8,804 research outputs found
Properties of the giant HII regions and bar in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC5430
In order to better understand the impact of the bar on the evolution of
spiral galaxies, we measure the properties of giant HII regions and the bar in
the SB(s)b galaxy NGC5430. We use two complementary data sets, both obtained at
the Observatoire du Mont-M\'egantic: a hyperspectral data cube from the imaging
Fourier transform spectrograph SpIOMM, and high-resolution spectra across the
bar from a long-slit spectrograph. We flux-calibrate SpIOMM spectra for the
first time, and produce H{\alpha} and [NII]{\lambda}6584\r{A} intensity maps
from which we identify 51 giant HII regions in the spiral arms and bar. We
evaluate the type of activity, the oxygen abundance and the age of the young
populations contained in these giant HII regions and in the bar. Thus, we
confirm that NGC5430 does not harbour a strong AGN, and that its Wolf-Rayet
knot shows a pure HII region nature. We find no variation in abundance or age
between the bar and spiral arms, nor as a function of galactocentric radius.
These results are consistent with the hypothesis that a chemical mixing
mechanism is at work in the galaxy's disc to flatten the oxygen abundance
gradient. Using the starburst99 model, we estimate the ages of the young
populations, and again find no variations in age between the bar and the arms
or as a function of radius. Instead, we find evidence for two galaxy-wide waves
of star formation, about 7.1 Myr and 10.5 Myr ago. While the bar in NGC5430 is
an obvious candidate to trigger these two episodes, it is not clear how the bar
could induce widespread star formation on such a short time-scale.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA
An Automated Method for the Detection and Extraction of HI Self-Absorption in High-Resolution 21cm Line Surveys
We describe algorithms that detect 21cm line HI self-absorption (HISA) in
large data sets and extract it for analysis. Our search method identifies HISA
as spatially and spectrally confined dark HI features that appear as negative
residuals after removing larger-scale emission components with a modified CLEAN
algorithm. Adjacent HISA volume-pixels (voxels) are grouped into features in
(l,b,v) space, and the HI brightness of voxels outside the 3-D feature
boundaries is smoothly interpolated to estimate the absorption amplitude and
the unabsorbed HI emission brightness. The reliability and completeness of our
HISA detection scheme have been tested extensively with model data. We detect
most features over a wide range of sizes, linewidths, amplitudes, and
background levels, with poor detection only where the absorption brightness
temperature amplitude is weak, the absorption scale approaches that of the
correlated noise, or the background level is too faint for HISA to be
distinguished reliably from emission gaps. False detection rates are very low
in all parts of the parameter space except at sizes and amplitudes approaching
those of noise fluctuations. Absorption measurement biases introduced by the
method are generally small and appear to arise from cases of incomplete HISA
detection. This paper is the third in a series examining HISA at high angular
resolution. A companion paper (Paper II) uses our HISA search and extraction
method to investigate the cold atomic gas distribution in the Canadian Galactic
Plane Survey.Comment: 39 pages, including 14 figure pages; to appear in June 10 ApJ, volume
626; figure quality significantly reduced for astro-ph; for full resolution,
please see http://www.ras.ucalgary.ca/~gibson/hisa/cgps1_survey
A VLT VIMOS integral field spectroscopic study of perturbed blue compact galaxies: UM 420 and UM 462
We report on optical integral field spectroscopy of two unrelated blue
compact galaxies mapped with the 13 x 13 arcsec^2 VIMOS integral field unit at
a resolution of 0.33 x 0.33 arcsec^2. Continuum and background subtracted
emission line maps in the light of [O III] 5007, H-alpha, and [N II] 6584 are
presented. Both galaxies display signs of ongoing perturbation and/or
interaction. UM 420 is resolved for the first time to be a merging system
composed of two starbursting components with an 'arm-like' structure associated
with the largest component. UM 462 which is a disrupted system of irregular
morphology is resolved into at least four starbursting regions. Maps of the
H-alpha radial velocity and FWHM are discussed. No underlying broad line region
was detected from either galaxy as the emission lines are well-fitted with
single Gaussian profiles only. Electron temperatures and densities as well as
the abundances of helium, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulphur were computed from
spectra integrated over the whole galaxies and for each area of recent star
formation. Maps of the O/H ratio are presented: these galaxies show oxygen
abundances that are ~20 per cent solar. No evidence of substantial abundance
variations across the galaxies that would point to significant nitrogen or
oxygen self-enrichment is found (<0.2 dex limit). Contrary to previous
observations, this analysis does not support the classification of these BCGs
as Wolf-Rayet galaxies as the characteristic broad emission line features have
not been detected in our spectra. Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich emission line
ratio diagrams which were constructed on a pixel by pixel basis indicate that
the optical spectra of these systems are predominantly excited by stellar
photoionization.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figure
The Distribution and Condition of the Warm Molecular Gas in Abell 2597 and Sersic 159-03
We have used the SINFONI integral field spectrograph to map the near-infrared
K-band emission lines of molecular and ionised hydrogen in the central regions
of two cool core galaxy clusters, Abell 2597 and Sersic 159-03. Gas is detected
out to 20 kpc from the nuclei of the brightest cluster galaxies and found to be
distributed in clumps and filaments around it. The ionised and molecular gas
phases trace each other closely in extent and dynamical state. Both gas phases
show signs of interaction with the active nucleus. Within the nuclear regions
the kinetic luminosity of this gas is found to be somewhat smaller than the
current radio luminosity. Outside the nuclear region the gas has a low velocity
dispersion and shows smooth velocity gradients. There is no strong correlation
between the intensity of the molecular and ionised gas emission and either the
radio or X-ray emission. The molecular gas in Abell 2597 and Sersic 159-03 is
well described by a gas in local thermal equilibrium (LTE) with a single
