Near-infrared photometry of the young open clusters NGC 1893 and Berkeley 86

We present photometry in the J and K near-infrared bands for two regions centered on the young open clusters NGC 1893 and Berkeley 86. We study 700 stars down to K = 17 in the field of NGC 1893, and about 2000 stars in the field of Berkeley 86 down to K$\sim$ 16.5, for which near-infrared photometry was insofar not available. Coupling J-K data with UBV photometry taken from literature, we produce reddening corrected colour-magnitude diagrams. We find that our data are consistent with previous determinations: the clusters are roughly coeval with an age between 4 and 6 million years. The mean reddening (measured as E(J-K)) values turn out to be 0.35 and 0.50 for NGC 1893 and Berkeley 86, respectively.Using colour-colour plots we discuss the presence of candidate pre-main sequence stars showing infrared excess. Candidates are found in both cluster regions, confirming the young age of these clusters.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, Astronomy & Astrophysics Main Journal Accepte

Observing the Seyfert 2 nucleus of NGC 1068 with the VLT Interferometer

Dusty tori have been suggested to play a crucial role in determining the physical characteristics of active galactic nuclei (AGN), but investigation of their properties has stalled for lack of high resolution mid-IR imaging. Recently, a long-awaited breakthrough in this field was achieved: NGC 1068, a nearby AGN, was the first extragalactic object to be observed with a mid-IR interferometer, thereby obtaining the needed angular resolution to study the alleged torus. In this proceeding, first the field of AGN research is briefly reviewed, with an emphasis on models of dusty tori. Second, the general properties of the key object NGC 1068 are discussed. Third, the MIDI mid-IR interferometric data set is presented together with a first attempt to interpret this data in the context of tori models. Fourth, preliminary MIDI interferometric spectra of the nucleus of the nearby starbursting galaxy Circinus are presented. Finally, we briefly discuss the prospects of ESA's Darwin mission for observing nearby and distant AGN. This mission will allow detailed mapping of tori of low luminosity AGN such as NGC 1068 up to redshifts of 1 - 2 and more luminous AGN up to redshift of 10 and beyond (abridged).Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, published in Proceedings of SPIE Volume 5491 "New Frontiers in Stellar Interferometry

Twenty-five subarcsecond binaries discovered by lunar occultations

We report on 25 subarcsecond binaries, detected for the first time by means of lunar occultations in the near-infrared (near-IR) as part of a long-term program using the ISAAC instrument at the ESO Very Large Telescope. The primaries have magnitudes in the range K = 3.8–10.4, and the companions in the range K = 6.4–12.1. The magnitude differences have a median value of 2.8, with the largest being 5.4. The projected separations are in the range 6–748 mas and with a median of 18 mas, or about three times less than the diffraction limit of the telescope. Among our binary detections are a pre-main-sequence star and an enigmatic Mira-like variable previously suspected to have a companion. Additionally, we quote an accurate first-time near-IR detection of a previously known wider binary. We discuss our findings on an individual basis as far as made possible by the available literature, and we examine them from a statistical point of view. We derive a typical frequency of binarity among field stars of ≈10%, in the resolution and sensitivity range afforded by the technique (≈0farcs003 to ≈0farcs5, and K ≈ 12 mag, respectively). This is in line with previous results using the same technique but we point out interesting differences that we can trace up to sensitivity, time sampling, and average distance of the targets. Finally, we discuss the prospects for further follow-up studies

A catalog of near-ir sources found to be unresolved with milliarcsecond resolution

Calibration is one of the long-standing problems in optical interferometric measurements, particularly with long baselines which demand stars with angular sizes on the milliarcsecond scale and no detectable companions. While systems of calibrators have been generally established for the near-infrared in the bright source regime (K ≲ 3 mag), modern large interferometers are sensitive to significantly fainter magnitudes. We aim to provide a list of sources found to be unresolved from direct observations with high angular resolution and dynamic range, which can be used to choose interferometric calibrators. To this purpose, we have used a large number of lunar occultations recorded with the ISAAC instrument at the Very Large Telescope to select sources found to be unresolved and without close companions. An algorithm has been used to determine the limiting angular resolution achieved for each source, taking into account a noise model built from occulted and unocculted portions of the light curves. We have obtained upper limits on the angular sizes of 556 sources, with magnitudes ranging from Ks ≈ 4 to 10, with a median of 7.2 mag. The upper limits on possible undetected companions (within ≈0farcs5) range from Ks ≈ 8 to 13, with a median of 11.5 mag. One-third of the sources have angular sizes ⩽1 mas, and two-thirds have sizes ⩽2 mas. This list of unresolved sources matches well the capabilities of current large interferometric facilities. We also provide available cross-identifications, magnitudes, spectral types, and other auxiliary information. A fraction of the sources are found to be potentially variable. The list covers parts of the Galactic Bulge and in particular the vicinity of the Galactic Center, where extinction is very significant and traditional lists of calibrators are often insufficient

CCD drift-scan imaging lunar occultations: a feasible approach for submeter class telescopes

A CCD drift-scanning technique for lunar occultation (LO) observations is presented. While this approach has been addressed before by Sturmann (\cite{laszlo94}) for the case of large telescopes, the technical validity has never been discussed for sub-meter class telescopes. In contrast to Sturmann's scheme, the proposed technique places the CCD in the image plane of the telescope. This does not represent a problem in the case of small telescopes, where the practical angular resolution attainable by LO is not limited by aperture smoothing. Photon-generated charge is read out at millisecond rates on a column by column basis, as the diffraction pattern of the occulted star is being tracked. Two LO events (SAO 79031 and SAO 77911) were observed to demonstrate the feasibility of the method. Data analysis was carried out, yielding unresolved angular diameters for both objects. We show, however, that the technique could be useful for close binary detections with small telescopes. A discussion of the limiting resolution and magnitude imposed by our instrumentation is carried out, showing that the drift-scanning technique could be extended to 1-2 m telescopes for stellar diameter determination purposes. Finally, we point out that the technical demands required by this technique can be easily met by most small professional observatories and advanced amateurs