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C.L. Miskey, J. Goyette, F. Bruhweiler, M. Smith Neubig (IACS/CUA), N. Walborn (STScI), A. de Koter (Amsterdam)
We present our preliminary results for HST/STIS 2-dimensional spectral imagery of NGC 346, the brightest concentration of O and B stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud. We have a total of 13 G140L exposures with the MAMA detector, each exposure sampling a 25 by 2 arcsecond region of the SMC. From these data, we have extracted 116 spectra spanning roughly 1170 to 1730 Å, representing 104 individual O and B stars. Besides the G140L data, we have obtained six G230LB and six G430L slitless exposures with the CCD on STIS. These exposures represent six distinct pointings each sampling a 50 by 50 arcsecond region. For most objects sampled with the G140L, we have spectral coverage spanning 1170-5700Å. Many of the stars in this dataset are lower luminosity, early B-stars near or on the main sequence. This dataset provides an unusual opportunity to determine the physical properties of O and B stars in the SMC as well as derive an interstellar extinction law for NGC 346. We present sample observed and unreddened UV spectra and derived spectral types, plus intrinsic spectral energy distributions (1170-5700Å), for selected O and B stars based upon our derived interstellar extinction curve.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: miskey@cua.edu