The Discovery of a High Redshift X-ray Emitting QSO Very Close to the Nucleus of NGC 7319

A strong X-ray source only 8" from the nucleus of the Sy2 galaxy NGC 7319 in Stephan's Quintet has been discovered by Chandra. We have identified the optical counterpart and show it is a QSO with $z_e = 2.114$. It is also a ULX with $L_x = 1.5 x 10^{40} erg sec^{-1}$. From the optical spectra of the QSO and interstellar gas in the galaxy (z = .022) we show that it is very likely that the QSO and the gas are interacting.Comment: 8 figures, 5 color, minimized ps siz

VLT Observations of NGC 1097\u27s “Dog-Leg” Tidal Stream: Dwarf Spheroidals and Tidal Streams

Aims. We investigate the structure and stellar population of two large stellar condensations (knots A & B) along one of the faint optical “jet-like” tidal streams associated with the spiral NGC 1097, with the goal of establishing their physical association with the galaxy and their origin. Methods. We use the VLT/FORS2 to get deep V-band imaging and low-resolution optical spectra of two knots along NGC 1097\u27s northeast “dog-leg” tidal stream. With this data, we explore their morphology and stellar populations. Results. Spectra were obtained for eleven sources in the field surrounding the tidal stream. The great majority of them turned out to be background or foreground sources, but the redshift of knot A (and perhaps of knot B) is consistent with that of NGC 1097. Using the V-band image of the “dog-leg” tidal feature we find that the two knots match the photometric scaling relations of canonical dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph) very well. Spectral analysis shows that knot A is mainly composed of stars near G-type, with no signs of ongoing star formation. Comparing its spectrum with a library of high resolution spectra of galactic globular clusters (GCs), we find that the stellar population of this dSph-like object is most similar to intermediate to metal rich galactic GCs. We find moreover, that the tidal stream shows an “S” shaped inflection as well as a pronounced stellar overdensity at knot A\u27s position. This suggests that knot A is being tidally stripped, and populating the stellar stream with its stars. Conclusions. We have discovered that two knots along NGC 1097\u27s northeast tidal stream share most of their spectral and photometric properties with ordinary dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph). Moreover, we find strong indications that the “dog-leg” tidal stream arises from the tidal disruption of knot A. Since it has been demonstrated that tidally stripping dSph galaxies need to loose most of their dark matter before starting to loose stars, we suggest that knot A is at present a CDM-poor object

VLT Observations of NGC 1097's "dog-leg" tidal stream

CONTEXT: Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies and tidal streams. AIMS: We investigate the structure and stellar population of two large stellar condensations (knots A & B) along one of the faint optical "jet-like" tidal streams associated with the spiral NGC 1097, with the goal of establishing their physical association with the galaxy and their origin. METHODS: We use the VLT/FORS2 to get deep V-band imaging and low-resolution optical spectra of two knots along NGC 1097's northeast "dog-leg" tidal stream. With this data, we explore their morphology and stellar populations. RESULTS: The FORS2 spectra show that the redshift of knot A (and perhaps of knot B) is consistent with that of NGC 1097. The FORS2 photometry shows that the two knots match very well the photometric scaling relations of canonical dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph). From the spectral analysis we find that knot A is mainly composed of stars near G-type, with no signs of ongoing star formation. Comparing its spectrum to a library of Galactic GC spectra, we find that the stellar population of this dSph-like object is most similar to intermediate to metal rich GCs. We find moreover, that the tidal stream shows an "S" shaped inflection as well as a pronounced stellar overdensity at knot A's position. This suggests that knot A is being tidally stripped, and populates the stellar stream with its stars. CONCLUSIONS: We have discovered that two knots along NGC 1097's northeast tidal stream share most of their spectral and photometric properties with ordinary dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph). Moreover, we find strong indications that the "dog-leg" tidal stream arise from the tidal disruption of knot A. Since it has been demonstrated that tidally stripping dSph galaxies need to loose most of their dark matter before starting to loose stars, we suggest that knot A is at present a CDM-poor object.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

