Diffraction-limited near-IR imaging at Keck reveals asymmetric, time-variable nebula around carbon star CIT 6

We present multi-epoch, diffraction-limited images of the nebula around the carbon star CIT 6 at 2.2 microns and 3.1 microns from aperture masking on the Keck-I telescope. The near-IR nebula is resolved into two main components, an elongated, bright feature showing time-variable asymmetry and a fainter component about 60 milliarcseconds away with a cooler color temperature. These images were precisely registered (~35 milliarcseconds) with respect to recent visible images from the Hubble Space Telescope (Trammell et al. 2000), which showed a bipolar structure in scattered light. The dominant near-IR feature is associated with the northern lobe of this scattering nebula, and the multi-wavelength dataset can be understood in terms of a bipolar dust shell around CIT 6. Variability of the near-IR morphology is qualitatively consistent with previously observed changes in red polarization, caused by varying illumination geometry due to non-uniform dust production. The blue emission morphology and polarization properties can not be explained by the above model alone, but require the presence of a wide binary companion in the vicinity of the southern polar lobe. The physical mechanisms responsible for the breaking of spherical symmetry around extreme carbon stars, such as CIT 6 and IRC+10216, remain uncertain.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures (one in color), to appear in the Astrophysical Journa

Faint HI 21-cm Emission Line Wings at Forbidden-Velocities

We present the results of a search for faint HI 21-cm emission line wings at velocities forbidden by Galactic rotation in the Galactic plane using the Leiden/Dwingeloo HI Survey data and the HI Southern Galactic Plane Survey data. These ``forbidden-velocity wings (FVWs)'' appear as protruding excessive emission in comparison with their surroundings in limited (< 2 deg) spatial regions over velocity extent more than ~20 km/s in large-scale (l-v) diagrams. Their high-velocities imply that there should be some dynamical phenomena associated. We have identified 87 FVWs. We present their catalog, and discuss their distribution and statistical properties. We found that 85% of FVWs are not coincident with known supernova remnants (SNRs), galaxies, or high-velocity clouds. Their natures are currently unknown. We suspect that many of them are fast-moving HI shells and filaments associated with the oldest SNRs that are essentially invisible except via their HI line emission. We discuss other possible origins.Comment: 41 pages, 14 figures, to be published in apj

Cool carbon stars in the halo: new very red or distant objects

The goal of this paper is to present and analyse a new sample of cool carbon (C)stars located in the halo. Twenty three new C stars were discovered. Spectra are typical of N-type stars with C2 and CN bands and sometimes Halpha in emission. ... Four objects are particularly red with J-K > 3, with 2 located at more than 5 kpc. from the Galactic plane. Eight additional objects with similar properties are found in the literature and our previous works. These 12 C stars could be useful to study mass loss at low metallicity. Two objects are at distances of 95 and 110 kpc. They are located in the region with galactocentric Z < -60 kpc in which the model of Law et al. predicts the Sgr stream to have a loop. (Abstact abridged)Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, accepted by A

Determination of tomato quality with hyperspectral imaging

Received: February 1st, 2023 ; Accepted: July 14th, 2023 ; Published: October 13th, 2023 ; Correspondence: [email protected] (Solanum lycopersicum L.) are a widely used vegetable in the human diet throughout the year, both fresh and in various processed products. Tomatoes contain compounds important to human health and are an important source of vitamins, antioxidants, and mineral elements. Performing biochemical analyses is an expensive, environmentally unfriendly and time-consuming process; therefore, a way to determine the biochemical composition of tomatoes using non-destructive methods is being sought. The study includes 45 varieties of tomatoes with different colors - red, pink, orange, brown, yellow, and bicolor tomato fruits. The content of dry matter, soluble dry matter, titratable acidity, lycopene, β-carotene, total phenol, and flavonoids was determined by standard biochemical procedure. Reflectance spectrums of tomato fruits were obtained with Remote Sensing Portable Spectroradiometer RS-3500 (Ltd. Spectral Evolution, Haverhill, MA, USA) at the wavelength 350–2,500 nm with a 1 nm interval. In order to determine the content of various biochemical parameters in tomatoes, the vegetation indices found in the literature were used, and new ones were developed. The research demonstrated that the developed vegetative indices allow to detect lycopene and β-carotene content non-destructively. For the determination of the dry matter, soluble solids and phenolic content, indices designed for detecting water content can be used, but their correlation coefficients with chemical methods are moderately high - 0.65, 0.56 and 0.57, respectively. It was found that the best correlation between biochemically detected parameters and vegetation indices is for lycopene > β-carotene > dry matter> total phenols = titratable acidity ≥ soluble solids > taste index > flavonoids

