The Chemical Properties of Milky Way and M31 Globular Clusters: I. A Comparative Study

A comparative analysis is performed between high-quality integrated spectra of 30 globular clusters in M31, 20 Milky Way clusters, and a sample of field and cluster elliptical galaxies. We find that the Lick CN indices in the M31 and Galactic clusters are enhanced relative to the bulges of the Milky Way, M31, and elliptical spheroids. Although not seen in the Lick CN indices, the near-UV cyanogen feature (3883 A) is strongly enhanced in M31 clustesr with respect to the Galactic globulars at metallicities, --1.5<[Fe/H]<--0.3. Carbon shows signs of varying amongst these two groups. For [Fe/H]>--0.8, we observe no siginificant differences in the Hdelta, Hgamma, or Hbeta indices between the M31 and Galactic globulars. The sample of ellipticals lies offset from the loci of all the globulars in the Cyanogen--[MgFe], and Balmer--[MgFe] planes. Six of the M31 cluster spectra appear young, and are projected onto the M31 disk. Population synthesis models suggest that these are metal-rich clusters with ages 100--800 Myr, metallicities --0.20 < [Fe/H] <0.35, and masses 0.7 -7.0x10^4 Msun. Two other young clusters are Hubble V in NGC 205, and an older (~3 Gyr) cluster ~7 kpc away from the plane of the disk. The six clusters projected onto the disk rotate in a similar fashion to the HI gas in M31, and three clusters exhibit thin disk kinematics (Morrison et al.). Dynamical masses and structural parameters are required for these objects to determine whether they are massive open clusters or globular clusters. If the latter, our findings suggest globular clusters may trace the build up of galaxy disks. In either case, we conclude that these clusters are part of a young, metal-rich disk cluster system in M31, possibly as young as 1 Gyr old.Comment: 52 pages, 14 figures, 8 tables, minor revisions in response to referee, conclusions remain the same. Scheduled to appear in the October 2004 issue of The Astronomical Journa

Spectroscopy of Globular Clusters in M81

We present moderate-resolution spectroscopy of globular clusters (GCs) around the Sa/Sb spiral galaxy M81 (NGC 3031). Sixteen candidate clusters were observed with the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrograph on the Keck I telescope. All are confirmed as bona fide GCs, although one of the clusters appears to have been undergoing a transient event during our observations. In general, the M81 globular cluster system (GCS) is found to be very similar to the Milky Way (MW) and M31 systems, both chemically and kinematically. A kinematic analysis of the velocities of 44 M81 GCS, (the 16 presented here and 28 from previous work) strongly suggests that the red, metal-rich clusters are rotating in the same sense as the gas in the disk of M81. The blue, metal-poor clusters have halo-like kinematics, showing no evidence for rotation. The kinematics of clusters whose projected galactocentric radii lie between 4 and 8 kpc suggest that they are rotating much more than those which lie outside these bounds. We suggest that these rotating, intermediate-distance clusters are analogous to the kinematic sub-population in the metal-rich, disk GCs observed in the MW and we present evidence for the existence of a similar sub-population in the metal-rich clusters of M31. With one exception, all of the M81 clusters in our sample have ages that are consistent with MW and M31 GCs. One cluster may be as young as a few Gyrs. The correlations between absorption-line indices established for MW and M31 GCs also hold in the M81 cluster system, at least at the upper end of the metallicity distribution (which our sample probes). On the whole, the mean metallicity of the M81 GCS is similar to the metallicity of the MW and M31 GCSs. The projected mass of M81 is similar to the masses of the MW and M31. Its mass profile indicates the presence of a dark matter halo.Comment: 35 pages, including 11 figures and 9 tables. Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

Small launch platforms for micro-satellites

The number of small satellites launched into orbit has enormously increased in the last twenty years. The introduction of new standards of micro-satellites has multiplied the launch demand around the world. Nevertheless, not all the missions can easily have access to space: not all kinds of micro-satellites have granted a deployer system and, furthermore, once a micro-satellite is able to reach it, it cannot usually choose its final orbit. Recently two new platforms have been introduced for the release of micro-satellites as piggy-backs. These platforms are totally operative spacecrafts that act like motherships, and allow to select some parameters of the final orbit of the piggy-backs. They provide a solution for three different nano-satellites standard, and at the same time they are being developed in order to reach more powerful orbital release capabilities in the future. The design and the mission of these platforms are described in this paper

The Specific Globular Cluster Frequencies of Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies from the Hubble Space Telescope

The specific globular cluster frequencies (S_N) for 24 dwarf elliptical (dE) galaxies in the Virgo and Fornax Clusters and the Leo Group imaged with the Hubble Space Telescope are presented. Combining all available data, we find that for nucleated dEs --- which are spatially distributed like giant ellipticals in galaxy clusters --- S_N(dE,N)=6.5 +- 1.2 and S_N increases with M_V, while for non-nucleated dEs --- which are distributed like late-type galaxies --- S_N(dE,noN)=3.1 +- 0.5 and there is little or no trend with M_V. The S_N values for dE galaxies are thus on average significantly higher than those for late-type galaxies, which have S_N < 1. This suggests that dE galaxies are more akin to giant Es than to late-type galaxies. If there are dormant or stripped irregulars hiding among the dE population, they are likely to be among the non-nucleated dEs. Furthermore, the similarities in the properties of the globular clusters and in the spatial distributions of dE,Ns and giant Es suggest that neither galaxy mass or galaxy metallicity is responsible for high values of S_N. Instead, most metal-poor GCs may have formed in dwarf-sized fragments that merged into larger galaxies.Comment: 12 pages (uses aaspp4.sty), 2 figures, 1 table, to appear in the Astrophysical Journa

