Ultraviolet Observations of SN1987A with the IUE Satellite

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	      Reference: Pun, C. S. J. et al. 1995, ApJS, accepted	


	This data archive consists of ultraviolet spectra of SN1987A
obtained with the IUE satellite from 24 Feb 1987 (day 1.6) to 9 June 1992
(day 1567) at both the GSFC and VILSPA IUE observatories. Spectra taken by
both the Short Wave Prime (SWP: 1150 --- 1975 A) and the Long Wave Prime
(LWP: 1975 --- 3300 A) cameras are included. The spectral data are stored
in FITS format. The contents of each TAR file are listed as follows:


iue_swp_backgd_fits.tar : SN87A SWP spectra (day 1301 --- 1567) that are
			  averaged to give the flux of the background stars.
			  The individual spectra are named following the
			  convention: "swp.*.fits" where * denotes the
			  IUE image number. The same naming scheme is used
			  for all the SWP spectra in the data set while all
			  the LWP spectra are similarly called "lwp.*.fits".

iue_lwp_backgd_fits.tar : SN87A LWP spectra (day 1301 --- 1567) that are
			  averaged to give the flux of the background stars.

iue_swp_data_fits.tar   : SN87A SWP spectra (day 1.6 --- 1248)

iue_lwp_data_fits.tar   : SN87A LWP spectra (day 1.6 --- 1248)

iue_opt_fits.tar	: Combined IUE and CTIO (Phillips et al. 1988,
			  AJ, 95, 1087; Phillips et al. 1990, AJ, 99, 1133;
			  Suntzeff et al. 1991, AJ, 102, 1118) spectra of
			  SN87A from day 1.7 to day 1050. The individual
			  spectra are named following the convention 
			  "dat*.fits" where * denotes the time of observation
			  in units of days after outburst.

tables.2-3.tex		: The journal of all the observations prepared in
			  the planotable format of the AASTeX package.
				Table 2a: iue_swp_backgd_fits.tar
				Table 2b: iue_lwp_backgd_fits.tar
				Table 3a: iue_swp_data_fits.tar
				Table 2b: iue_lwp_data_fits.tar


	The spectra in the iue_swp_backgd_fits.tar file are averaged to
give the background star spectrum in the SWP camera wavelength range.
This spectrum has already been subtracted from all the data in the
iue_swp_data_fits.tar file. Similar procedures are followed for the LWP
files in iue_lwp_data_fits.tar with the background averaged from the spectra
in the iue_lwp_backgd_fits.tar file.

	The IUE spectra in this dataset have all been corrected for the 
interstellar extinction. We have adopted the reddening values of 
E(B-V) = 0.06 and 0.09 respectively for the galactic and LMC corrections. 
The extinction function of Seaton (1979, MNRAS, 187, 73P) is used for the 
galactic reddening correction while the 30 Doradus extinction curve formatted 
by Fitzpatrick (1986, AJ, 92, 1068) is used for the LMC correction. The ratio 
of visual extinction over the color excess, R_V = A_V / E(B-V), is assumed 
to be 3.1, the standard value for the diffuse interstellar medium. The CTIO 
spectra are corrected for interstellar extinction with the average extinction 
law of Cardelli, Clayton, & Mathis (1989, ApJ, 345, 245) with E(B-V) = 0.15 
and R_V = 3.1.