281 research outputs found
Ground-based photometry of the 21-day Neptune HD106315c
Space-based transit surveys such as K2 and TESS allow the detection of small
transiting planets with orbital periods beyond 10 days. Few of these warm
Neptunes are currently known around stars bright enough to allow for detailed
follow-up observations dedicated to their atmospheric characterization. The
21-day period and 3.95 planet HD106315c has been discovered based on
the observation of two of its transits by K2. We have observed HD106315 using
the 1.2m Euler telescope equipped with the EulerCam camera on two instances to
confirm the transit using broad band photometry and refine the planetary
period. Based on two observed transits of HD106315c, we detect its 1 mmag
transit and obtain a precise measurement of the planetary ephemerids, which are
critical for planning further follow-up observations. We have used the attained
precision together with the predicted yield from the TESS mission to evaluate
the potential for ground-based confirmation of Neptune-sized planets found by
TESS. We find that 1-meter-class telescopes on the ground equipped with precise
photometers could substantially contribute to the follow-up of 162 TESS
candidates orbiting stars with magnitudes of . Out of these, 74
planets orbit stars with and 12 planets orbit , which
makes these candidates high-priority objects for atmospheric characterization
with high-end instrumentation.Comment: Published in A&A letters, 4 pages, 3 figure
Stellar twins determine the distance of the Pleiades
© 2016 ESO.Since the release of the Hipparcos catalogue in 1997, the distance to the Pleiades open cluster has been heavily debated. The distance obtained from Hipparcos and those by alternative methods differ by 10 to 15%. As accurate stellar distances are key to understanding stellar structure and evolution, this dilemma puts the validity of some stellar evolution models into question. Using our model-independent method to determine parallaxes based on twin stars, we report individual parallaxes of 15 FGK type stars in the Pleiades in anticipation of the astrometric mission Gaia. These parallaxes give a mean cluster parallax of 7.42 ± 0.09 mas,which corresponds to a mean cluster distance of 134.8 ± 1.7 pc. This value agrees with the current results obtained from stellar evolution models
New ADS Functionality for the Curator
In this paper we provide an update concerning the operations of the NASA
Astrophysics Data System (ADS), its services and user interface, and the
content currently indexed in its database. As the primary information system
used by researchers in Astronomy, the ADS aims to provide a comprehensive index
of all scholarly resources appearing in the literature. With the current effort
in our community to support data and software citations, we discuss what steps
the ADS is taking to provide the needed infrastructure in collaboration with
publishers and data providers. A new API provides access to the ADS search
interface, metrics, and libraries allowing users to programmatically automate
discovery and curation tasks. The new ADS interface supports a greater
integration of content and services with a variety of partners, including ORCID
claiming, indexing of SIMBAD objects, and article graphics from a variety of
publishers. Finally, we highlight how librarians can facilitate the ingest of
gray literature that they curate into our system.Comment: Submitted to the Proceedings of Library and Information Services in
Astronomy VIII, Strasbourg, Franc
NGC 6705 a young -enhanced Open Cluster from OCCASO data
The stellar [/Fe] abundance is sometimes used as a proxy for stellar
age, following standard chemical evolution models for the Galaxy, as seen by
different observational results. In this work we show that the Open Cluster
NGC6705/M11 has a significant -enhancement [/Fe] dex,
despite its young age (300 Myr), challenging the current paradigm. We use
high resolution (R) high signal-to-noise (70) spectra of 8 Red
Clump stars, acquired within the OCCASO survey. We determine very accurate
chemical abundances of several elements, using an equivalent width
methodology (Si, Ca and Ti), and spectral synthesis fits (Mg and O). We obtain
[Si/Fe]=, [Mg/Fe]=, [O/Fe]=,
[Ca/Fe]= and [Ti/Fe]=. Our results place these
cluster within the group of young [/Fe]-enhanced field stars recently
found by several authors in the literature. The ages of our stars have an
uncertainty of around 50 Myr, much more precise than for field stars. By
integrating the cluster's orbit in several non-axisymmetric Galactic
potentials, we establish the M11's most likely birth radius to lie between
6.8-7.5 kpc from the Galactic center, not far from its current position. With
the robust Open Cluster age scale, our results prove that a moderate
[/Fe]-enhancement is no guarantee for a star to be old, and that not
all -enhanced stars can be explained with an evolved blue straggler
scenario. Based on our orbit calculations, we further argue against a Galactic
bar origin of M11.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted in A&
Testing the chemical tagging technique with open clusters
Context. Stars are born together from giant molecular clouds and, if we
assume that the priors were chemically homogeneous and well-mixed, we expect
them to share the same chemical composition. Most of the stellar aggregates are
disrupted while orbiting the Galaxy and most of the dynamic information is
lost, thus the only possibility of reconstructing the stellar formation history
is to analyze the chemical abundances that we observe today.
Aims. The chemical tagging technique aims to recover disrupted stellar
clusters based merely on their chemical composition. We evaluate the viability
of this technique to recover co-natal stars that are no longer gravitationally
bound.
Methods. Open clusters are co-natal aggregates that have managed to survive
together. We compiled stellar spectra from 31 old and intermediate-age open
clusters, homogeneously derived atmospheric parameters, and 17 abundance
species, and applied machine learning algorithms to group the stars based on
their chemical composition. This approach allows us to evaluate the viability
and efficiency of the chemical tagging technique.
Results. We found that stars at different evolutionary stages have distinct
chemical patterns that may be due to NLTE effects, atomic diffusion, mixing,
and biases. When separating stars into dwarfs and giants, we observed that a
few open clusters show distinct chemical signatures while the majority show a
high degree of overlap. This limits the recovery of co-natal aggregates by
applying the chemical tagging technique. Nevertheless, there is room for
improvement if more elements are included and models are improved.Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Corrected
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