Variability of disk emission in pre-main sequence and related stars. II. Variability in the gas and dust emission of the Herbig Fe star SAO 206462

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.We present 13 epochs of near-infrared (0.8-5 μm) spectroscopic observations of the pre-transitional, "gapped" disk system in SAO 206462 (=HD 135344B). In all, six gas emission lines (Brα, Brγ, Paβ, Paγ, Paδ, Paepsilon, and the 0.8446 μm line of O I) along with continuum measurements made near the standard J, H, K, and L photometric bands were measured. A mass accretion rate of approximately 2 × 10–8 M ☉ yr–1 was derived from the Brγ and Paβ lines. However, the fluxes of these lines varied by a factor of over two during the course of a few months. The continuum also varied, but by only ~30%, and even decreased at a time when the gas emission was increasing. The H I line at 1.083 μm was also found to vary in a manner inconsistent with that of either the hydrogen lines or the dust. Both the gas and dust variabilities indicate significant changes in the region of the inner gas and the inner dust belt that may be common to many young disk systems. If planets are responsible for defining the inner edge of the gap, they could interact with the material on timescales commensurate with what is observed for the variations in the dust, while other disk instabilities (thermal, magnetorotational) would operate there on longer timescales than we observe for the inner dust belt. For SAO 206462, the orbital period would likely be 1-3 years. If the changes are being induced in the disk material closer to the star than the gap, a variety of mechanisms (disk instabilities, interactions via planets) might be responsible for the changes seen. The He I feature is most likely due to a wind whose orientation changes with respect to the observer on timescales of a day or less. To further constrain the origin of the gas and dust emission will require multiple spectroscopic and interferometric observations on both shorter and longer timescales that have been sampled so far.This work was supported by NASA ADP grants NNH06CC28C and NNX09AC73G, Hubble Space Telescope grants HST-GO-10764 and HST-GO-10864, Chilean National TAC grants CNTAC-010A-064

The second data release of the INT Photometric Ha Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane (IPHAS DR2)

The INT/WFC Photometric Hα Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane (IPHAS) is a 1800 deg2 imaging survey covering Galactic latitudes |b| < 5° and longitudes ℓ = 30°–215° in the r, i, and Hα filters using the Wide Field Camera (WFC) on the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) in La Palma. We present the first quality-controlled and globally calibrated source catalogue derived from the survey, providing single-epoch photometry for 219 million unique sources across 92 per cent of the footprint. The observations were carried out between 2003 and 2012 at a median seeing of 1.1 arcsec (sampled at 0.33 arcsec pixel−1) and to a mean 5σ depth of 21.2 (r), 20.0 (i), and 20.3 (Hα) in the Vega magnitude system. We explain the data reduction and quality control procedures, describe and test the global re-calibration, and detail the construction of the new catalogue. We show that the new calibration is accurate to 0.03 mag (root mean square) and recommend a series of quality criteria to select accurate data from the catalogue. Finally, we demonstrate the ability of the catalogue's unique (r − Hα, r − i) diagram to (i) characterize stellar populations and extinction regimes towards different Galactic sightlines and (ii) select and quantify Hα emission-line objects. IPHAS is the first survey to offer comprehensive CCD photometry of point sources across the Galactic plane at visible wavelengths, providing the much-needed counterpart to recent infrared surveys

Energetic eruptions leading to a peculiar hydrogen-rich explosion of a massive star

Every supernova so far observed has been considered to be the terminal explosion of a star. Moreover, all supernovae with absorption lines in their spectra show those lines decreasing in velocity over time, as the ejecta expand and thin, revealing slower-moving material that was previously hidden. In addition, every supernova that exhibits the absorption lines of hydrogen has one main light-curve peak, or a plateau in luminosity, lasting approximately 100 days before declining1. Here we report observations of iPTF14hls, an event that has spectra identical to a hydrogen-rich core-collapse supernova, but characteristics that differ extensively from those of known supernovae. The light curve has at least five peaks and remains bright for more than 600 days; the absorption lines show little to no decrease in velocity; and the radius of the line-forming region is more than an order of magnitude bigger than the radius of the photosphere derived from the continuum emission. These characteristics are consistent with a shell of several tens of solar masses ejected by the progenitor star at supernova-level energies a few hundred days before a terminal explosion. Another possible eruption was recorded at the same position in 1954. Multiple energetic pre-supernova eruptions are expected to occur in stars of 95 to 130 solar masses, which experience the pulsational pair instability2,3,4,5. That model, however, does not account for the continued presence of hydrogen, or the energetics observed here. Another mechanism for the violent ejection of mass in massive stars may be required

Proper-motion age dating of the progeny of Nova Scorpii AD 1437.

'Cataclysmic variables' are binary star systems in which one star of the pair is a white dwarf, and which often generate bright and energetic stellar outbursts. Classical novae are one type of outburst: when the white dwarf accretes enough matter from its companion, the resulting hydrogen-rich atmospheric envelope can host a runaway thermonuclear reaction that generates a rapid brightening. Achieving peak luminosities of up to one million times that of the Sun, all classical novae are recurrent, on timescales of months to millennia. During the century before and after an eruption, the 'novalike' binary systems that give rise to classical novae exhibit high rates of mass transfer to their white dwarfs. Another type of outburst is the dwarf nova: these occur in binaries that have stellar masses and periods indistinguishable from those of novalikes but much lower mass-transfer rates, when accretion-disk instabilities drop matter onto the white dwarfs. The co-existence at the same orbital period of novalike binaries and dwarf novae-which are identical but for their widely varying accretion rates-has been a longstanding puzzle. Here we report the recovery of the binary star underlying the classical nova eruption of 11 March AD 1437 (refs 12, 13), and independently confirm its age by proper-motion dating. We show that, almost 500 years after a classical-nova event, the system exhibited dwarf-nova eruptions. The three other oldest recovered classical novae display nova shells, but lack firm post-eruption ages, and are also dwarf novae at present. We conclude that many old novae become dwarf novae for part of the millennia between successive nova eruptions

The Pristine survey – V. A bright star sample observed with SOPHIE

With the aim of probing the properties of the bright end of the Pristine survey and its effectiveness in selecting metal-poor stars, we selected a sample of bright candidate metal-poor stars combining Pristine CaHK photometry with APASS gi photometry, before the Gaia second data release became available. These stars were observed with the SOPHIE spectrograph at the 1.93 m telescope of Observatoire de Haute Provence and we used photometry and parallaxes from Gaia DR2 to derive their atmospheric parameters. Chemical abundances were determined from the spectra for 40 stars of the sample. Eight stars were confirmed to be very metal-poor ([Fe/H] &lt; -2.0), as expected from the photometric estimate. No star was found with [Fe/H] &lt; -3.0, although for nine stars the photometric estimate was below this value. Three multiple systems are identified from their multipeaked cross-correlation functions. Two metal-poor stars with [Fe/H] 48 -1.0 have an age estimate of about 4 Gyr. Accretion from a satellite galaxy is a possible explanation for these 'young metal-poor stars', but they could also be field blue stragglers. Galactic orbits for our sample of stars allowed us to divide them into three classes that we label 'Halo', 'Thick', and 'Thin' and tentatively identify as halo, thick disc, and thin disc. We present a new method for deriving photometric metallicities, effective temperatures, and surface gravities by combining Gaia parallaxes, photometry, and Pristine CaHK photometry. Comparison with spectroscopic metallicities shows a very good agreement and suggests that we can further improve the efficiency of Pristine CaHK in selecting metal-poor stars