Tycho 2 stars with infrared excess in the MSX Point Source Catalogue

Stars of all evolutionary phases have been found to have excess infrared emission due to the presence of circumstellar material. To identify such stars, we have positionally correlated the infrared MSX point source catalogue and the Tycho 2 optical catalogue. A near/mid infrared colour criteria has been developed to select infrared excess stars. The search yielded 1938 excess stars, over half (979) have never previously been detected by IRAS. The excess stars were found to be young objects such as Herbig Ae/Be and Be stars, and evolved objects such as OH/IR and carbon stars. A number of B type excess stars were also discovered whose infrared colours could not be readily explained by known catalogued objects.Comment: Added Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Evidence for a companion to BM Gem, a silicate carbon star

Balmer and Paschen continuum emission as well as Balmer series lines of P Cygni-type profile from H_gamma through H_23 are revealed in the violet spectra of BM Gem, a carbon star associated with an oxygen-rich circumstellar shell (`silicate carbon star') observed with the high dispersion spectrograph (HDS) on the Subaru telescope. The blue-shifted absorption in the Balmer lines indicates the presence of an outflow, the line of sight velocity of which is at least 400 km s^-1, which is the highest outflow velocity observed to date in a carbon star. We argue that the observed unusual features in BM Gem are strong evidence for the presence of a companion, which should form an accretion disk that gives rise to both an ionized gas region and a high velocity, variable outflow. The estimated luminosity of ~0.2 (0.03-0.6) L_sun for the ionized gas can be maintained by a mass accretion rate to a dwarf companion of ~10^-8 M_sun yr^-1, while ~10^-10 M_sun yr^-1 is sufficient for accretion to a white dwarf companion. These accretion rates are feasible for some detached binary configurations on the basis of the Bond-Hoyle type accretion process. We concluded that the carbon star BM Gem is in a detached binary system with a companion of low mass and low luminosity. However, we are unable to determine whether this companion object is a dwarf or a white dwarf. The upper limits for binary separation are 210 AU and 930 AU for a dwarf and a white dwarf, respectively. We also note that the observed features of BM Gem mimic those of Mira (omi Cet), which may suggest actual similarities in their binary configurations and circumstellar structures.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in Ap

Reprocessing the Hipparcos data for evolved stars III Revised Hipparcos period-luminosity relationship for galactic long-period variable stars

We analyze the K band luminosities of a sample of galactic long-period variables using parallaxes measured by the Hipparcos mission. The parallaxes are in most cases re-computed from the Hipparcos Intermediate Astrometric Data using improved astrometric fits and chromaticity corrections. The K band magnitudes are taken from the literature and from measurements by COBE, and are corrected for interstellar and circumstellar extinction. The sample contains stars of several spectral types: M, S and C, and of several variability classes: Mira, semiregular SRa, and SRb. We find that the distribution of stars in the period-luminosity plane is independent of circumstellar chemistry, but that the different variability types have different P-L distributions. Both the Mira variables and the SRb variables have reasonably well-defined period-luminosity relationships, but with very different slopes. The SRa variables are distributed between the two classes, suggesting that they are a mixture of Miras and SRb, rather than a separate class of stars. New period-luminosity relationships are derived based on our revised Hipparcos parallaxes. The Miras show a similar period-luminosity relationship to that found for Large Magellanic Cloud Miras by Feast et al. (1989). The maximum absolute K magnitude of the sample is about -8.2 for both Miras and semi-regular stars, only a little fainter than the expected AGB limit. We show that the stars with the longest periods (P>400d) have high mass loss rates and are almost all Mira variables.Comment: Comments welcome. Submitted to A&A 11 pages, 7 figs, 3 table