excitation temperature T_exc ~ 2300 K. The emission line ratios do not vary
strongly as function of position, with the exception of the nuclear regions
where the ionised to molecular gas ratio is found decrease. These constant line
ratios imply a single source of heating and excitation for both gas phases.Comment: 44 pages, 32 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
The dark matter halo shape of edge-on disk galaxies - I. HI observations
This is the first paper of a series in which we will attempt to put
constraints on the flattening of dark halos in disk galaxies. We observe for
this purpose the HI in edge-on galaxies, where it is in principle possible to
measure the force field in the halo vertically and radially from gas layer
flaring and rotation curve decomposition respectively. In this paper, we define
a sample of 8 HI-rich late-type galaxies suitable for this purpose and present
the HI observations.Comment: Accepted for publication by Astronomy & Astrophysics. For a higher
resolution version see
http://www.astro.rug.nl/~vdkruit/jea3/homepage/12565.pd
Usefulness of VRML building models in a direction finding context
This paper describes an experiment which aims to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of a Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) building model compared with equivalent architectural plans, for direction finding purposes. The effectiveness and efficiency issues being primarily investigated were number of tasks completed overall and task completion times. The experiment involved a series of tasks where participants had to find a number of locations/objects in a building unknown to them at the outset of the experiment. Statistically significant results are presented for the benefit of the research community, law enforcement officers and fire fighters where it is clear that in this context, the VRML model led to better task completions than the equivalent architectural plans. Regarding the task completion times,
no statistical significance was found. Given the current climate of security issues and terrorist threats, it is important that law enforcement officers have at their disposal the best information possible regarding the layout of a building, whilst keeping costs down. This also applies to fire fighters when rescuing victims. This experiment has shown that a VRML model leads to better
task completions in direction finding
Discovery of hydroxyl and water masers in R Aquarii and H1-36 Arae
We present the first results from an all-sky maser-line survey of symbiotic
Miras. Interferometric spectral-line observations of R Aqr and H1-36 Arae have
revealed a 22-GHz water maser in the former and 1612-MHz hydroxyl and weak
22-GHz water maser emission from the latter. H1-36 has thus become the first
known symbiotic OH/IR star. We have also detected weak OH line emission from
the vicinity of R Aqr, but we note that there are small discrepencies between
the OH- and H2O-line velocities and positions. These detections demonstrate
unequivocally that dust can shield some circumstellar hydroxyl and water
molecules from dissociation, even in systems which possess intense local
sources of UV. Finally, we discuss some of the implications of these
observations. The narrow profile of the water maser in R Aqr means that there
may finally be an opportunity to determine the system's orbital parameters. We
also point out that high resolution synthesis observations may trace the
distribution of dust in H1-36 and R Aqr, possibly throwing light on the
mass-loss process in symbiotic Miras and placing constraints on the amount of
collimation experienced by UV radiation from their hot, compact companions.Comment: 7 pages; no figures attached; LaTex (MN style); postscript figures
via anonymous ftp in /users/ers on astro.caltech.edu; University of Toronto
pre-print; ERSRJI
Structure and Feedback in 30 Doradus I: Observations
We have completed a a new optical imaging and spectrophotometric survey of a
140 x 80 pc region of 30 Doradus centered on R136, covering key optical
diagnostic emission lines including \Ha, \Hb, \Hg, [O III]
4363, 4959, 5007, [N II] 6548, 6584, [S II]
6717, 6731 [S III] 6312 and in some locations [S III]
9069. We present maps of fluxes and intensity ratios for these lines,
and catalogs of isolated ionizing stars, elephant-trunk pillars, and edge-on
ionization fronts. The final science-quality spectroscopic data products are
available to the public. Our analysis of the new data finds that, while stellar
winds and supernovae undoubtedly produce shocks and are responsible for shaping
the nebula, there are no global spectral signatures to indicate that shocks are
currently an important source of ionization. We conclude that the considerable
region covered by our survey is well described by photoionization from the
central cluster where the ionizing continuum is dominated by the most massive O
stars. We show that if 30 Dor were viewed at a cosmological distance, its
integrated light would be dominated by its extensive regions of lower
surface-brightness rather than by the bright, eye-catching arcs.Comment: 42 pages, 16 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ
A MUSE map of the central Orion Nebula (M 42)
We present a new integral-field spectroscopic dataset of the central part of
the Orion Nebula (M 42), observed with the MUSE instrument at the ESO VLT. We
reduced the data with the public MUSE pipeline. The output products are two
FITS cubes with a spatial size of ~5.9'x4.9' (corresponding to ~0.76 pc x 0.63
pc) and a contiguous wavelength coverage of 4595...9366 Angstrom, spatially
sampled at 0.2". We provide two versions with a sampling of 1.25 Angstrom and
0.85 Angstrom in dispersion direction. Together with variance cubes these files
have a size of 75 and 110 GiB on disk. They represent one of the largest
integral field mosaics to date in terms of information content. We make them
available for use in the community. To validate this dataset, we compare world
coordinates, reconstructed magnitudes, velocities, and absolute and relative
emission line fluxes to the literature and find excellent agreement. We derive
a two-dimensional map of extinction and present de-reddened flux maps of
several individual emission lines and of diagnostic line ratios. We estimate
physical properties of the Orion Nebula, using the emission line ratios [N II]
and [S III] (for the electron temperature ) and [S II] and [Cl III] (for
the electron density ), and show two-dimensional images of the velocity
measured from several bright emission lines.Comment: Resubmitted to A&A after incorporating referee comments; access to
full dataset via http://muse-vlt.eu/science/data-release
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