High-precision photometry by telescope defocussing - VI. WASP-24, WASP-25 and WASP-26

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013/) under grant agreement nos. 229517 and 268421. This publication was supported by grants NPRP 09-476-1-078 and NPRP X-019-1-006 from Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). TCH acknowledges financial support from the Korea Research Council for Fundamental Science and Technology (KRCF) through the Young Research Scientist Fellowship Programme and is supported by the KASI (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) grant 2012-1-410-02/2013-9-400-00. SG, XW and XF acknowledge the support from NSFC under the grant no. 10873031. The research is supported by the ASTERISK project (ASTERoseismic Investigations with SONG and Kepler) funded by the European Research Council (grant agreement no. 267864). DR, YD, AE, FF (ARC), OW (FNRS research fellow) and J Surdej acknowledge support from the Communauté française de Belgique – Actions de recherche concertées – Académie Wallonie-Europe.We present time series photometric observations of 13 transits in the planetary systems WASP-24, WASP-25 and WASP-26. All three systems have orbital obliquity measurements, WASP-24 and WASP-26 have been observed with Spitzer, and WASP-25 was previously comparatively neglected. Our light curves were obtained using the telescope-defocussing method and have scatters of 0.5–1.2 mmag relative to their best-fitting geometric models. We use these data to measure the physical properties and orbital ephemerides of the systems to high precision, finding that our improved measurements are in good agreement with previous studies. High-resolution Lucky Imaging observations of all three targets show no evidence for faint stars close enough to contaminate our photometry. We confirm the eclipsing nature of the star closest to WASP-24 and present the detection of a detached eclipsing binary within 4.25 arcmin of WASP-26.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The VPOS: a vast polar structure of satellite galaxies, globular clusters and streams around the Milky Way

It has been known for a long time that the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way (MW) show a significant amount of phase-space correlation, they are distributed in a highly inclined Disc of Satellites (DoS). We have extended the previous studies on the DoS by analysing for the first time the orientations of streams of stars and gas, and the distributions of globular clusters within the halo of the MW. It is shown that the spatial distribution of MW globular clusters classified as young halo clusters (YH GC) is very similar to the DoS, while 7 of the 14 analysed streams align with the DoS. The probability to find the observed clustering of streams is only 0.3 per cent when assuming isotropy. The MW thus is surrounded by a vast polar structure (VPOS) of subsystems (satellite galaxies, globular clusters and streams), spreading from Galactocentric distances as small as 10 kpc out to 250 kpc. These findings demonstrate that a near-isotropic infall of cosmological sub-structure components onto the MW is essentially ruled out because a large number of infalling objects would have had to be highly correlated, to a degree not natural for dark matter sub-structures. The majority of satellites, streams and YH GCs had to be formed as a correlated population. This is possible in tidal tails consisting of material expelled from interacting galaxies. We discuss the tidal scenario for the formation of the VPOS, including successes and possible challenges. The potential consequences of the MW satellites being tidal dwarf galaxies are severe. If all the satellite galaxies and YH GCs have been formed in an encounter between the young MW and another gas-rich galaxy about 10-11 Gyr ago, then the MW does not have any luminous dark-matter substructures and the missing satellites problem becomes a catastrophic failure of the standard cosmological model.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. An animation of Figure 5 can be found at http://youtu.be/nUwxv-WGfH

High-precision photometry by telescope defocussing - VI. WASP-24, WASP-25 andWASP-26*

We present time series photometric observations of 13 transits in the planetary systems WASP-24, WASP-25 and WASP-26. All three systems have orbital obliquity measurements, WASP-24 andWASP-26 have been observed with Spitzer, andWASP-25 was previously comparatively neglected. Our light curves were obtained using the telescope-defocussing method and have scatters of 0.5-1.2 mmag relative to their best-fitting geometric models. We use these data to measure the physical properties and orbital ephemerides of the systems to high precision, finding that our improved measurements are in good agreement with previous studies. High-resolution Lucky Imaging observations of all three targets show no evidence for faint stars close enough to contaminate our photometry. We confirm the eclipsing nature of the star closest to WASP-24 and present the detection of a detached eclipsing binary within 4.25 arcmin of WASP-26

