558 research outputs found
The Effect of Corotation on the Radial Gradient of Metallicity of Spiral Galaxies
The corotation radius in a spiral galaxy is the radius where the spiral
pattern speed has the same velocity of the rotation curve. By compiling results
from the literature for 20 spiral galaxies we verified a strong correlation
between the radius of the minima or inflections of the metallicity distribution
and the corotation radius.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figur
CO observations and investigation of triggered star formation towards N10 infrared bubble and surroundings
We studied the environment of the dust bubble N10 in molecular emission.
Infrared bubbles, first detected by the GLIMPSE survey at 8.0 m, are ideal
regions to investigate the effect of the expansion of the HII region on its
surroundings eventual triggered star formation at its borders. In this work, we
present a multi-wavelength study of N10. This bubble is especially interesting
as infrared studies of the young stellar content suggest a scenario of ongoing
star formation, possibly triggered, on the edge of the HII region. We carried
out observations of CO(1-0) and CO(1-0) emission at PMO 13.7-m
towards N10. We also analyzed the IR and sub-mm emission on this region and
compare those different tracers to obtain a detailed view of the interaction
between the expanding HII region and the molecular gas. We also estimated the
parameters of the denser cold dust condensation and of the ionized gas inside
the shell. Bright CO emission was detected and two molecular clumps were
identified, from which we have derived physical parameters. We also estimate
the parameters for the densest cold dust condensation and for the ionized gas
inside the shell. The comparison between the dynamical age of this region and
the fragmentation time scale favors the "Radiation-Driven Implosion" mechanism
of star formation. N10 reveals to be specially interesting case with gas
structures in a narrow frontier between HII region and surrounding molecular
material, and with a range of ages of YSOs situated in region indicating
triggered star formation.Comment: Version 2 - Submmited to ApJ (under review
First optical images of circumstellar dust surrounding the debris disk candidate HD 32297
Near-infrared imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope recently revealed a
circumstellar dust disk around the A star HD 32297. Dust scattered light is
detected as far as 400 AU radius and the linear morphology is consistent with a
disk ~10 degrees away from an edge-on orientation. Here we present the first
optical images that show the dust scattered light morphology from 560 to 1680
AU radius. The position angle of the putative disk midplane diverges by 31
degrees and the color of dust scattering is most likely blue. We associate HD
32297 with a wall of interstellar gas and the enigmatic region south of the
Taurus molecular cloud. We propose that the extreme asymmetries and blue disk
color originate from a collision with a clump of interstellar material as HD
32297 moves southward, and discuss evidence consistent with an age of 30 Myr or
younger.Comment: 5 pages; Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
HI aperture synthesis and optical observations of the pair of galaxies NGC 6907 and 6908
NGC 6908, a S0 galaxy situated in direction of NGC 6907, was only recently
recognized as a distinct galaxy, instead of only a part of NGC 6907. We present
21 cm radio synthesis observations obtained with the GMRT and optical images
and spectroscopy obtained with the Gemini North telescope of this pair of
interacting galaxies. From the radio observations we obtained the velocity
field and the HI column density map of the whole region containing the NGC
6907/8 pair, and by means of the Gemini multi-object spectroscopy we obtained
high quality photometric images and resolution spectra sampling the
two galaxies. By comparing the rotation curve of NGC 6907 obtained from the two
opposite sides around the main kinematic axis, we were able to distinguish the
normal rotational velocity field from the velocity components produced by the
interaction between the two galaxies. Taking into account the rotational
velocity of NGC 6907 and the velocity derived from the absorption lines for NGC
6908, we verified that the relative velocity between these systems is lower
than 60 km s. The emission lines observed in the direction of NGC 6908,
not typical of S0 galaxies, have the same velocity expected for the NGC 6907
rotation curve. Some of them, superimposed on the absorption profiles, which
reinforces the idea that they were not formed in NGC 6908. Finally, the HI
profile exhibits details of the interaction, showing three components: one for
NGC 6908, another for the excited gas in the NGC 6907 disk and a last one for
the gas with higher relative velocities left behind NGC 6908 by dynamical
friction, used to estimate the time when the interaction started in years ago.Comment: 11 pages, 5 tables, 13 figures. Corrected typos. Accepted for
publication in MNRAS. The definitive version will be available at
http://www.blackwell-synergy.co
On the difference between type E and A OH/IR stars
The observed SEDs of a sample of 60 OH/IR stars are fitted using a radiative
transfer model of a dusty envelope. Among the whole sample, 21 stars have
reliable phase-lag distances while the others have less accurate distances.
