Identification of Lines in the Satellite Ultraviolet: The Spectrum of Tau Scorpii

Abstract

The method of wavelength coincidence statistics (WCS) is applied to the ultraviolet spectra of Tau Sco obtained by the IUE. No identifications of elements heavier than Zn were made. With the exception of Zn IV, all identifications had been previously made in an exhaustive study of Copernicus spectra by Rogerson and Ewell (1985). A comparison of the identifications made in the two studies is in very good agreement for those spectra rich in lines, where the WCS parameters indicate the strong presence of the species. Useful information is added by WCS in cases where species are only weakly, or arguably, present. It is shown that WCS is an important tool in the exploration of any complicated stellar spectrum, and even in the case of a spectrum that has been well studied by traditional methods, it adds important information.