J. E. Howe

The Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite: Science Objectives and Instrument Description

The Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS), launched in 1998 December, is a NASA mission dedicated to the study of star formation through direct measurements of (1) molecular cloud composition and chemistry, (2) the cooling mechanisms that facilitate cloud collapse, and (3) the large-scale structure of the UV-illuminated cloud surfaces. To achieve these goals, SWAS is conducting pointed observations of dense [n(H2) > 103 cm-3] molecular clouds throughout our Galaxy in either the ground state or a low-lying transition of five astrophysically important species: H2O, H218O, O2, C I, and 13CO. By observing these lines SWAS is (1) testing long-standing theories that predict that these species are the dominant coolants of molecular clouds during the early stages of their collapse to form stars and planets and (2) supplying previously missing information about the abundance of key species central to the chemical models of dense interstellar gas. SWAS carries two independent Schottky barrier diode mixers—passively cooled to ~175 K—coupled to a 54 × 68 cm off-axis Cassegrain antenna with an aggregate surface error ~11 μm rms. During its baseline 3 yr mission, SWAS is observing giant and dark cloud cores with the goal of detecting or setting an upper limit on the water and molecular oxygen abundance of 3 × 10-6 (relative to H2). In addition, advantage is being taken of SWASs relatively large beam size of 33 × 45 at 553 GHz and 35 × 50 at 490 GHz to obtain large-area (~1° × 1°) maps of giant and dark clouds in the 13CO and C I lines. With the use of a 1.4 GHz bandwidth acousto-optical spectrometer, SWAS has the ability to simultaneously observe either the H2O, O2, C I, and 13CO lines or the H218O, O2, and C I lines. All measurements are being conducted with a velocity resolution less than 1 km s-1.

Implications of Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite Observations for Interstellar Chemistry and Star Formation

A long-standing prediction of steady state gas-phase chemical theory is that H2O and O2 are important reservoirs of elemental oxygen and major coolants of the interstellar medium. Analysis of Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) observations has set sensitive upper limits on the abundance of O2 and has provided H2O abundances toward a variety of star-forming regions. Based on these results, we show that gaseous H2O and O2 are not dominant carriers of elemental oxygen in molecular clouds. Instead, the available oxygen is presumably frozen on dust grains in the form of molecular ices, with a significant portion potentially remaining in atomic form, along with CO, in the gas phase. H2O and O2 are also not significant coolants for quiescent molecular gas. In the case of H2O, a number of known chemical processes can locally elevate its abundance in regions with enhanced temperatures, such as warm regions surrounding young stars or in hot shocked gas. Thus, water can be a locally important coolant. The new information provided by SWAS, when combined with recent results from the Infrared Space Observatory, also provides several hard observational constraints for theoretical models of the chemistry in molecular clouds, and we discuss various models that satisfy these conditions.

Water abundance in molecular cloud cores

We present Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) observations of the 110 → 101 transition of ortho-H2O at 557 GHz toward 12 molecular cloud cores. The water emission was detected in NGC 7538, ρ Oph A, NGC 2024, CRL 2591, W3, W3OH, Mon R2, and W33 and was not detected in TMC-1, L134N, and B335. We also present a small map of the H2O emission in S140. Observations of the H218O line were obtained toward S140 and NGC 7538, but no emission was detected. The abundance of ortho-H2O relative to H2 in the giant molecular cloud cores was found to vary between 6 × 10-10 and 1 × 10-8. Five of the cloud cores in our sample have previous H2O detections; however, in all cases the emission is thought to arise from hot cores with small angular extents. The H2O abundance estimated for the hot core gas is at least 100 times larger than in the gas probed by SWAS. The most stringent upper limit on the ortho-H2O abundance in dark clouds is provided in TMC-1, where the 3 σ upper limit on the ortho-H2O fractional abundance is 7 × 10-8.

