David J. Sahnow

Overview of the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Mission

The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer satellite observes light in the far-ultraviolet spectral region, 905-1187 Angstrom, with a high spectral resolution. The instrument consists of four co-aligned prime-focus telescopes and Rowland spectrographs with microchannel plate detectors. Two of the telescope channels use Al :LiF coatings for optimum reflectivity between approximately 1000 and 1187 Angstrom, and the other two channels use SiC coatings for optimized throughput between 905 and 1105 Angstrom. The gratings are holographically ruled to correct largely for astigmatism and to minimize scattered light. The microchannel plate detectors have KBr photocathodes and use photon counting to achieve good quantum efficiency with low background signal. The sensitivity is sufficient to examine reddened lines of sight within the Milky Way and also sufficient to use as active galactic nuclei and QSOs for absorption-line studies of both Milky Way and extragalactic gas clouds. This spectral region contains a number of key scientific diagnostics, including O VI, H I, D I, and the strong electronic transitions of H-2 and HD.

On-Orbit Performance of the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Satellite

The launch of the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) has been followed by an extensive period of calibration and characterization as part of the preparation for normal satellite operations. Major tasks carried out during this period include the initial coalignment, focusing, and characterization of the four instrument channels and a preliminary measurement of the resolution and throughput performance of the instrument. We describe the results from this test program and present preliminary estimates of the on-orbit performance of the FUSE satellite based on a combination of these data and prelaunch laboratory measurements.

Abundances of Deuterium, Nitrogen, and Oxygen in the Local Interstellar Medium: Overview of First Results from the FUSE Mission

Observations obtained with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) have been used to determine the column densities of D i ,N i, and O i along seven sight lines that probe the local interstellar medium (LISM) at distances from 37 to 179 pc. Five of the sight lines are within the Local Bubble, and two penetrate the surrounding H i wall. Reliable values of N(H i) were determined for five of the sight lines from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data, International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) data, and published Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) measurements. The weighted mean of D i/H i for these five sight lines is ð1:52 � 0:08 Þ� 10 � 5 (1 � uncertainty in the mean). It is likely that the D i/H i ratio in the Local Bubble has a single value. The D i/O i ratio for the five sight lines within the Local Bubble is ð3:76 � 0:20 Þ� 10 � 2 .I t is likely that O i column densities can serve as a proxy for H i in the Local Bubble. The weighted mean for O i/H i for the seven FUSE sight lines is ð3:03 � 0:21 Þ� 10 � 4 , comparable to the weighted mean ð3:43 � 0:15 Þ� 10 � 4 reported for 13 sight lines probing larger distances and higher column densities. The FUSE weighted mean of N i/H i for five sight lines is half that reported by Meyer and colleagues for seven sight lines with larger distances and higher column densities. This result combined with the variability of O i/N i (six sight lines) indicates that at the low column densities found in the LISM, nitrogen ionization balance is important. Thus, unlike O i ,N i cannot be used as a proxy for H i or as a metallicity indicator in the LISM. Subject headings: cosmology: observations — Galaxy: abundances — ISM: abundances — ISM: evolution — ultraviolet: ISM

The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Survey of O VI Absorption in and near the Galaxy

We present Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) observations of the O VI λλ1031.926, 1037.617 absorption lines associated with gas in and near the Milky Way, as detected in the spectra of a sample of 100 extragalactic targets and two distant halo stars. We combine data from several FUSE Science Team programs with guest observer data that were public before 2002 May 1. The sight lines cover most of the sky above Galactic latitude |b| > 25°—at lower latitude the ultraviolet extinction is usually too large for extragalactic observations. We describe the details of the calibration, alignment in velocity, continuum fitting, and manner in which several contaminants were removed—Galactic H2, absorption intrinsic to the background target and intergalactic Lyβ lines. This decontamination was done very carefully, and in several sight lines very subtle problems were found. We searched for O VI absorption in the velocity range -1200 to 1200 km s-1. With a few exceptions, we only find O VI in the velocity range -400 to 400 km s-1; the exceptions may be intergalactic O VI. In this paper we analyze the O VI associated with the Milky Way (and possibly with the Local Group). We discuss the separation of the observed O VI absorption into components associated with the Milky Way halo and components at high velocity, which are probably located in the neighborhood of the Milky Way. We describe the measurements of equivalent width and column density, and we analyze the different contributions to the errors. We conclude that low-velocity Galactic O VI absorption occurs along all sight lines—the few nondetections only occur in noisy spectra. We further show that high-velocity O VI is very common, having equivalent width >65 mA in 50% of the sight lines and equivalent width >30 mA in 70% of the high-quality sight lines. The central velocities of high-velocity O VI components range from |vLSR| = 100 to 330 km s-1; there is no correlation between velocity and absorption strength. We discuss the possibilities for studying O VI absorption associated with Local Group galaxies and conclude that O VI is probably detected in M31 and M33. We limit the extent of an O VI halo around M33 to be 200 km s-1 occurs along all sight lines in the region l = 180°-300°, b > 20°.

