Abstract
AN extensive ultra-violet nebula surrounding Spica has been reported by Kupperian, Boggess, and Milligan1. Their rocket-borne photon counters yielded an isophotal map of roughly circular extent 22° in diameter, increasing in brightness from the outside towards Spica but reaching the instrumental saturation-level for the central area. If the nebula were due to Lyman-α radiation it would be reasonable to assume that Ha should also be detectable, but no nebula has ever been detected by conventional photographic means. This may have been due to the fact that the strong image of Spica drowns the faint nebula close to the star. On the red plates of the Palomar Sky Survey, the over-exposed image of Spica covers more than 10 min. of arc, while on the blue plates it is nearly three times larger in diameter. The spectrum of Spica itself does not show Ha in emission2.
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Kupperian, jun., J. E., Boggess, III, A., and Milligan, J. E., Astrophys. J., 128, 453 (1958).
Struve, O., Sahade, J., Huang, S.-S., and Zebergs, V., Astrophys. J., 128, 310 (1958).
Johnson, H. M., Pub. Astro. Soc Pac., 73, 73 (1961).
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FEIBELMAN, W. The Alpha Virginis (Spica) Nebula. Nature 191, 1083 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/1911083a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1911083a0
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