Detection of Water in the Shocked Gas Associated with IC 443: Constraints on Shock Models

We have used the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) to observe the ground-state 110 → 101 transition of ortho-H2O at 557 GHz in three of the shocked molecular clumps associated with the supernova remnant IC 443. We also observed simultaneously the 487 GHz line (3,1 → 3,2) of O2, the 492 GHz line (3P1 → 3P0) of C I, and the 550 GHz line (J = 5 → 4) of 13CO. We detected the H2O, C I, and 13CO lines toward the shocked clumps B, C, and G. In addition, ground-based observations of the J = 1 → 0 transitions of CO and HCO+ were obtained. Assuming that the shocked gas has a temperature of 100 K and a density of 5 × 105 cm-3, we derive SWAS beam-averaged ortho-H2O column densities of 3.2 × 1013, 1.8 × 1013, and 3.9 × 1013 cm-2 in clumps B, C, and G, respectively. Combining the SWAS results with our ground-based observations, we derive a relative abundance of ortho-H2O to CO in the postshock gas of between 2 × 10-4 and 3 × 10-3. On the basis of our results for H2O, published results of numerous atomic and molecular shock tracers, and archival Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) observations, we conclude that no single shock type can explain these observations. However, a combination of fast J-type shocks (~100 km s-1) and slow C-type shocks (~12 km s-1) or, more likely, slow J-type shocks (~12-25 km s-1) can most naturally explain the postshock velocities and the emission seen in various atomic and molecular tracers. Such a superposition of shocks might be expected as the supernova remnant overtakes a clumpy interstellar medium. The fast J-type shocks provide a strong source of ultraviolet radiation, which photodissociates the H2O in the cooling (T ≤ 300 K) gas behind the slow shocks and strongly affects the slow C-type shock structure by enhancing the fractional ionization. At these high ionization fractions, C-type shocks break down at speeds ~10-12 km s-1, while faster flows will produce J-type shocks. Our model favors a preshock gas-phase abundance of oxygen not in CO that is depleted by a least a factor of 2, presumably as water ice on grain surfaces. Both freezeout of H2O and photodissociation of H2O in the postshock gas must be significant to explain the weak H2O emission seen by SWAS and ISO from the shocked and postshock gas.

Observations of Water Vapor toward Orion BN/KL

We have obtained spectra of the rotational ground-state 110-101 556.936 GHz ortho-H216O and 110-101 547.676 GHz ortho-H218O transitions toward Orion BN/KL using the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS). The ortho-H216O spectrum shows strong evidence for both a broad (Δv 48 km s-1) and a narrow (Δv 7.5 km s-1) component, while the ortho-H218O shows evidence for only a broad (Δv 24 km s-1) component. The broad component emission in both ortho-H216O and ortho-H218O arises primarily from gas heated within the low- and high-velocity outflows and shocked gas surrounding IRc2 in which the ortho-H216O and ortho-H218O fractional abundances are estimated to be 3.5 × 10-4 and 7 × 10-7, respectively. This finding provides further confirmation that water is efficiently and abundantly produced within warm shock-heated gas. We estimate that the hot core plus the compact ridge contribute 10% to the ortho-H216O integrated intensity within the SWAS beam. The narrow component seen in the ortho-H216O spectrum is best fitted by ortho-water emission from the extended ridge (ER) and the higher temperature core of the extended ridge (CER) with a common fractional abundance of 3.3 × 10-8. The absence of any discernible narrow component in the ortho-H218O spectrum is used to set 3 σ upper limits on the ortho-water fractional abundance within the ER of 7 × 10-8 and within the CER of 5.2 × 10-7. This implies that within the dense extended quiescent region, gas-phase water is neither a major repository of oxygen nor a major coolant in Orion BN/KL.

Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite Observations of Jupiter and Saturn:Detection of 557 GHz Water Emission from the Upper Atmosphere

We have used the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite to carry out observations on Jupiter and Saturn in two bands centered at 489 and 553 GHz. We detect spectrally resolved 557 GHz H2O emission on both planets, constraining for the first time the residence levels of external water vapor in Jupiters and Saturns stratosphere. For both planets, the line appears to be formed at maximum pressures of about 5 mbar. For Jupiter, the data further show that water is not uniformly mixed but increases with altitude above the condensation level. In each planet, the amount of water implied by the data is 1.5-2.5 times larger than inferred from Infrared Space Observatory data. In addition, our observations provide new whole-disk brightness measurements of Jupiter and Saturn near 489 and 553 GHz.

