Open AccessOxygen abundances in the most oxygen‐rich spiral galaxies
Author(s) -
Pilyugin Leonid S.,
Thuan Trinh X.,
Vílchez José M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10033.x
Subject(s) - physics , oxygen , spiral galaxy , abundance (ecology) , milky way , astrophysics , galaxy , spiral (railway) , astronomy , biology , ecology , mathematical analysis , quantum mechanics , mathematics
Oxygen abundances in the spiral galaxies expected to be richest in oxygen are estimated. The new abundance determinations are based on the recently discovered ff relation between auroral and nebular oxygen‐line fluxes in high‐metallicity H ii regions. We find that the maximum gas‐phase oxygen abundance in the central regions of spiral galaxies is 12+log(O/H) ∼ 8.75. This value is significantly lower (by a factor of ≳5) than the previously accepted value. The central oxygen abundance in the Milky Way is similar to that in other large spirals.