The Abundance of Heavy Elements in Interstellar Gas

The Goddard high-resolution spectrograph aboard the Hubble Space Telescope has been used to produce interstellar abundance measures of gallium, germanium, arsenic, krypton, tin, thallium, and lead, the heaviest elements detected in interstellar gas. These heavy elements arise from stellar nuclear pr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1994-07, Vol.265 (5169), p.209-213
Main Author: Cardelli, Jason A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astrophysics
Atoms
Chemical elements
Comparative Analysis
Condensation
Data lines
Heavy elements
Identification and classification
In kind support and maintenance
Interstellar molecules
Logarithms
Organic Chemistry
S process
Solar observatories
Solar systems
Space research
Space telescopes
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Summary:The Goddard high-resolution spectrograph aboard the Hubble Space Telescope has been used to produce interstellar abundance measures of gallium, germanium, arsenic, krypton, tin, thallium, and lead, the heaviest elements detected in interstellar gas. These heavy elements arise from stellar nuclear processes (slow- and rapid-process neutron capture) that are different from those that produce zinc and the lighter elements previously observed. These data allow investigators to study how the heavy elements chemically interact with interstellar dust and to compare interstellar heavy element abundances in the current galactic epoch to those present at the time of the formation of the solar system. For example, the data indicate that the abundance of atoms in interstellar dust cannot be explained by simple condensation models alone and must be heavily influenced by chemistry in the interstellar medium. Also, the data for some elements suggest that their true galactic cosmic abundances may be different from the "fossil" abundances incorporated into the solar system 4.6 billion years ago.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.265.5169.209