International Ultraviolet Explorer observations of stars in 30 Doradus - Extinction and stellar continua

A study of ultraviolet interstellar extinction in and near the core of the 30 Doradus nebula is presented. The pair method is used to determine the shape of the ultraviolet extinction curve, and reddened stars from within 80 pc of the core and unreddened stars from a variety of locations in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are considered. All stars near the core appear to be reddened by E(B-V) = 0.09-0.16 with an extinction law similar to previous LMC extinction laws. Some stars, including R136a, R145, and R147, are additionally reddened by E(B-V) = 0.18 with a 'nebular-type' extinction law. A model consisting of a layer of 'LMC foreground dust' which affects all of the stars and a deeper layer of 'nebular dust' which affects some of the stars is used for an explanation of the extinction properties. The extinction curves are then applied to the ultraviolet energy distribution of R136a for a determination of its intrinsic continuum shape. Evidence showing that the brightest LMC OB supergiants have intrinsic (B-V) colors and UV-to-visual continuum slopes which are redder than expected is presented.