Observations of Absorption by Water Vapor toward Sagittarius B2

We have observed the 110-101 pure rotational transitions of both H216O and H218O toward Sagittarius B2 using the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite. The spectra thereby obtained show a complex pattern of absorption and—in the case of H216O—emission, with numerous features covering a wide range of LSR velocities (-130 to 130 km s-1) and representing absorption both in gas associated with Sgr B2 as well as by several components of foreground gas along the line of sight. The ortho-water abundance derived for the absorbing foreground gas is ~6 × 10-7 relative to H2.

Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite observations of water vapor toward comet C/1999 H1 (Lee)

We have detected the 110-101 pure rotational transition of water vapor toward comet C/1999 H1 using the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite. Over the period 1999 May 19.01-23.69 UT, the average integrated antenna temperature was 1.79 ± 0.03 K km s-1 within a 33 × 45 (FWHM) elliptical beam. For an assumed ortho-to-para ratio of 3, we estimate the total water production rate as 8 × 1028 s-1. This value lies approximately 50% above the value estimated by Biver et al. from contemporaneous radio observations of hydroxyl molecules. The observed line width of 1.8 km s-1 (FWHM) is broader than the instrumental profile and suggests an intrinsic line width of about 1.4 km s-1 (FWHM). The data, taken during a portion of every 97 minute spacecraft orbit over a 4.68 day period, provide no evidence for variability.

Water absorption from line-of-sight clouds toward W49A

We have observed six clouds along the line of sight toward W49A using the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite and several ground-based observatories. The ortho-H2O 110 → 101 and OH (1665 and 1667 MHz) transitions are observed in absorption, whereas the low-J CO, 13CO, and C18O lines, as well as the [C I] 3P1-3P0 transition, are seen in emission. The emission lines allow us to determine the gas density (n ~ 1500-3000 cm-3) and CO column densities [N(CO) ~ 7.9 × 1015-2.8 × 1017 cm-2] using a standard large velocity gradient analysis. By using both the o-H218O and o-H2O absorption lines, we are able to constrain the column-averaged o-H2O abundances in each line-of-sight cloud to within about an order of magnitude. Assuming the standard N(H2)/N(CO) ratio of 104, we find N(o-H2O)/N(H2) = 8.1 × 10-8 to 4 × 10-7 for three clouds with optically thin water lines. In three additional clouds, the H2O lines are saturated, so we have used observations of the H218O ground-state transition to find upper limits to the water abundance of 8.2 × 10-8 to 1.5 × 10-6. We measure the OH abundance from the average of the 1665 and 1667 MHz observations and find N(OH)/N(H2) = 2.3 × 10-7 to 1.1 × 10-6. The o-H2O and OH abundances are similar to those determined for line-of-sight water absorption features toward W51 and Sgr B2 but are higher than those seen from water emission lines in molecular clouds. However, the clouds toward W49 have lower ratios of OH relative to H2O column densities than are predicted by simple models, which assume that dissociative recombination is the primary formation pathway for OH and H2O. Building on the 2002 work of Neufeld and coworkers, we present photochemistry models including additional chemical effects, which can also explain the observed OH and H2O column densities, as well as the observed H2O/CO abundance ratios.

Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite Observations of the Martian Atmosphere: Temperature and Vertical Distribution of Water Vapor

We report the first detections of absorption features in the submillimeter spectrum of Mars that are due to the H2O (110-101) and 13CO (5-4) rotational transitions. Observations were obtained over several days near the planets closest approach to Earth in 1999 April. These observations simultaneously provide us with an opportunity to derive the atmospheric temperature structure and to measure directly the distribution of water vapor with altitude. The Martian atmosphere is found to be relatively cool, consistent with results found from ground-based millimeter observations of CO. The distribution of water in the Martian atmosphere matches a profile of constant, 100% saturation from 10 to 45 km altitude.