New low-mass members of the Octans stellar association and an updated 30-40 Myr lithium age

The Octans association is one of several young stellar moving groups recently discovered in the Solar neighbourhood, and hence a valuable laboratory for studies of stellar, circumstellar disc and planetary evolution. However, a lack of low-mass members or any members with trigonometric parallaxes means the age, distance and space motion of the group are poorly constrained. To better determine its membership and age, we present the first spectroscopic survey for new K and M-type Octans members, resulting in the discovery of 29 UV-bright K5-M4 stars with kinematics, photometry and distances consistent with existing members. Nine new members possess strong Li I absorption, which allow us to estimate a lithium age of 30-40 Myr, similar to that of the Tucana-Horologium association and bracketed by the firm lithium depletion boundary ages of the Beta Pictoris (20 Myr) and Argus/IC 2391 (50 Myr) associations. Several stars also show hints in our medium-resolution spectra of fast rotation or spectroscopic binarity. More so than other nearby associations, Octans is much larger than its age and internal velocity dispersion imply. It may be the dispersing remnant of a sparse, extended structure which includes some younger members of the foreground Octans-Near association recently proposed by Zuckerman and collaborators.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (16 pages, 5 tables

The effects of climate change and variation in New Zealand: An assessment using the CLIMPACTS system

Along with a need to better understand the climate and biophysical systems of New Zealand, the need to develop an improved capacity for evaluating possible changes in climate and their effects on the New Zealand environment has been recognised. Since the middle of 1993 the CLIMPACTS programme, has been focused on the development of such a capacity, in the first instance for the agricultural sector. the goals of this present assessment are: 1. To present current knowledge on likely scenarios of climate change and associated uncertainties in New Zealand; 2. To present current knowledge, based on quantitative analyses using a consistent set of scenarios, on the likely effects of climate change on a range of agricultural and horticultural crops of economic importance; 3. To demonstrate, by way of this report and the associated technical report, the capacity that has been developed for ongoing assessments of this kind in New Zealand. This report has been prepared for both the science and policy communities in New Zealand. There are two main components: 1. The detailed findings of the assessment, presented in a series of chapters; 2. An annex, which contains technical details on models used in the assessment

New members of the TW Hydrae Association and two accreting M-dwarfs in Scorpius-Centaurus

We report the serendipitous discovery of several young mid-M stars found during a search for new members of the 30-40 Myr-old Octans Association. Only one of the stars may be considered a possible Octans(-Near) member. However, two stars have proper motions, kinematic distances, radial velocities, photometry and Li I 6708AA measurements consistent with membership in the 8-10 Myr-old TW Hydrae Association. Another may be an outlying member of TW Hydrae but has a velocity similar to that predicted by membership in Octans. We also identify two new lithium-rich members of the neighbouring Scorpius-Centaurus OB Association (Sco-Cen). Both exhibit large 12 and 22 micron excesses and strong, variable H-alpha emission which we attribute to accretion from circumstellar discs. Such stars are thought to be incredibly rare at the ~16 Myr median age of Sco-Cen and they join only one other confirmed M-type and three higher-mass accretors outside of Upper Scorpius. The serendipitous discovery of two accreting stars hosting large quantities of circumstellar material may be indicative of a sizeable age spread in Sco-Cen, or further evidence that disc dispersal and planet formation time-scales are longer around lower-mass stars. To aid future studies of Sco-Cen we also provide a newly-compiled catalogue of 305 early-type Hipparcos members with spectroscopic radial velocities sourced from the literature.Comment: 12 pages. Accepted for publication in MNRA

First detection of a low-mass stellar halo around the young open cluster Eta Chamaeleontis

We have identified several lithium-rich low-mass (0.08<M<0.3 Msun) stars within 5.5 deg of the young open cluster Eta Chamaeleontis, nearly four times the radius of previous search efforts. Of these stars we propose 4 new probable cluster members, and 3 possible members requiring further investigation. These findings are consistent with a dynamical origin for the current configuration of the cluster, without the need to invoke an abnormal Initial Mass Function deficient in low-mass objects. Candidates were selected on the basis of DENIS and 2MASS photometry, NOMAD astrometry and extensive follow-up spectroscopy.Comment: 5 Pages. 5 Figures and 1 Table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters. Higher resolution figures available at http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~murphysj/

