224 research outputs found
The Overdensity in Virgo, Sagittarius Debris, and the Asymmetric Spheroid
We investigate the relationship between several previously identified
Galactic halo stellar structures in the direction of Virgo using imaging and
spectroscopic observations of F turnoff stars and blue horizontal branch stars
from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Sloan Extension for Galactic
Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE). We show that the Sagittarius dwarf
leading tidal tail does not pass through the solar neighborhood; it misses the
Sun by more than 15 kpc, passing through the Galactic plane outside the Solar
Circle. It also is not spatially coincident with the large stellar overdensity
S297+63-20.5 in the Virgo constellation. S297+63-20.5 has a distinct turnoff
color and kinematics. Faint (g ~ 20.3) turnoff stars in S297+63-20.5 have
line-of-sight, Galactic standard of rest velocities V(GSR)= 130 +/- 10 km/s,
opposite in sign to infalling Sgr tail stars. The path of the Sgr leading tidal
tail is also inconsistent with the positions of some of the nearer stars with
which it has been associated, and whose velocities have favored models with
prolate Milky Way potentials. We additionally show that the number densities of
brighter (g ~ 19.8) F turnoff stars are not symmetric about the Galactic
center, and that this discrepancy is not primarily due to the S297+63-20.5
moving group. Either the spheroid is asymmetric about the Galactic center, or
there are additional substructures that conspire to be on the same side of the
Galaxy as S297+63-20.5. The S297+63-20.5 overdensity in Virgo is likely
associated with two other previously identified Virgo substructures: the Virgo
Stellar Stream (VSS) and the Virgo Overdensity (VOD). However, the velocity
difference between the VSS and S297+63-20.5 and the difference in distance
estimates between the VOD and S297+63-20.5 must be reconciled.Comment: 10 figures, ApJ in pres
Mathematical modeling of the drying of orange bagasse associating the convective method and infrared radiation
Aspetti biologici, ecologici e genetici di popolamenti di frassino ossifillo (Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl) dell’Italia nord-orientale.
The Kinematic Properties of BHB and RR Lyrae stars towards the Anticentre and the North Galactic Pole: The Transition between the Inner and the Outer Halo
We identify 51 blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars, 12 possible BHB stars and
58 RR Lyrae stars in Anticentre fields. Their selection does not depend on
their kinematics. Light curves and ephemerides are given for 7 previously
unknown RR Lyrae stars. All but 4 of the RR Lyrae stars are of Oosterhoff type
I. Our selection criteria for BHB stars give results that agree with those used
by Smith et al. (2010) and Ruhland et al. (2011). We use 5 methods to determine
distances for the BHB stars and 3 methods for the RR Lyrae stars to get
distances on a uniform scale. Absolute proper motions (largely derived from the
GSCII and SDSS (DR7) databases) are given for these stars; radial velocities
are given for 31 of the BHB stars and 37 of the RR Lyrae stars. Combining these
data for BHB and RR Lyrae stars with those previously found in fields at the
North Galactic Pole, we find that retrograde orbits dominate for galactocentric
distances greater than 12.5 kpc. The majority of metal-poor stars in the solar
neighbourhood are known to be concentrated in a Lperp vs. Lz angular momentum
plot. We show that the ratio of the number of outliers to the number in the
main concentration increases with galactocentric distance. The location of
these outliers with Lperp and Lz shows that the halo BHB and RR Lyrae stars
have more retrograde orbits and a more spherical distribution with increasing
galactocentric distance. Six RR Lyrae stars are identified in the H99 group of
outliers; the small spread in their [Fe/H] suggests that they could have come
from a single globular cluster. Another group of outliers contains two pairs of
RR Lyrae stars; the stars in each pair have similar properties.Comment: 40 pages, 19 figures, to be published in MNRA
The Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
This paper describes the Fifth Data Release (DR5) of the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey (SDSS). DR5 includes all survey quality data taken through June 2005 and
represents the completion of the SDSS-I project (whose successor, SDSS-II will
continue through mid-2008). It includes five-band photometric data for 217
