HST Low Resolution Stellar Library

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive low-resolution spectral library of 514 stars observed with HST/STIS, covering UV to near-infrared wavelengths, enabling studies of stellar activity and spectral features across a broad temperature range.

Contribution

The study provides a fully reduced, flux-calibrated spectral library with corrections for scattered light and pointing errors, covering a broad wavelength range for 514 stars, including UV spectra.

Findings

Mg II 2800 emission strongly anti-correlates with temperature.

Chromospheric activity varies with stellar temperature and is universally present below 5000 K.

Hα and Mg II emissions are decoupled and show different behaviors.

Abstract

Hubble Space Telescope's (HST) Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) targeted 556 stars in a long-running program called Next Generation Spectral Library (NGSL) via proposals GO9088, GO9786, GO10222, and GO13776. Exposures through three low resolution gratings provide wavelength coverage from 0.2 $< \lambda <$ 1 $\mu$m at $\lambda/\Delta\lambda\sim$ 1000, providing unique coverage in the ultraviolet (UV). The UV grating (G230LB) scatters red light and this results in unwanted flux that becomes especially troubling for cool stars. We applied scattered light corrections based on \cite{2022stis.rept....5W} and flux corrections arising from pointing errors relative to the center of the 0\farcs2 slit. We present 514 fully reduced spectra, fluxed, dereddened, and cross-correlated to zero velocity. Because of the broad spectral range, we can simultaneously study H$\alpha$ and Mg II $\lambda$2800, indicators of chromospheric activity. Their behaviours are decoupled. Besides three cool dwarfs and one giant with mild flares in H$\alpha$, only Be stars show strong H$\alpha$ emission. Mg2800 emission, however, strongly anti-correlates with temperature such that warm stars show absorption and stars cooler than $5000 \: \! \rm{K}$ universally show chromospheric emission regardless of dwarf/giant status or metallicity. Transformed to Mg2800 flux emerging from the stellar surface, we find a correlation with temperature with approximately symmetric astrophysical scatter, in contrast to other workers who find a basal level with asymmetric scatter to strong values. Unsurprisingly, we confirm that Mg2800 activity is variable.