Practical round.
Problem 1 to solve
Groups A and B.
A SUPERNOVA IN THE GALAXY NGC 3184.
Sorry, figures are not ready.
Introduction:
Special Astrophysical Observatory of Russian Academy of Sciences participates in an international
program on investigation of supernovas bursting in distant galaxies. Stellar magnitudes of
supernovas are measured with the help of CCD at 1-meter and 60-centimeter telescopes. For the
brightest of galaxies the spectra are also obtained.
Fig.1 presents a recent sample of a CCD image obtained with the 60-centimeter telescope. It was
taken on October 7, 2000. It shows a part of a galaxy cluster, in one of which a supernova burst.
Galaxies are marked with the letter G. Their images differ from sharp images of stars by fuzzy
edges. The visible stellar magnitudes of two brightest galaxies and the supernova (it is marked with
the letters SN) are indicated.
And now the task itself:
In Fig.2 is shown an image of a spiral galaxy NGC 3184 in which on December 10, 1999 a
supernova was noticed. The image was taken before the burst! You can see stars up to 23rd
magnitude in it.
Fig.3 is a CCD image with a part of the galaxy and the supernova taken on January 28, 2000 with the
1-meter telescope of SAO.
Galaxy NGC 3184 is in the constellation of Ursa Major. Its coordinates (1950) are as follows:
α = 10h 15m, δ = 41° 40´. It is similar to the famous galaxy of M33 in the Triangle (M33 is closer to
us, the distance to it is 700 kpc, its angular size is about 50´).
By the images of 28.01.2000 in SAO the apparent stellar magnitudes of the supernova in blue, green
and red filters were determined. Its apparent stellar magnitude was 14 m.67.
Find the supernova in Fig.3.
Estimate its absolute magnitude.
Professional astronomers don't doubt that they deal with a supernova. In particular, a spectrum was
obtained, by which it was assigned to type II. But nevertheless – for non-professionals – prove that it
is not a burst of a nearby (foreground)-star on the background of a galaxy.
Practical round. Problem 2 to solve
Group A.
A "DRILLING" OF THE MOON WITH THE HELP OF RATAN
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Introduction:
Dear students, you are to see the first colonies on the Moon. The areas of the Moon surface
consisting of oxygen-bearing rock are already being searched for them. First of all these are ilmenite
basalts. Beside oxygen (10% from the weight) the ilmenite (FeTiO 3) can give a pure iron.
With the help of the radio telescope RATAN-600 a "radio drilling" of the Moon was carried out:
unlike the visible light, radio waves come from under its surface. The depth of the "drilling"
increases with the increase of wavelength. At the wavelength of 1 cm the Moon is transparent down
to 0.5 m, at 30 cm – down to 10 m. The regions with increased content of ilmenite are also
distinguished by an increased radio emission level.
Fig.1 presents radio cuts of the Moon obtained at its passage through the "knife" beams of RATAN.
From the 6 used wave lengths only 3 are presented, since the cut at 2.1 cm almost repeats the cut at
1.4 cm, and the cuts at 3.9 and 31 cm differ little from the cut at 8.2 cm. The last could be said also
about 13-cm cut, but at the moment of observation the transmitters left at the Moon by American
astronauts were operating, exactly at this wavelength.
The cuts at different wavelengths can be compared both to each other and to the seas and continents
known to you in the image of the Moon in visible light. A band covered in the observations at 1.4 cm
is marked in it. In other wavelengths the beams cover the entire disk of the Moon in altitude. The
positions of transmitters operating at the wavelength of 13 cm are also shown.
Task:
What transmitters were operating at the moment of observation?
What is the difference in the image of the Moon in cm wavelength from its image in visible
wavelengths? What is the reason for it?
What region would you recommend for the settlement of first colonies?
Practical round. Problem 2 to solve
Group B.
SPECTRA OF A PLANETARY NEBULA "CAT EYE" AND ITS CENTRAL STAR
Sorry, figures are not ready.
Introduction:
Planetary nebula NGC 6543 ("Cat eye") played its special part in the history of astrophysics. On
August 16, 1865, an English amateur astronomer William Heggins looked at it with a spectroscope
and, as he writes, "did not see an expected total spectrum, but only one bright line!" Shortly after it
was resolved into two lines with the wavelengths of 4959 å and 5007 å. Heggins assigned it to a new
element "nebulium".
Later it was found out that these are "forbidden" lines of doubly ionized oxygen that were never
observed before - neither in terrestrial laboratory nor in stars. Unlike "permitted" lines, only a very
thin gas emits such lines.
Recall that if an atom is neutral, then a Roman numeral I follows the symbol of its chemical element,
if the atom lost one electron then it is Roman II, etc…. for example, the neutral nitrogen is N I, the
ionized nitrogen is N II. In notation of forbidden line the symbols of atoms and ions are taken in
square brackets, for example: the ionized nitrogen is [N II], doubly ionized oxygen is [O III].
The spectrum of the central star generating the nebula NGC 6543 and exciting its glow, as well as
the spectrum of the nebula itself were obtained in the course of study of the late stages of stellar
evolution. The high-resolution spectrograph of the 6-meter telescope of SAO was used. The star and
a peripheral part of the nebula were alternately projected onto its slit. These positions of the slit
marked by a sign ' * ' for the first one and by a sign ' @ ' for the second one in Fig 1a, 1b, 1c.
Task:
The upper parts of Fig. 1a, 1b, 1c show the parts of spectra as intensity vs wavelength given from the
mentioned regions. In each of them the interesting lines are selected, and their profiles of are
presented in the lower fragments as a relation between intensity and radial velocity. The figures
show also the values of radial velocities measured by the tops of profiles of separate lines.
Determine which lines belong to the star and which to the nebula; fill in the appended table:
Lines in the spectra of NGC 6543 and its central star:
Figure Lines belonging to the nebula Lines belonging to the star
2a
2b
2c
What is the difference between them?
What can be said about the character of motion in the nebula and in the star's atmosphere from the
form of the line profiles?
Estimate the velocity of these motions.