Reddening and Distance of the Local Group Starburst Galaxy IC 10

We estimate the reddening and distance of the nearest starburst galaxy IC 10 using deep near infrared $JHK_{S}$ photometry obtained with the Multi-Object InfraRed Camera and Spectrograph (MOIRCS) on the Subaru telescope. We estimate the foreground reddening toward IC 10 using $UBV$ photometry of IC 10 from the Local Group Survey, obtaining $E(B-V)=0.52\pm 0.04$ mag. We derive the total reddening including the internal reddening, $E(B-V)=0.98\pm 0.06$ mag, using $UBV$ photometry of early-type stars in IC 10 and comparing $JHK_{S}$ photometry of red giant branch stars in IC 10 and the SMC. Using the 2MASS point source catalog of 20 Galactic globular clusters, we derive a relation between the metallicity [Fe/H]$_{CG97}$ and the slope of the red giant branch in the $K_{S}- (J-K_{S})$ color-magnitude diagram. The mean metallicity of the red giant branch stars in IC 10 is estimated to be [Fe/H]$_{CG97}=-1.08\pm0.28$. The magnitude of the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) of IC 10 in the $K_{S}$ band is measured to be $K_{S,TRGB}=18.28\pm0.01$. Based on the TRGB method, we estimate the distance modulus of IC 10 to be $(m-M)_{0}=24.27\pm0.03{\rm (random)}\pm0.18{\rm (systematic)}$, corresponding to the distance of $d=715\pm10\pm60$ kpc. This confirms that IC 10 is a member of the Local Group.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures, To appear in the Astrophysical Journal, 200

The intriguing giant bow shocks near HH 131

Using the High Dispersion Spectrograph at the Subaru Telescope, echelle spectra of two giant arcs, i.e. nebulosities Cw and L associated with HH 131 in Orion are presented. Typical emission lines of Herbig-Haro objects have been detected towards Cw. With the 2.16 m telescope of National Astronomical Observatories, spectra of Nebu. C, L and K are obtained, which also show strong [SII]6717/6731, H$\alpha$ and [NII]6583 emission lines. Position-velocity distributions of Cw and L are analyzed. The fastest radial velocity of Cw is V_r ~ -18.0 km/s. When the flow at L goes to the south, it slows down. The fastest radial velocity of L has been observed of -45.0 km/s and the slowest value is about -18.3 km/s. The similarity of the velocities and their positional connection indicate that Cw and L are physically associated. The entire flow tends to become less excited and less ionized when going further to the south (i.e., from Nebu. K, L to C). The electron densities of all the observed nebulosities are low (n_e ~ 10^2 cm^-3). Double kinematic signatures have been found in Cw from its [NII]6583 profiles while the observed H$\alpha$ profiles of Cw are almost symmetric. Bow shock models appear to agree with the observed position-velocity diagrams of the [NII spectra better than H$\alpha$ spectra. With the suggestion that these arcs are HH shocks possibly ejected out of the Orion A molecular cloud by an uncertain source, their spectra show low to intermediate excitation from their diagnostic line ratios.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publiscation in A

Superwind-Driven Intense H_2 Emission in NGC 6240

We have performed a long-slit K band spectroscopic observation of the luminous infrared galaxy NGC 6240. The peak position of the H_2 v=1-0 S(1) emission in the slit is located ~0.3" - 0.4" north of the southern nucleus. It is almost the midpoint between the southern nucleus and the peak position of the ^12CO J=1-0 emission. Based on the line-ratio analyses, we suggest the excitation mechanism of H_2 is pure thermal at most positions. In the southern region we find the following three velocity components in the H_2 emission: the blueshifted shell component (~-250 km s^-1 with respect to V_sys) which is recognized as a distinct C-shape distortion in the velocity field around the southern nucleus, the high-velocity blueshifted ``wing'' component (~-1000 km s^-1 with respect to V_sys), and the component indicating possible line splitting of ~500 km s^-1. The latter two components are extended to the south from the southern nucleus. We show that the kinematic properties of these three components can be reproduced by expanding motion of a shell-like structure around the southern nucleus. The offset peak position of the H_2 emission can be understood if we assume that the shell expanding to the north interacts with the extragalactic molecular gas. At the interface between the shell and the molecular gas concentration the cloud-crushing mechanism proposed by Cowie et al. (1981) may work efficiently, and the intense H_2 emission is thus expected there. All these findings lead us to propose a model that the most H_2 emission is attributed to the shock excitation driven by the superwind activity of the southern nucleus.Comment: 33 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Current Performance and On-Going Improvements of the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope

An overview of the current status of the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope constructed and operated at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan is presented. The basic design concept and the verified performance of the telescope system are described. Also given are the status of the instrument package offered to the astronomical community, the status of operation, and some of the future plans. The status of the telescope reported in a number of SPIE papers as of the summer of 2002 are incorporated with some updates included as of 2004 February. However, readers are encouraged to check the most updated status of the telescope through the home page, http://subarutelescope.org/index.html, and/or the direct contact with the observatory staff.Comment: 18 pages (17 pages in published version), 29 figures (GIF format), This is the version before the galley proo

Down-Sizing in Galaxy Formation at z~1 in the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS)

We use the deep wide-field optical imaging data of the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS) to discuss the luminosity (mass) dependent galaxy colours down to z'=25.0 (5 x 10^9 h_{70}^{-2} Msun) for z~1 galaxies in colour-selected high density regions. We find an apparent absence of galaxies on the red colour-magnitude sequence below z'~24.2, corresponding to ~M*+2 (~10^{10} Msun) with respect to passively evolving galaxies at z~1. Galaxies brighter than M*-0.5 (8 x 10^{10} Msun), however, are predominantly red passively evolving systems, with few blue star forming galaxies at these magnitudes. This apparent age gradient, where massive galaxies are dominated by old stellar populations while less massive galaxies have more extended star formation histories, supports the `down-sizing' idea where the mass of galaxies hosting star formation decreases as the Universe ages. Combined with the lack of evolution in the shape of the stellar mass function for massive galaxies since at least z~1, it appears that galaxy formation processes (both star formation and mass assembly) should have occurred in an accelerated way in massive systems in high density regions, while these processes should have been slower in smaller systems. This result provides an interesting challenge for modern CDM-based galaxy formation theories which predict later formation epochs of massive systems, commonly referred to as ``bottom-up''.Comment: proof corrected version (MNRAS in press), 10 pages, 12 figures (of which 3 are in jpg format