Abstract
view Abstract Citations References Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS The Surface Brightness of the Milky way Kreiken, E. A. Abstract From the observed numbers of stars in the Selected Areas, as given by van Rhijn, we compute the total amount of integrated starlight L (in magnitudes). There is a positive correlation between the total amount of integrated starlight and the observed surface brightness. For the visual observations the coefficient of correlation is +0.587, while for the photographic observations it is +0.432. In the lower galactic latitudes the observed surface brightness corresponding to the same value of L rapidly increases. By comparing the mean values for latitudes ~3 ~ 50 with those for the latitudes 12° <$ ~ 20° , it appears that in the lower latitudes the surface of an area with a given value of L is about ten times brighter than that of a surface with an identical value of L in the higher latitudes. We conclude that the integrated light of the stars is not the only source from which the surface brightness of the Milky Way originates. Even when it is assumed that in the higher latitudes the surface brightness is entirely due to the diffuse light of the stars, in the lower latitudes this diffuse light only accounts for about io per cent of the total. The distribution of the stars in space, as derived from the observed luminosity-curve A(m), depends systematically on the amount of space absorption. The fraction of the total surface brightness which originates from the integrated light of the stars rapidly decreases as the amount of space absorption in- creases. The increase of the observed surface brightnesses corresponding to the same value of L, as we go to lower latitudes, can be explained as an effect of the increase of the space absorption in the immediate surroundings of the galactic plane or as the effect of the increasing mean distance of the stars toward the lower latitudes. I. INTRODIJCTIO Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: September 1941 DOI: 10.1086/144331 Bibcode: 1941ApJ....94..259K full text sources ADS |
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