The following document lists the file abstract/RWOLSTEN_CARBCHEM.abs
from catalogue VI/111.
A plain copy of the file
(without headers/trailers) may be downloaded.
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.