million objects selected over 8000 square degrees, and 1,048,960 spectra of
galaxies, quasars, and stars selected from 5713 square degrees of that imaging
data. These numbers represent a roughly 20% increment over those of the Fourth
Data Release; all the data from previous data releases are included in the
present release. In addition to "standard" SDSS observations, DR5 includes
repeat scans of the southern equatorial stripe, imaging scans across M31 and
the core of the Perseus cluster of galaxies, and the first spectroscopic data
from SEGUE, a survey to explore the kinematics and chemical evolution of the
Galaxy. The catalog database incorporates several new features, including
photometric redshifts of galaxies, tables of matched objects in overlap regions
of the imaging survey, and tools that allow precise computations of survey
geometry for statistical investigations.Comment: ApJ Supp, in press, October 2007. This paper describes DR5. The SDSS
Sixth Data Release (DR6) is now public, available from http://www.sdss.or
The Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
This paper describes the Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
(SDSS), marking the completion of the original goals of the SDSS and the end of
the phase known as SDSS-II. It includes 11663 deg^2 of imaging data, with most
of the roughly 2000 deg^2 increment over the previous data release lying in
regions of low Galactic latitude. The catalog contains five-band photometry for
357 million distinct objects. The survey also includes repeat photometry over
250 deg^2 along the Celestial Equator in the Southern Galactic Cap. A
coaddition of these data goes roughly two magnitudes fainter than the main
survey. The spectroscopy is now complete over a contiguous area of 7500 deg^2
in the Northern Galactic Cap, closing the gap that was present in previous data
releases. There are over 1.6 million spectra in total, including 930,000
galaxies, 120,000 quasars, and 460,000 stars. The data release includes
improved stellar photometry at low Galactic latitude. The astrometry has all
been recalibrated with the second version of the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog
(UCAC-2), reducing the rms statistical errors at the bright end to 45
milli-arcseconds per coordinate. A systematic error in bright galaxy photometr
is less severe than previously reported for the majority of galaxies. Finally,
we describe a series of improvements to the spectroscopic reductions, including
better flat-fielding and improved wavelength calibration at the blue end,
better processing of objects with extremely strong narrow emission lines, and
an improved determination of stellar metallicities. (Abridged)Comment: 20 pages, 10 embedded figures. Accepted to ApJS after minor
correction
The Milky Way's Circular Velocity Curve to 60 kpc and an Estimate of the Dark Matter Halo Mass from Kinematics of ~2400 SDSS Blue Horizontal Branch Stars
We derive new constraints on the mass of the Milky Way's dark matter halo,
based on a set of halo stars from SDSS as kinematic tracers. Our sample
comprises 2401 rigorously selected Blue Horizontal-Branch (BHB) halo stars
drawn from SDSS DR-6. To interpret these distributions, we compare them to
matched mock observations drawn from two different cosmological galaxy
formation simulations designed to resemble the Milky Way, which we presume to
have an appropriate orbital distribution of halo stars. We then determine which
value of brings the observed distribution into agreement with
the corresponding distributions from the simulations. This procedure results in
an estimate of the Milky Way's circular velocity curve to kpc, which
is found to be slightly falling from the adopted value of
at the Sun's location, and implies MM. The radial dependence of , derived in
statistically independent bins, is found to be consistent with the expectations
from an NFW dark matter halo with the established stellar mass components at
its center. If we assume an NFW halo profile of characteristic concentration
holds, we can use the observations to estimate the virial mass of the Milky
Way's dark matter halo, MM, which is lower than many previous estimates. This estimate
implies that nearly 40% of the baryons within the virial radius of the Milky
Way's dark matter halo reside in the stellar components of our Galaxy. A value
for M of only M also (re-)opens the
question of whether all of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies are on bound
orbits.Comment: 42 pages, 17 figures and 3 table. Accepted by AP
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