12 research outputs found
SSSPMJ0829-1309: A new nearby L dwarf detected in SuperCOSMOS Sky Surveys
The SuperCOSMOS Sky Surveys provide a complete coverage of the Southern sky
in three passbands (photographic B_J, R and I) and at different epochs (Hambly
et al. 2001a,b,c). These data are the basis for a new high proper motion survey
which aims at finding extremely red nearby dwarf stars and brown dwarfs. One of
the first candidates, which is relatively bright (I=16) but very red (R-I=2.8,
B_J-R=3.6), was detected in the equatorial zone by its large proper motion of
0.56 arcsec/yr. Spectroscopic follow-up observations with the 2.2m telescope of
the Calar Alto Observatory classified this object as L2 dwarf very similar to
the first free-floating L dwarf Kelu1 also discovered in a proper motion survey
by Ruiz et al. (1997). If we assume SSSPMJ0829-1309 to have the same luminosity
as Kelu1, we get a distance estimate for the new L dwarf of about 12pc since it
is about one magnitude brighter than Kelu1 in the SSS I and R bands. This makes
SSSPMJ0829-1309 one of the nearest objects of its class, well suited for
detailed investigations. We present a brief overview of all known nearby
(d<20pc) southern L dwarfs and give first proper motion values for
DENIS-PJ0255-47 and SDSSpJ1326-00 and an improved proper motion for LHS102B.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter
New nearby white dwarfs from Gaia DR1 TGAS and UCAC5/URAT
Using an accurate Gaia TGAS 25pc sample, nearly complete for GK stars, and
selecting common proper motion (CPM) candidates from UCAC5, we search for new
white dwarf (WD) companions around nearby stars with relatively small proper
motions. For investigating known CPM systems in TGAS and for selecting CPM
candidates in TGAS+UCAC5, we took into account the expected effect of orbital
motion on the proper motion as well as the proper motion catalogue errors.
Colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) and were used to verify
CPM candidates from UCAC5. Assuming their common distance with a given TGAS
star, we searched for candidates that occupied similar regions in the CMDs as
the few known nearby WDs (4 in TGAS) and WD companions (3 in TGAS+UCAC5). CPM
candidates with colours and absolute magnitudes corresponding neither to the
main sequence nor to the WD sequence were considered as doubtful or subdwarf
candidates. With a minimum proper motion of 60mas/yr, we selected three WD
companion candidates, two of which are also confirmed by their significant
parallaxes measured in URAT data, whereas the third may also be a chance
alignment of a distant halo star with a nearby TGAS star (angular separation of
about 465arcsec). One additional nearby WD candidate was found from its URAT
parallax and photometry. With HD 166435 B orbiting a well-known G1 star
at ~24.6pc with a projected physical separation of ~700AU, we discovered one of
the hottest WDs, classified by us as DA2.00.2, in the solar neighbourhood.
We also found TYC 3980-1081-1 B, a strong cool WD companion candidate around a
recently identified new solar neighbour with a TGAS parallax corresponding to a
distance of ~8.3pc and our photometric classification as ~M2 dwarf. This raises
the question whether previous assumptions on the completeness of the WD sample
to a distance of 13pc were correct.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
ASPECT: A spectra clustering tool for exploration of large spectral surveys
We present the novel, semi-automated clustering tool ASPECT for analysing
voluminous archives of spectra. The heart of the program is a neural network in
form of Kohonen's self-organizing map. The resulting map is designed as an icon
map suitable for the inspection by eye. The visual analysis is supported by the
option to blend in individual object properties such as redshift, apparent
magnitude, or signal-to-noise ratio. In addition, the package provides several
tools for the selection of special spectral types, e.g. local difference maps
which reflect the deviations of all spectra from one given input spectrum (real
or artificial). ASPECT is able to produce a two-dimensional topological map of
a huge number of spectra. The software package enables the user to browse and
navigate through a huge data pool and helps him to gain an insight into
underlying relationships between the spectra and other physical properties and
to get the big picture of the entire data set. We demonstrate the capability of
ASPECT by clustering the entire data pool of 0.6 million spectra from the Data
Release 4 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). To illustrate the results
regarding quality and completeness we track objects from existing catalogues of
quasars and carbon stars, respectively, and connect the SDSS spectra with
morphological information from the GalaxyZoo project.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
The History of the Mysterious Eclipses of KH 15D II. Asiago, Kiso, Kitt Peak, Mt. Wilson, Palomar, Tautenburg and Rozhen Observatories, 1954-97
