The Visual and Ultraviolet Polarimetric Data of alpha Camelopardalis and kappa Cassiopeia: Evidence of Shocked Regions
Abstract
The OB supergiants α Cam and κ Cas are intrinsically very similar stars at comparable distances. Apart from a constant offset in the polarization of ≃0.2%, both stars exhibit the same polarimetric variation between 140° and 800° Å. Several possible mechanisms to explain the polarimetric observations are investigated. We propose that the polarization mechanism may be due to grain formation in an extended shell where the stellar wind and the interstellar medium interact. If this interpretation is correct, then it implies that the physical process giving rise to grain formation is not strongly correlated to the stellar wind parameters.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- July 1995
- DOI:
- 10.1086/175926
- Bibcode:
- 1995ApJ...447..889F
- Keywords:
-
- POLARIZATION;
- STARS: INDIVIDUAL CONSTELLATION NAME: ALPHA CAMELOPARDALIS;
- STARS: INDIVIDUAL CONSTELLATION NAME: KAPPA CASSIOPEIAE;
- STARS: SUPERGIANTS;
- ULTRAVIOLET: STARS