Spectral Energy Distributions and Age Estimates of 172 Globular Clusters in M31

In this paper we present CCD multicolor photometry for 172 globular clusters (GCs), taken from the Bologna catalog (Battistini et al. 1987), in the nearby spiral galaxy M31. The observations were carried out by using the National Astronomical Observatories 60/90 cm Schmidt Telescope in 13 intermediate-band filters, which covered a range of wavelength from 3800 to 10000A. This provides a multicolor map of M31 in pixels of 1.7"*1.7". By aperture photometry, we obtain the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for these GCs. Using the relationship between the BATC intermediate-band system used for the observations and the UBVRI broad-band system, the magnitudes in the B and V bands are derived. The computed V and B-V are in agreement with the values given by Battistini et al. (1987) and Barmby et al. (2000). Finally, by comparing the photometry of each GC with theoretical stellar population synthesis models, we estimate ages of the sample GCs for different metallicities. The results show that nearly all our sample GCs have ages more than 10^{9} years, and most of them are around 10^{10} years old. Also, we find that GCs fitted by the metal-poor model are generally older than ones fitted by the metal-rich model.Comment: 38 pages, 7 figures will appear in the February 2003 issue of A

Wide-Field Survey of Globular Clusters in M31. I. A Catalog of New Clusters

We present the result of a wide-field survey of globular clusters (GCs) in M31 covering a 3deg x 3deg field c. We have searched for GCs on CCD images taken with Washington CMT1 filters at the KPNO 0.9 m telescope using steps: (1) inspection of morphological parameters given by the SExtractor package such as stellarity, full maximum, and ellipticity; (2) consulting the spectral types and radial velocities obtained from spectra takena spectrograph at the WIYN 3.5 m telescope; and (3) visual inspection of the images of each object. We have and GC candidates, of which 605 are newly found GCs and GC candidates and 559 are previously known GCs. Amoects there are 113 genuine GCs, 258 probable GCs, and 234 possible GCs, according to our classification critee known objects there are 383 genuine GCs, 109 probable GCs, and 67 possible GCs. In total there are 496 genprobable GCs and 301 possible GCs. Most of these newly found GCs have T1 magnitudes of 17.5 - 19.5 mag, [17.9 < V < 19.9 mag assuming (C-T1) ~ 1.5], and (C-T1) colors in the range 1 - 2.Comment: accepted by AJ, using emulateapj.cl

The Globular Cluster Systems of Five Nearby Spiral Galaxies: New Insights from Hubble Space Telescope Imaging

We use available multifilter Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFPC2 imaging of five (M81, M83, NGC 6946, M101, and M51) low inclination, nearby spiral galaxies to study ancient star cluster populations. M81 globular clusters (GC) have an intrinsic color distribution which is very similar to those in the Milky Way and M31, with ~40% of the clusters having colors expected for a metal-rich population. On the other hand, the GC system in M51 appears almost exclusively blue and metal poor. This lack of metal-rich GCs associated with the M51 bulge indicates that the bulge formation history of this Sbc galaxy may have differed significantly from that of our own. Ancient clusters in M101, and possibly in NGC 6946, appear to have luminosity distributions which continue to rise to our detection limit (M_V ~ -6.0), well beyond the expected turnover (M_V ~ -7.4) in the luminosity function. This is reminiscent of the situation in M33, a Local Group galaxy of similar Hubble type. The faint ancient cluster candidates in M101 and NGC 6946 have colors and radii similar to their more luminous counterparts, and we suggest that these are either intermediate age (3-9 Gyr) disk clusters or the low mass end of the original GC population. If the faint, excess GC candidates are excluded, we find that the specific frequency (S_N) of ancient clusters formed in later-type spirals is roughly constant, with S_N=0.5 +- 0.2. By combining the results of this study with literature values for other systems, we find that the total GC specific frequencies in spirals appear to correlate best with Hubble type and bulge/total ratio, rather than with galaxy luminosity or galaxy mass (abridged).Comment: 31 pages, 11 tables, 10 figure

Globular clusters in the outer halo of M31: the survey

We report the discovery of 40 new globular clusters (GCs) that have been found in surveys of the halo of M31 based on INT/WFC and CHFT/Megacam imagery. A subset of these these new GCs are of an extended, diffuse nature, and include those already found in Huxor et al. (2005). The search strategy is described and basic positional and V and I photometric data are presented for each cluster. For a subset of these clusters, K-band photometry is also given. The new clusters continue to be found to the limit of the survey area (~100 kpc), revealing that the GC system of M31 is much more extended than previously realised. The new clusters increase the total number of confirmed GCs in M31 by approximately 10% and the number of confirmed GCs beyond 1 degree (~14 kpc) by more than 75%. We have also used the survey imagery as well recent HST archival data to update the Revised Bologna Catalogue (RBC) of M31 globular clusters.Comment: Accepted to MNRA

Modeling a Satellite Mockup’s Angular Motion on an Air Bearing with Uniaxial Magnetic Attitude Control

© 2020, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. Abstract: The angular motion of a mockup of a satellite’s attitude control system on an air bearing is considered. The general purpose of the work is to verify the one-axis magnetic attitude control algorithm. This control is designed to maintain the satellite’s solar panels attitude towards the Sun. Specific mockup motion patterns are found. These patterns allow comparing the ground-based control performance results and its expected inflight operation. Asymptotically stable precession and near planar motion are outlined. Mathematical modelling is performed for these patterns. Their applicability for the laboratory experiments is shown