R Coronae Borealis stars in the Galactic Bulge discovered by EROS-2

Rare types of variable star may give unique insight into short-lived stages of stellar evolution. The systematic monitoring of millions of stars and advanced light curve analysis techniques of microlensing surveys make them ideal for discovering also such rare variable stars. One example is the R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars, a rare type of evolved carbon-rich supergiant. We have conducted a systematic search of the EROS-2 database for the Galactic catalogue Bulge and spiral arms to find Galactic RCB stars. The light curves of $\sim$100 million stars, monitored for 6.7 years (from July 1996 to February 2003), have been analysed to search for the main signature of RCB stars, large and rapid drops in luminosity. Follow-up spectroscopy has been used to confirm the photometric candidates. We have discovered 14 new RCB stars, all in the direction of the Galactic Bulge, bringing the total number of confirmed Galactic RCB stars to about 51. After reddening correction, the colours and absolute magnitudes of at least 9 of the stars are similar to those of Magellanic RCB stars. This suggests that these stars are in fact located in the Galactic Bulge, making them the first RCB stars discovered in the Bulge. The localisation of the 5 remaining RCBs is more uncertain: 4 are either located behind the Bulge at an estimated maximum distance of 14 kpc or have an unusual thick circumstellar shell; the other is a DY Per RCB which may be located in the Bulge, even if it is fainter than the known Magellanic DY Per. From the small scale height found using the 9 new Bulge RCBs, $61<h^{RCB}_{Bulge}<246$ pc (95% C.L.), we conclude that the RCB stars follow a disk-like distribution inside the Bulge.Comment: 20 pages, 26 figures, Accepted in A&

The unusual hydrocarbon emission from the early carbon star HD 100764: The connection between aromatics and aliphatics

We have used the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) on the Spitzer Space Telescope to obtain spectra of HD 100764, an apparently single carbon star with a circumstellar disk. The spectrum shows emission features from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are shifted to longer wavelengths than normally seen, as characteristic of ``class C'' systems in the classification scheme of Peeters et al. All seven of the known class C PAH sources are illuminated by radiation fields that are cooler than those which typically excite PAH emission features. The observed wavelength shifts are consistent with hydrocarbon mixtures containing both aromatic and aliphatic bonds. We propose that the class C PAH spectra are distinctive because the carbonaceous material has not been subjected to a strong ultraviolet radiation field, allowing relatively fragile aliphatic materials to survive.Comment: 11 pages (in emulateapj), 5 tables, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Faint High Latitude Carbon Stars Discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Methods and Initial Results

We report the discovery of 39 Faint High Latitude Carbon Stars (FHLCs) from Sloan Digital Sky Survey commissioning data. The objects, each selected photometrically and verified spectroscopically, range over 16.6 < r* < 20.0, and show a diversity of temperatures as judged by both colors and NaD line strengths. At the completion of the Sloan Survey, there will be many hundred homogeneously selected and observed FHLCs in this sample. We present proper motion measures for each object, indicating that the sample is a mixture of extremely distant (>100 kpc) halo giant stars, useful for constraining halo dynamics, plus members of the recently-recognized exotic class of very nearby dwarf carbon (dC) stars. Motions, and thus dC classification, are inferred for 40-50 percent of the sample, depending on the level of statistical significance invoked. The new list of dC stars presented here, although selected from only a small fraction of the final SDSS, doubles the number of such objects found by all previous methods. (Abstract abridged).Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal, Vol. 124, Sep. 2002, 40 pages, 7 figures, AASTeX v5.