Ariel - Volume 3 Number 3

Editors Richard J. Bonanno Robin A. Edwards Associate Editors Steven Ager Stephen Flynn Tom Williams Lay-out Editor Eugenia Miller Contributing Editors Paul Bialas Robert Breckenridge Lynne Porter Milton Packer Terry Burt Mark Pearlman Editors Emeritus Delvyn C. Case, Jr. Paul M. Fernhoff Mike Le

Ariel - Volume 3 Number 5

Editors Richard J. Bonanno Robin A. Edwards Associate Editors Steven Ager Tom Williams Lay-out Editor Eugenia Miller Contributing Editors Paul Bialas Robert Breckenridge Lynne Porter David Jacoby Terry Burt Mark Pearlman Michael Leo Mike LeWitt Editors Emeritus Delvyn C. Case., Jr. Paul M. Fernhof

Ariel - Volume 3 Number 7

Editors Richard J. Bonanno Robin A. Edwards Associate Editors Steven Ager Tom Williams Lay-out Editor Eugenia Miller Contributing Editors Paul Bialas Robert Breckenridge David Jacoby Mike LeWitt Terry Burt Michael Leo Editors Emeritus Delvyn C. Case, Jr. Paul M. Fernhof

Ariel - Volume 3 Number 1

Editors Richard J. Bonanno Robin A. Edwards Associate Editors Steven Ager Stephen Flynn Tom Williams Lay-out Editor Eugenia Miller Contributing Editors Michael J. Blecker Milton Parker James J. Nocon Lynne Porter Editors Emeritus Delvyn C. Case, Jr. Paul M. Fernhof

Ariel - Volume 2 Number 7

Editors Richard J. Bonanno Robin A. Edwards Associate Editors Steven Ager Stephen Flynn Shep Dickman Tom Williams Lay-out Editor Eugenia Miller Contributing Editors Michael J. Blecker W. Cherry Light James J. Nocon Lynne Porter Editors Emeritus Delvyn C. Case, Jr. Paul M. Fernhof

Ariel - Volume 4 Number 2

Editors David A. Jacoby Eugenia Miller Tom Williams Associate Editors Paul Bialas Terry Burt Michael Leo Gail Tenikat Editor Emeritus and Business Manager Richard J. Bonnano Movie Editor Robert Breckenridge Staff Richard Blutstein Mary F. Buechler Steve Glinks Len Grasman Alice M. Johnson J. D. Kanofsky Tom Lehman Dave Mayer Bernie Odd

A 4% Geometric Distance to the Galaxy NGC4258 from Orbital Motions in a Nuclear Gas Disk

The water maser in the mildly active nucleus in the nearby galaxy NGC4258 traces a thin, nearly edge-on, subparsec-scale Keplerian disk. Using the technique of very long baseline interferometry, we have detected the proper motions of these masers as they sweep in front of the central black hole at an orbital velocity of about 1100 km/s. The average maser proper motion of 31.5 microarcseconds per year is used in conjunction with the observed acceleration of the masers to derive a purely geometric distance to the galaxy of 7.2 +- 0.3 Mpc. This is the most precise extragalactic distance measured to date, and, being independent of all other distance indicators, is likely to play an important role in calibrating the extragalactic distance scale.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Natur

The Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function at the Dawn of Gaia

The [O III] 5007 Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function (PNLF) is an excellent extragalactic standard candle. In theory, the PNLF method should not work at all, since the luminosities of the brightest planetary nebulae (PNe) should be highly sensitive to the age of their host stellar population. Yet the method appears robust, as it consistently produces < 10% distances to galaxies of all Hubble types, from the earliest ellipticals to the latest-type spirals and irregulars. It is therefore uniquely suited for cross-checking the results of other techniques and finding small offsets between the Population I and Population II distance ladders. We review the calibration of the method and show that the zero points provided by Cepheids and the Tip of the Red Giant Branch are in excellent agreement. We then compare the results of the PNLF with those from Surface Brightness Fluctuation measurements, and show that, although both techniques agree in a relative sense, the latter method yields distances that are ~15% larger than those from the PNLF. We trace this discrepancy back to the calibration galaxies and argue that, due to a small systematic error associated with internal reddening, the true distance scale likely falls between the extremes of the two methods. We also demonstrate how PNLF measurements in the early-type galaxies that have hosted Type Ia supernovae can help calibrate the SN Ia maximum magnitude-rate of decline relation. Finally, we discuss how the results from space missions such as Kepler and Gaia can help our understanding of the PNLF phenomenon and improve our knowledge of the physics of local planetary nebulae.Comment: 12 pages, invited review at the conference "The Fundamental Cosmic Distance Scale: State of the Art and Gaia Perspective", to appear in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

Asher Lev at the Israel Museum: Stereotyping art and craft

Jesper Svartvik and Jakob Wirén (Eds.), Religious stereotyping and interreligious relations. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan. This extract is taken from the author's original manuscript and has not been edited. The definitive, published version of record is available here: http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/religious-stereotyping-and-interreligious-relations-jesper-svartvik/?K=9781137344601 and http://www.palgraveconnect.com/pc/doifinder/10.1057/978113734267

Distances from Surface Brightness Fluctuations

The practice of measuring galaxy distances from their spatial fluctuations in surface brightness is now a decade old. While several past articles have included some review material, this is the first intended as a comprehensive review of the surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) method. The method is conceptually quite simple, the basic idea being that nearby (but unresolved) star clusters and galaxies appear "bumpy", while more distant ones appear smooth. This is quantified via a measurement of the amplitude of the Poisson fluctuations in the number of unresolved stars encompassed by a CCD pixel (usually in an image of an elliptical galaxy). Here, we describe the technical details and difficulties involved in making SBF measurements, discuss theoretical and empirical calibrations of the method, and review the numerous applications of the method from the ground and space, in the optical and near-infrared. We include discussions of stellar population effects and the "universality" of the SBF standard candle. A final section considers the future of the method.Comment: Invited review article to appear in: `Post-Hipparcos Cosmic Candles', A. Heck & F. Caputo (Eds), Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht, in press. 22 pages, including 3 postscript figures; uses Kluwer's crckapb.sty LaTex macro file, enclose