Unlike the case of Oph, the SWP data for two well-observed
stars, HD 60753 and BD+75o325 in
Table 2, show clear negative
trends with time (see Figure 5) that cannot be readily attributed
to observational practices or instrumental conditions.
A similar trend may also be present in the data of the A5 V star HD 11636
(not shown), for which the far-UV fluxes are faint.
We might speculate that this apparent trend is actually the norm for UV-faint
sources. For example, it is possible that these trends, if real, are
by-products of an unexplained source of scattered light, i.e., ``the streak,"
which appeared in 1991.
In fact, the scattered light from this artifact introduced a gradient
in the light admitted across both the small and large apertures required
that IUE telescope operators to adopt a new acquisition reference point
in the FES to avoid shifts in the spectra of several km s-1
(Pitts 2000). This displacement is similar to the change in
zero-points documented for HD 60753 and BD+75o325.
Figure 5
Apparent velocity trends with time: (a) HD 60753 and (b) BD+75325.
All data were obtained through the large aperture.
Overall, we find that all but one of the 11 stars in the sample represented
in Table 2 shows a negative slope.
When subjected to a statistical ``Sign Test" (Dixon and Massey 1951),"
the signs of these slopes are weakly significant at the 2 level.
We conclude that over a 15 year interval a trend of
several km s-1 might exist for faint objects. We stress that this
trend is not apparent in our bright objects results.
In contrast to the SWP camera results, we have found no clear
velocity trends for spectra observed with the LWP and LWR camera.
The LWP sample consisted of
observations of eight stars: Sco, 10 Lac,
UMa,
Cas,
HD 93521, RR Tel,
BD+28o4211, and BD+75o325.
The distributions of shifts of all these datasets showed equal numbers of
positive and negative slopes with time, none of which
were significant above the level of 1.5
.
The occurrence in October 1983 of a large ``flare,"
a developing hole in the high voltage assembly, thereby producing a high,
localized background, complicated the analysis of late-epoch data
for this camera. The flare caused the IUE Project to reduce the camera
voltage, resulting in a loss of sensitivity. This sequence of events led
to a curtailment in the camera's use and an abbreviated time interval
used to monitor instrumental trends of well observed objects.
Among our sample of program bright stars and white dwarfs, we were able to
find only two stars,
Cas and
Sco, with an appreciable number
of same-aperture observations before and after the flare. Of these two
targets,
Cas is the better sampled in time. Its cross-correlation
shifts exhibited no trend with time, but they did exhibit a pronounced
increase in scatter (about a factor of two) after 1984.0. The data for
Sco showed an apparent slope of -1 km s-1 yr-1, but this
could be an artifact of a greatly increased scatter after 1984.0.
An examination of the shifts as a function of wavelength for this star
revealed no wavelength-dependence. This would be surprising if the flare
were the cause of wavelength shifts. Our conclusion from this investigation
is that the wavelength zero-points of LWR observations taken after
the 1983 flare event are less reliable than before. However, this may not
be a direct consequence of the flare itself. Rather, we suspect that the
increased scatter arises from the decreased usage of the camera and the
resulting lower accuracy of the necessary redetermination of
positions in the FES used to acquire an object.