High-resolution FUV spectroscopy of the terrestrial day airglow with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer

During orbital verification the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer obtained spectra of the terrestrial day airglow between 905 and 1184 A from an altitude of 766 km. The spectrographs have three apertures that can simultaneously record the atmospheric emissions with limiting instrumental spectral resolutions of approximately 0.4, 0.05, and 0.03 A. Seven orbits were obtained of observations of the sunlit Earth and disclose a wealth of emissions resulting from the electron impact excitation of N2 in addition to emissions of O I, N I, and N II produced by both photoelectron impact and by photodestructive excitation and ionization of thermospheric O and N2 by extreme ultraviolet solar radiation. The argon resonance transitions are unambiguously identified as are previously unreported transitions between highly excited energy levels of O+. These spectra have the highest spectral resolution and sensitivity in this spectral range to date and will provide valuable input to the interpretation of lower resolution spectra from current and future Earth remote sensing missions.

CallFUSE Version 3: A Data Reduction Pipeline for the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer

Since its launch in 1999, the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) has made over 4900 observations of some 2500 individual targets. The data are reduced by the principal investigator team at the Johns Hopkins University and archived at the Multimission Archive at STScI (MAST). The data reduction software package, called CalFUSE, has evolved considerably over the lifetime of the mission. The entire FUSE data set has recently been reprocessed with CalFUSE version 3.2, the latest version of this software. This paper describes CalFUSE version 3.2, the instrument calibrations on which it is based, and the format of the resulting calibrated data files.

Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explore Observations of O VI in High-Velocity Clouds

We have used moderate-resolution (FWHM ≈ 25 km s-1) spectra of active galactic nuclei and QSOs observed by the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer to make the first definitive measurements of absorption by hot gas in high-velocity clouds (HVCs) at large distances from the Galactic plane. Seven of the 11 sight lines studied exhibit high-velocity ( > 100 km s-1) O VI λ1031.93 absorption with log N(O ) ≈ 13.79-14.62. High-velocity O VI absorption is detected in the distant gas of H I HVC complex C, the Magellanic Stream, several HVCs believed to be in the Local Group, and the outer Galaxy. The fraction of O VI in HVCs along the seven sight lines containing high-velocity O VI averages ~30%, with a full range of ~10%-70%. The O VI detections imply that hot (T ~ 3 × 105 K), collisionally ionized gas is an important constituent of the HVCs since O VI is difficult to produce by photoionization unless the path lengths over which the absorption occurs are very large (>100 kpc). The association of O VI with H I HVCs in many cases suggests that the O VI may be produced at interfaces or mixing layers between the H I clouds and hot, low-density gas in the Galactic corona or Local Group. Alternatively, the O VI may originate within cooling regions of hot gas clouds as they are accreted onto the Galaxy.

Observations of O VI Emission from the Diffuse Interstellar Medium

We report the —rst Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer measurements of diUuse O VI (jj1032, 1038) emission from the general diUuse interstellar medium outside of supernova remnants or superbubbles. We observed a 30@@ ] 30@@ region of the sky centered at and From the observed l \ 315i.0 b \[ 41i.3. intensities (2930 ^ 290 [random] ^ 410 [systematic] and 1790 ^ 260 [random] ^ 250 [systematic] photons cm~2 s~1 sr~1 in jj1032 and 1038, respectively), derived equations, and assumptions about the source location, we calculate the intrinsic intensity, electron density, thermal pressure, and emitting depth. The intensities are too large for the emission to originate solely in the Local Bubble. Thus, we conclude that the Galactic thick disk and lower halo also contribute. High-velocity clouds are ruled out because there are none near the pointing direction. The calculated emitting depth is small, indicating

On-orbit performance of the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE)

The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite was launched into orbit on June 24, 1999. FUSE is now making high resolution ((lambda) /(Delta) (lambda) equals 20,000 - 25,000) observations of solar system, galactic, and extragalactic targets in the far ultraviolet wavelength region (905 - 1187 angstroms). Its high effective area, low background, and planned three year life allow observations of objects which have been too faint for previous high resolution instruments in this wavelength range. In this paper, we describe the on- orbit performance of the FUSE satellite during its first nine months of operation, including measurements of sensitivity and resolution.

OBSERVATIONS OF THE DIFFUSE FAR-ULTRAVIOLET BACKGROUND WITH THE FAR ULTRAVIOLET SPECTROSCOPIC EXPLORER

We have used observations taken under the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) S405/505 channel realignment program to explore the diffuse far-ultraviolet (FUV; 1000-1200 A) radiation field. Of the 71 independent locations in that program, we have observed a diffuse signal in 32, ranging in brightness from 1600 to a maximum of 2.9 × 105 photons cm-2 sr-1 s-1 A-1 in Orion. The FUSE data confirm that the diffuse FUV sky is patchy with regions of intense emission, usually near bright stars, but also with dark regions, even at low Galactic latitudes. We find a weak correlation between the FUV flux and the 100 μm ratio but with wide variations, perhaps due to differences in the local radiation field.We have used observations taken under the FUSE S405/S505 channel realignment program to explore the diffuse FUV (1000 1200 Å) radiation field. Of the 71 independent locations in that program, we have observed a diffuse signal in 32, ranging in brightness from 1600 photons cm sr s Å to a maximum of 2.9× 10 photons cm sr s Å in Orion. The FUSE data confirm that the diffuse FUV sky is patchy with regions of intense emission, usually near bright stars, but also with dark regions, even at low Galactic latitudes. We find a weak correlation between the FUV flux and the 100 μm ratio but with wide variations, perhaps due to differences in the local radiation field. Subject headings: ultraviolet: ISM, ISM: dust Based on observations made with the NASA-CNES-CSA Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. FUSE is operated for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University under NASA contract NAS5-32985.