The Stellar Populations of Low-redshift Clusters

We present some preliminary results from an on-going study of the evolution of stellar populations in rich clusters of galaxies. This sample contains core line-strength measurements from 183 galaxies with b_J <= 19.5 from four clusters with ~0.04. Using predictions from stellar population models to compare with our measured line strengths we can derive relative luminosity-weighted mean ages and metallicities for the stellar populations in each of our clusters. We also investigate the Mgb'-sigma and Hbeta_G'-sigma scaling relations. We find that, consistent with previous results, Mgb' is correlated with sigma, the likely explanation being that larger galaxies are better at retaining their heavier elements due to their larger potentials. Hbeta', on the other hand, we find to be anti-correlated with sigma. This result implies that the stellar populations in larger galaxies are older than in smaller galaxies.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of IAU Colloquium 195: "Outskirts of Galaxy Clusters: intense life in the suburbs", Torino Italy, March 12-16 200

FIJICLIM description and users guide

The FIJICLIM prototype is based on PACCLIM which was developed by the International Global Change Institute (IGCI) as part of the Pacific Islands Climate Change Assistance Programme (PICCAP) executed by the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). Both FIJICLIM and PACCLIM build directly on a comparable model development for New Zealand, known as the CLIMPACTS system (Kenny et al., 1995, 1999; Warrick et al., 1996, 1999). The development of CLIMPACTS has been funded by the Foundation for Research Science and Technology since 1993. Its core components, which include a graphic user interface (GUI), a customised geographic information system (GIS), and data compression routines, have provided the basis for the development of FIJICLIM. The development of FIJICLIM is complementary to similar developments that have evolved from CLIMPACTS, for Bangladesh (BDCLIM), Australia (OZCLIM), and for training in climate change V&A assessment (VANDACLIM)

Episodic disk accretion in the halo of the 'old' Pre-Main Sequence cluster Eta Chamaeleontis

We present multi-epoch medium-resolution observations of two M4.5 candidate members in the halo of the ~8 Myr Eta Chamaeleontis open cluster. Over six months of observations both stars exhibited variations in their H-alpha line profiles on timescales of days to months, with at least one episode of substantial activity attributable to accretion from a circumstellar disk. We derive an accretion rate ~10^-8.7 Msun/yr for this event, with a rate of ~10^-10.6 Msun/yr in quiescence. Episodic accretion like that observed here means existing surveys of accreting Weak-lined T-Tauri Stars in young clusters are likely incomplete and that gas dissipation timescales calculated from the fraction of accreting objects are underestimates.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter

On the Stellar Kinematics and Mass of the Virgo Ultra-Diffuse Galaxy VCC 1287

Here, we present a kinematical analysis of the Virgo cluster ultra-diffuse galaxy (UDG) VCC 1287 based on data taken with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI). We confirm VCC 1287's association both with the Virgo cluster and its globular cluster (GC) system, measuring a recessional velocity of $1116 \pm 2\ \mathrm{km\ s^{-1}}$. We measure a stellar velocity dispersion ($19 \pm 6\ \mathrm{km\ s^{-1}}$) and infer both a dynamical mass ($1.11^{+0.81}_{-0.81} \times 10^{9} \ \mathrm{M_{\odot}}$) and mass to light ratio ($13^{+11}_{-11}$) within the half light radius (4.4 kpc). This places VCC 1287 slightly above the well established relation for normal galaxies, with a higher mass to light ratio for its dynamical mass than normal galaxies. We use our dynamical mass, and an estimate of GC system richness, to place VCC 1287 on the GC number -- dynamical mass relation, finding good agreement with a sample of normal galaxies. Based on a total halo mass derived from GC counts, we then infer that VCC 1287 likely resides in a cored or low concentration dark matter halo. Based on the comparison of our measurements to predictions from simulations, we find that strong stellar feedback and/or tidal effects are plausibly the dominant mechanisms in the formation of VCC 1287. Finally, we compare our measurement of the dynamical mass with those for other UDGs. These dynamical mass estimates suggest relatively massive halos and a failed galaxy origin for at least some UDGs.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures with an additional 5 pages and 5 figures in appendices. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. v2: with small updates from publication formatting and a minor plotting fix for Fig. 1

An Ultra diffuse Galaxy in the NGC 5846 group from the VEGAS survey

Many ultra diffuse galaxies (UDGs) have now been identified in clusters of galaxies. However, the number of nearby UDGs suitable for detailed follow-up remain rare. Our aim is to begin to identify UDGs in the environments of nearby bright early-type galaxies from the VEGAS survey. Here we use a deep g band image of the NGC 5846 group, taken as part of the VEGAS survey, to search for UDGs. We found one object with properties of a UDG if it associated with the NGC 5846 group, which seems likely. The galaxy, we name NGC 5846$\_$UDG1, has an absolute magnitude of M$_g$ = -14.2, corresponding to a stellar mass of $\sim$10$^8$ M$_{\odot}$. It also reveals a system of compact sources which are likely globular clusters. Based on the number of globular clusters detected we estimate a halo mass that is greater than 8$\times$10$^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$ for UDG1.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&