Physical properties of the planetary systems WASP-45 and WASP-46 from simultaneous multiband photometry

Accurate measurements of the physical characteristics of a large number of exoplanets are useful to strongly constrain theoretical models of planet formation and evolution, which lead to the large variety of exoplanets and planetary-system configurations that have been observed. We present a study of the planetary systemsWASP-45 andWASP-46, both composed of a mainsequence star and a close-in hot Jupiter, based on 29 new high-quality light curves of transits events. In particular, one transit of WASP-45 b and four of WASP-46 b were simultaneously observed in four optical filters, while one transit of WASP-46 b was observed with the NTT obtaining a precision of 0.30 mmag with a cadence of roughly 3 min. We also obtained five new spectra of WASP-45 with the FEROS spectrograph. We improved by a factor of 4 the measurement of the radius of the planet WASP-45 b, and found that WASP-46 b is slightly less massive and smaller than previously reported. Both planets now have a more accurate measurement of the density (0.959 ± 0.077 ρJup instead of 0.64 ± 0.30 ρJup for WASP-45 b, and 1.103 ± 0.052 ρJup instead of 0.94 ± 0.11 ρJup for WASP-46 b). We tentatively detected radius variations with wavelength for both planets, in particular in the case of WASP-45 b we found a slightly larger absorption in the redder bands than in the bluer ones. No hints for the presence of an additional planetary companion in the two systems were found either from the photometric or radial velocity measurements

Physical properties of the planetary systems WASP-45 and WASP-46 from simultaneous multiband photometry

Accurate measurements of the physical characteristics of a large number of exoplanets are useful to strongly constrain theoretical models of planet formation and evolution, which lead to the large variety of exoplanets and planetary-system configurations that have been observed. We present a study of the planetary systems WASP-45 and WASP-46, both composed of a main-sequence star and a close-in hot Jupiter, based on 29 new high-quality light curves of transits events. In particular, one transit of WASP-45 b and four of WASP-46 b were simultaneously observed in four optical filters, while one transit of WASP-46 b was observed with the NTT obtaining a precision of 0.30 mmag with a cadence of roughly 3 min. We also obtained five new spectra of WASP-45 with the FEROS spectrograph. We improved by a factor of 4 the measurement of the radius of the planet WASP-45 b, and found that WASP-46 b is slightly less massive and smaller than previously reported. Both planets now have a more accurate measurement of the density (0.959 ± 0.077 ρJup instead of 0.64 ± 0.30 ρJup for WASP-45 b, and 1.103 ± 0.052 ρJup instead of 0.94 ± 0.11 ρJup for WASP-46 b). We tentatively detected radius variations with wavelength for both planets, in particular in the case of WASP-45 b we found a slightly larger absorption in the redder bands than in the bluer ones. No hints for the presence of an additional planetary companion in the two systems were found either from the photometric or radial velocity measurements

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Lucky Imaging photometry of Luhman 16AB (Mancini+, 2015)

Photometric light curves of Luhman 16A and Luhman 16B. (2 data files). <P /

Astronomical Distance Determination in the Space Age: Secondary Distance Indicators

The formal division of the distance indicators into primary and secondary leads to difficulties in description of methods which can actually be used in two ways: with, and without the support of the other methods for scaling. Thus instead of concentrating on the scaling requirement we concentrate on all methods of distance determination to extragalactic sources which are designated, at least formally, to use for individual sources. Among those, the Supernovae Ia is clearly the leader due to its enormous success in determination of the expansion rate of the Universe. However, new methods are rapidly developing, and there is also a progress in more traditional methods. We give a general overview of the methods but we mostly concentrate on the most recent developments in each field, and future expectations. © 2018, The Author(s)