Previous | Session 84 | Next
R. C. Henry (JHU), J. Murthy (IIA), D. J. Sahnow (JHU)
We present spectra of the diffuse FUV (900 -- 1200 Å) emission from a region near the Orion Nebula: the first high resolution spectra of the diffuse background radiation. These observations were made using serendipitous FUSE observations and were only possible because of the strength of the diffuse emission (about 3 x 105 photons cm-2 s-1 sr-1 Å-1) and the sensitivity of the FUSE instrument.
Preliminary modeling suggests that the light is scattered starlight from the Trapezium stars, primarily \Theta1 Ori C.
However, a comparison of the spectra with the nearby stars shows significant differences, particularly in the Lyman Beta line where there is much less interstellar absorption in our diffuse spectrum. We believe that we are indeed observing scattered light from the Trapezium stars but through a line of sight with much less matter than the direct line to the Trapezium.
This work was supported by NASA; we thank the entire FUSE team.
If you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to http://henry.pha.jhu.edu/orion.html. This link was provided by the author. When you follow it, you will leave the Web site for this meeting; to return, you should use the Back comand on your browser.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: henry@jhu.edu
Previous | Session 84 | Next
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.