L*-P,Mlr-P and Mlr-L* relations have been plotted for these stars. It is found
that type E (with emission feature at 10um and type A (with absorption feature
at 10um) OH/IR stars have different L*-P and Mlr-L* relations while both of
them follow a single Mlr-P relation. The type E stars are proven to be located
in the area without large scale dense interstellar medium while the type A
stars are located probably in dense interstellar medium. It is argued here that
this may indicate the two types of OH/IR stars have different chemical
composition or zero age main sequence mass and so evolve in different ways.
This conclusion has reinforced the argument by Chen et al.(2001) who reached a
similar conclusion from the galactic distribution of about 1000 OH/IR stars
with the IRAS low-resolution spectra (LRS).Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, 2 table
Observations of GRB 060526 Optical Afterglow with Russian-Turkish 1.5-m Telescope
We present the results of the photometric multicolor observations of GRB
060526 optical afterglow obtained with Russian-Turkish 1.5-m Telescope (RTT150,
Mt. Bakirlitepe, Turkey). The detailed measurements of afterglow light curve,
starting from about 5 hours after the GRB and during 5 consecutive nights were
done. In addition, upper limits on the fast variability of the afterglow during
the first night of observations were obtained and the history of afterglow
color variations was measured in detail. In the time interval from 6 to 16
hours after the burst, there is a gradual flux decay, which can be described
approximately as a power law with an index of -1.14+-0.02. After that the
variability on the time scale \delta t < t is observed and the afterglow
started to decay faster. The color of the afterglow, V-R=~0.5, is approximately
the same during all our observations. The variability is detected on time
scales up to \delta t/t =~ 0.0055 at \Delta F_\nu/F_\nu =~ 0.3, which violates
some constraints on the variability of the observed emission from
ultrarelativistic jet obtained by Ioka et al. (2005). We suggest to explain
this variability by the fact that the motion of the emitting shell is no longer
ultrarelativistic at this time.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, Astronomy Letters, 2007, 33, 797, The on-line
data tables and the original text in Russian can be found at
http://hea.iki.rssi.ru/grb/060526/indexeng.htm
Direct determination of the spiral pattern rotation speed of the Galaxy
The rotation velocity of the spiral pattern of the Galaxy is determined by
direct observation of the birthplaces of open clusters of stars in the galactic
disk as a function of their age. Our measurement does not depend on any
specific model of the spiral structure, like the existence of a given number of
spiral arms, or the presence of a bar in the central regions. This study became
possible due to the recent completion of a large database on open clusters by
our group. The birthplaces of the clusters are determined by two methods, one
that assumes that the orbits are circular, and the other by integrating the
orbits in the Galactic potential for a time equal to the age of the clusters.
We selected in the database a sample of 212 clusters for which proper motions,
radial velocities, distances and ages are available, or of 612 clusters that
have ages and distances available. We tested different assumptions concerning
the rotation curve and the radius of the solar orbit. Our results confirm
that a dominant fraction of the open clusters are formed in spiral arms, and
that the spiral arms rotate like a rigid body, as predicted by the classical
theory of spiral waves. We find that the corotation radius is close to
the solar galactic orbit (). This proximity has many
potentially interesting consequences, like a better preservation of life on the
Earth, and a new understanding of the history of star formation in the solar
neighborhood, and of the evolution of the abundance of elements in the galactic
disk.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Ap
Unveiling the Active Nucleus of Centaurus A
We report new HST WFPC2 and NICMOS observations of the center of the nearest
radio galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128) and discuss their implications for our
understanding of the active nucleus and jet. We detect the active nucleus in
the near-IR (K and H) and, for the first time, in the optical (I and V),
deriving the spectral energy distribution of the nucleus from the radio to
X-rays. The optical and part of the near-IR emission can be explained by the
extrapolation of the X-ray power law reddened by A_V~14mag, a value consistent
with other independent estimates.
The 20pc-scale nuclear disk discovered by Schreier et al. (1998) is detected
in the [FeII] 1.64mic line and presents a morphology similar to that observed
in Pa alpha with a [FeII]/Pa alpha ratio typical of low ionization Seyfert
galaxies and LINERs. NICMOS 3 Pa alpha observations in a 50"x50" circumnuclear
region suggest enhanced star formation (~0.3Msun/yr) at the edges of the
putative bar seen with ISO, perhaps due to shocks driven into the gas.
The light profile, reconstructed from V, H and K observations, shows that
Centaurus A has a core profile with a resolved break at ~4" and suggests a
black--hole mass of ~10^9 Msun. A linear blue structure aligned with the
radio/X-ray jet may indicate a channel of relatively low reddening in which
dust has been swept away by the jet.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, Astrophysical Journal, in press. High quality
figures available at http://www.arcetri.astro.it/~marconi/colpic.htm
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