Description
We study the IR-through-UV wavelength dependence of 328 Galactic interstellar extinction curves affecting normal, near-main-sequence B and late O stars. We derive the curves using a new technique that employs stellar atmosphere models in lieu of unreddened "standard" stars. Under ideal conditions, this technique is capable of virtually eliminating spectral mismatch errors in the curves. In general, it lends itself to a quantitative assessment of the errors and enables a rigorous testing of the significance of relationships between various curve parameters, regardless of whether their uncertainties are correlated.
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