| Title: |
Properties of evolved mass-losing stars in the Milky Way and variations in the interstellar dust composition |
| Authors: |
Thronson, Harley A., Jr.; Latter, William B.; Black, John H.; Bally, John; Hacking, Perry |
| Source: |
Other Sources |
| Publication Year: |
1987 |
| Collection: |
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
| Subject Geographic: |
Unclassified; Unlimited; Publicly available |
| Time: |
90 |
| Description: |
A large sample of evolved carbon-rich and oxygen-rich objects has been studied using data from the IRAS Point Source Catalog. The number density of infrared-emitting 'carbon' stars shows no variation with Galactocentric radius, while the evolved 'oxygen' star volume density can be well fitted by a given law. A law is given for the number of carbon stars; a total is found in the Galaxy of 48,000 highly evolved oxygen stars. The mass-return rate for all evolved stars is found to be 0.35 solar mass/yr, with a small percentage contribution from carbon stars. The mass-loss rates for both types of stars are dominated by the small number of objects with the smallest rates. A mean lifetime of about 200,000 yr is obtained for both carbon and oxygen stars. Main-sequence stars in the mass range of three to five solar masses are the probable precursors of the carbon stars. |
| Document Type: |
other/unknown material |
| Language: |
unknown |
| Relation: |
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19880031865; Accession ID: 88A19092 |
| Availability: |
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19880031865 |
| Rights: |
Copyright |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.77AFBA87 |
| Database: |
BASE |