carbon stars are a very important source of carbon for the interstellar medium and a proper understanding of the chemistry of the carbon rich environments of these stars has many important ramifications in astrophysics. limitations imposed by the earth.s atmosphere have severely limited the obviously very important application of infrared spectroscopy to this problem. the great potential provided by iso is recognized in the ambitious gto program of van dishoek who will be carrying out sws and lws high resolution spectroscopy of the brightest carbon star,irc+10216. iras 15194-5115,a carbon star in some ways quite similar to irc+10216, is the third brightest carbon star at 12um (after cit6) but because it was discovered only quite recently it is relatively poorly studied. van dishoek points out the importance of studying certain key molecules in irc+10216 which are of great diagnostic benefit in assessing the physical and chemical conditions:the same molecules are likely to exist in both stars and we believe that there is great value in making a detailed comparison of the chemistry of two stars which are similar but clearly at slightly different phases of their evolution as we discovered in our detailed radio line study and comparison carried out on the sest 15m telescope.we are therefore proposing to carry out sws spectroscopy of iras 15194-5115 at the highest resolution possible. the history of the mass-loss in these two stars would also illuminate these questions and we plan to carry out mapping of the shell of iras 15194-5115 at 90um and 160um to look for gaps and discontinuities in the radial distribution and to compare our results with those of izumiura for irc+10216 to be carried out in his redstar program.
Instrument
PHT32 , SWS06
Temporal Coverage
1996-09-08T17:13:15Z/1996-09-08T21:27:45Z
Version
1.0
Mission Description
The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) was the worlds first true orbiting infrared observatory. Equipped with four highly-sophisticated and versatile scientific instruments, it was launched by Ariane in November 1995 and provided astronomers world-wide with a facility of unprecedented sensitivity and capabilities for a detailed exploration of the Universe at infrared wavelengths.
European Space Agency, WOLSTENCROFT et al., 1999, 'CHEMISTRY AND MASS-LOSS HISTORY OF A LUMINOUS CARBON STAR: IRAS 15194-5115', 1.0, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-5tgjrbt
