146 research outputs found
NGC 4314. III. Inflowing Molecular Gas Feeding a Nuclear Ring of Star Formation
NGC 4314 is an early-type barred galaxy containing a nuclear ring of recent
star formation. We present CO(1-0) interferometer data of the bar and
circumnuclear region with 2.3 x 2.2 arcsec spatial resolution and 13 km/s
velocity resolution acquired at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory . These data
reveal a clumpy circumnuclear ring of molecular gas. We also find a peak of CO
inside the ring within 2 arcsec of the optical center that is not associated
with massive star formation. We construct a rotation curve from these CO
kinematic data and the mass model of Combes et al. (1992). Using this rotation
curve, we have identified the location of orbital resonances in the galaxy.
Assuming that the bar ends at corotation, the circumnuclear ring of star
formation lies between two Inner Lindblad Resonances, while the nuclear stellar
bar ends near the IILR. Deviations from circular motion are detected just
beyond the CO and H-alpha ring, where the dust lanes along the leading edge of
the bar intersect the nuclear ring. These non-circular motions along the minor
axis correspond to radially inward streaming motions at speeds of 20 - 90 km/s
and clearly show inflowing gas feeding an ILR ring. There are bright HII
regions near the ends of this inflow region, perhaps indicating triggering of
star formation by the inflow.Comment: 25 pages, uses aasms.sty. 7 Postscript figures, 12 JPEG figures.
Figures may be retrieved from
ftp://clyde.as.utexas.edu/pub/N4314COfigs.tar.g
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Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensor Parallaxes For Four Classical Novae
We have used data obtained with the Fine Guidance Sensors on the Hubble Space Telescope to derive precise astrometric parallaxes for four classical novae: V603 Aql, DQ Her, GK Per, and RR Pic. All four objects exceeded the Eddington limit at visual maximum. Re-examination of the original light curve data for V603 Aql and GK Per has led us to conclude that their visual maxima were slightly brighter than commonly assumed. With known distances, we examine the various maximum magnitude-rate of decline relationships that have been established for classical novae. We find that these four objects show a similar level of scatter about these relationships as seen in larger samples of novae whose distances were determined using indirect techniques. We also examine the nebular expansion parallax method and find that it fails for three of the four objects. In each case it was possible to find an explanation for the failure of that technique to give precise distance estimates. DQ Her appears to suffer from an anomalously high extinction when compared to field stars on its sight line. We suggest that this is likely due to local material, which may also be the source of the IRAS detections of this object.NASA from the Space Telescope Science Institute AR12617NASA NAS 5-26555McDonald Observator
A Technique to Derive Improved Proper Motions for Kepler Objects of Interest
We outline an approach yielding proper motions with higher precision than
exists in present catalogs for a sample of stars in the Kepler field. To
increase proper motion precision we combine first moment centroids of Kepler
pixel data from a single Season with existing catalog positions and proper
motions. We use this astrometry to produce improved reduced proper motion
diagrams, analogous to a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, for stars identified as
Kepler Objects of Interest. The more precise the relative proper motions, the
better the discrimination between stellar luminosity classes. With UCAC4 and
PPMXL epoch 2000 positions (and proper motions from those catalogs as
quasi-bayesian priors) astrometry for a single test Channel (21) and Season (0)
spanning two years yields proper motions with an average per-coordinate proper
motion error of 1.0 millisecond of arc per year, over a factor of three better
than existing catalogs. We apply a mapping between a reduced proper motion
diagram and an HR diagram, both constructed using HST parallaxes and proper
motions, to estimate Kepler Object of Interest K-band absolute magnitudes. The
techniques discussed apply to any future small-field astrometry as well as the
rest of the Kepler field.Comment: Accepted to The Astronomical Journal 15 August 201
The Internal Proper Motions Of Stars In The Open Cluster M35
Relative proper motions, based on 108 orbits of Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensor data extending from 1992 to 2006, are reported for 74 stars in the open cluster M35 (NGC 2168). A subset of 22 of these objects are then used to compute the cluster's internal proper motion dispersions in both right ascension and declination. We find that these dispersions are equal to within their measurement errors. The average one-dimensional dispersion is 0.018 +/- 0.002 arcsec century(-1). When combined with the M35 radial velocity dispersion of 0.65 +/- 0.10 km s(-1) found by Geller et al., this produces a cluster distance of 762 +/- 145 pc. Using isochrone fits to the cluster main sequence, this distance suggests that M35 has an age of about 133 Myr. Although this age is consistent with that typically found for M35, the formal error in the dynamical distance of +/- 19% can accommodate ages between 65 Myr and 201 Myr.McDonald Observator
The Mass of the Candidate Exoplanet Companion to HD136118 from Hubble Space Telescope Astrometry and High-Precision Radial Velocities
We use Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensor astrometry and
high-cadence radial velocities for HD136118 from the HET with archival data
from Lick to determine the complete set of orbital parameters for HD136118b. We
find an orbital inclination for the candidate exoplanet of i_{b} = 163.1 +- 3.0
deg. This establishes the actual mass of the object, M_{b} = 42^{+11}_{-18}
MJup, in contrast to the minimum mass determined from the radial velocity data
only, M_{b}sin{i} ~ 12 MJup. Therefore, the low-mass companion to HD 136118 is
now identified as a likely brown dwarf residing in the "brown dwarf desert".Comment: 35 pages, 12 figures, 10 tables. Accepted for publication in
Astrophysical Journa
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