The unusual pre-main-sequence binary star named KH 15D undergoes remarkably
deep and long-lasting periodic eclipses. Some clues about the reason for these
eclipses have come from the observed evolution of the system's light curve over
the last century. Here we present UBVRI photometry of KH 15D based on
photographic plates from various observatories, ranging in time from 1954 to
1997. The system has been variable at the ~1 mag level since at least 1965.
There is no evidence for color variations, with a typical limit of Delta(B-V) <
0.2 mag. We confirm some previously published results that were based on a
smaller sample of plates: from approximately 1965 to 1990, the total flux was
modulated with the 48-day orbital period of the binary, but the maximum flux
was larger, the fractional variations were smaller, and the phase of minimum
flux was shifted by almost a half-cycle relative to the modern light curve. All
these results are consistent with the recently proposed theory that KH 15D is
being occulted by an inclined, precessing, circumbinary ring.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in
Astronomical Journa
A near-infrared variability study in the cloud IC1396W: low star-forming efficiency and two new eclipsing binaries
Identifying the population of young stellar objects (YSOs) in high extinction
regions is a prerequisite for studies of star formation. This task is not
trivial, as reddened background objects can be indistinguishable from YSOs in
near-infrared colour-colour diagrams. Here we combine deep JHK photometry with
J- and K-band lightcurves, obtained with UKIRT/WFCAM, to explore the YSO
population in the dark cloud IC1396W. We demonstrate that a colour-variability
criterion can provide useful constraints on the star forming activity in
embedded regions. For IC1396W we find that a near-infrared colour analysis
alone vastly overestimates the number of YSOs. In total, the globule probably
harbours not more than ten YSOs, among them a system of two young stars
embedded in a small (~10000 AU) reflection nebula. This translates into a star
forming efficiency SFE of ~1%, which is low compared with nearby more massive
star forming regions, but similar to less massive globules. We confirm that
IC1396W is likely associated with the IC1396 HII region. One possible
explanation for the low SFE is the relatively large distance to the ionizing
O-star in the central part of IC1396. Serendipitously, our variability campaign
yields two new eclipsing binaries, and eight periodic variables, most of them
with the characteristics of contact binaries.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, MNRAS, in pres
A Complete Sample of Soft X-ray Selected AGN: I. The Data
We present the optical spectra and simple statistical analysis for a complete
sample of 110 soft X-ray selected AGN. About half of the sources are
Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s), which have the steepest X-ray spectra,
strongest FeII emission and slightly weaker [OIII]5007 emission than broad line
Seyfert 1s (BLS1s).
Kolmogorov Smirnov tests show that NLS1s and BLS1s have clearly different
distributions of the X-ray spectral slope, X-ray short-term variability, and
FeII equivalent widths and luminosity and FeII/H-beta ratios. The differences
in the [OIII]/H-beta and [OIII] equivalent widths are only marginal. We found
no significant differences between NLS1s and BLS1s in their rest frame 0.2-2.0
X-ray luminosities, rest frame 5100A monochromatic luminosities, bolometric
luminosities, redshifts, and their H equivalent widths.Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ (scheduled for January 2004), 21
pages, 10 figures, The paper including the optical spectra and FeII
subtracted spectra can be retrieved from
http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~dgrupe/research/sample_paper1.htm
Galaxien-Kollisionen und das kosmische Feuerwerk der Quasare
Lange Zeiten wurden Galaxien als autarke Welteninseln
angesehen. Heute wissen wir, dass wechselseitige
Beeinflussungen die großen kosmischen Systeme
maßgeblich prägen und spektakuläre Prozesse in deren
Zentren auslösen können
A search for LSB dwarf galaxies in the M 81 group on digitally stacked Schmidt plates
We present a search for low surface brightness (LSB) dwarf galaxies in a region of 10 square degrees around M 81. The survey is based on the digital co-addition of Schmidt plates where algorithms for sub-arcsecond co-centering, quality-weighting and sigma-clipping "bad pixel" rejection are applied. The 3? surface brightness limit is ?lim = 25.6 mag/??. In a substantial fraction of the surveyed area, the detection of LSB objects is limited by "Galactic cirrus" rather than by the limiting magnitude of the stacked image. Optimum search parameters for an automated detection of dwarf galaxies are derived from simulations. The final selection of LSB dwarf candidates relies on a combination of automated detection and visual inspection. We present six new dwarf galaxy candidates with ?B(0) ? 23 mag/??. Photometric data and best fitting parameters for the exponential model are derived both for the new candidates and for some previously known LSB dwarf galaxies in the field. For the most likely new dwarf member of the M 81 group, a central surface brightness of ?B(0) = 25.4 mag/?? and a scale-length of 0.3 kpc are derived
-supported re-discovery of a remarkable weak line quasar from a variability and proper motion survey
We demonstrate that VPMS J170850.95+433223.7 is a weak line quasar (WLQ) which is remarkable in several respects. It was already classified as a probable quasar two decades ago, but with considerable uncertainty. The non-significant proper motion and parallax from the Gaia Early Data Release 3 have solidified this assumption. Based on previously unpublished spectra, we show that VPMS J170850.95+433223.7 is a WLQ at z = 2.345 with immeasurably faint broad emission lines in the rest-frame ultraviolet. A preliminary estimate suggests that it hosts a supermassive black hole of ∼109 M⊙ accreting close to the Eddington limit, perhaps at the super-Eddington level. We identify two absorber systems with blueward velocity offsets of 0.05c and 0.1c, which could represent high-velocity outflows, which are perhaps related to the high accretion state of the quasar