Ultraviolet Interstellar Absorption toward HD 163522, a Halo Star at 9 Kiloparsecs in the Direction L = 350 and B = -9

Abstract

UV interstellar absorption line measurements obtained by the IUE satellite toward HD 163522 in the direction l = 349.6 deg and b = -9 deg are analyzed. The UV stellar spectrum of HD 163522 places the star beyond the Galactic center at a distance away from the Galactic plane of z = -1.5 kpc. An absorption-line spectrum with S/N approximately equal to 15-25 is produced. The UV interstellar absorption lines for neutral, and weakly and highly ionized gas are examined, as well as the correlation between profiles and the Galactic rotation. Simple model calculations are performed to quantitatively determine the characteristics of the profiles. The observed absorption-line profiles for Al III, Si IV, C IV, and N V are converted into plots of optical depths vs velocity. A comparison of these plots for the weak and strong member of each doublet reveals that the profiles are not strongly influenced by the presence of unresolved saturated absorption, and the optical depth profiles can therefore be directly converted into measures of N(v), the column density per km/s. The converted column densities are examined.