first-order rate constants are derived from plots of the logarithms of the 630-nm emission intensities as a function of time for particular He/O3/halocarbon mixtures, and second-order rate constants are then obtained from plots of these pseudo-first-order rate constants as a function of halocarbon concentration at constant He and O3 concentrations. No temperature dependence of the second-order rate constants is observed over the range studied, within the precision of the measurements. It is found that the rate constants decrease as H is substituted for Cl in a halocarbon molecule and as F is substituted for H or Cl.

Description: Photometric measurements of three Virgo cluster spirals (NGC4254, NGC4501, and NGC4654) at 160-microns (far-infrared) and 360-microns (submillimeter) wavelengths are compared with theoretical models and observations at other wavelengths. It is shown that the data at the observed wavelengths do not fit any of interstellar dust grain models very well; four possibilities are given in order to explain discrepancies: the observed wavelength points are incorrect; previously observed data is incorrect; both data are incorrect; and the premise of the analysis is incorrect - a composite far-infrared spectrum of normal spiral galaxies is meaningless because they vary considerably in their far-infrared properties. It is also noted that the observed data are inconsistent with models having large cold grains.

Description: Measurements of far-infrared intensities in the Bok globule B335, made with higher spatial and spectral resolution than two earlier studies, are described. The NASA 3-m Infrared Telescope Facility was used in February 1981 and the Kuiper Airborne Observatory 0.9-m telescope was used in October 1981 and August 1982 for the observations. The far-infrared source in B335 was revealed to be more compact than previously assumed, ruling out the interstellar radiation field as the dominant heat source. The new far-infrared size, luminosity, and temperature derived suggest that these may be the first observations of low-mass star formation embedded deeply within a Bok globule. The far-infrared source does not have a near-infrared or radio continuum counterpart. High angular resolution at submillimeter wavelengths will be critical in further studies of low-mass star formation.