The chemical composition gradient across M 33

Vilchez, J. M.; Pagel, B. E. J.; Diaz, Angeles I.; Terlevich, Elena; Edmunds, M. G.
Bibliographical reference

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (ISSN 0035-8711), vol. 235, Dec. 1, 1988, p. 633-653.

Advertised on:
12
1988
Number of authors
5
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
278
Refereed citations
237
Description
The abundance gradient in M 33 is studied on the basis of IPCS and CCD data on emission lines in selected H II regions, using O II, O III, S II, and S III in the wavelength range 3700-9600 A to refine the oxygen abundances in the inner parts as well as to study the behavior of S/O. Spatially resolved observations in each H II region permit the ionization structure to be studied and enable ionization parameters and stellar effective temperatures to be separately determined. The main results are: (1) the hardness of the ionizing radiation and the ionization parameter increase outwards (with diminishing abundances) along the galactic radius; (2) the O/H gradient is steep in the inner regions, but much flatter in the outer regions; (3) N/O is constant over most of the visible disk, but lower in an outer H II region; and (4) the S/H gradient is shallower than the O/H gradient exemplifying what appears to be a universal trend for S/O to decrease with O/H in H II regions. This latter trend is rather unexpected from the viewpoint of nucleosynthesis theory.