6,905 research outputs found
Search for nearby stars among proper motion stars selected by optical-to-infrared photometry. I. Discovery of LHS 2090 at spectroscopic distance of d=6pc
We present the discovery of a previously unknown very nearby star - LHS 2090
at a distance of only d=6 pc. In order to find nearby (i.e. d < 25 pc) red
dwarfs, we re-identified high proper motion stars ( 0.18 arcsec/yr) from
the NLTT catalogue (Luyten \cite{luyten7980}) in optical Digitized Sky Survey
data for two different epochs and in the 2MASS data base. Only proper motion
stars with large colour index and with relatively bright infrared
magnitudes () were selected for follow-up spectroscopy. The
low-resolution spectrum of LHS 2090 and its large proper motion (0.79
arcsec/yr) classify this star as an M6.5 dwarf. The resulting spectroscopic
distance estimate from comparing the infrared magnitudes of LHS 2090
with absolute magnitudes of M6.5 dwarfs is pc assuming an
uncertainty in absolute magnitude of 0.4 mag.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysics Letter
Search for nearby stars among proper motion stars selected by optical-to-infrared photometry. II. Two late M dwarfs within 10 pc
We have identified two late M dwarfs within 10 parsecs of the Sun, by
cross-correlating the Luyten NLTT catalogue of stars with proper motions larger
than 0.18 arcsec/yr, with objects lacking optical identification in the 2MASS
data base. The 2MASS photometry was then combined with improved optical
photometry obtained from the SuperCOSMOS Sky Surveys. The two objects (LP775-31
and LP655-48) have extremely red optical-to-infrared colours ((R-K)~7) and very
bright infrared magnitudes (K_s<10): follow-up optical spectroscopy with the
ESO 3.6-m telescope gave spectral types of M8.0 and M7.5 dwarfs, respectively.
Comparison of their near-infrared magnitudes with the absolute magnitudes of
known M8 and M7.5 dwarfs with measured trigonometric parallaxes yields
spectroscopic distance estimates of 6.4+/-1.4 parsecs and 8.0+/-1.6 parsecs for
LP775-31 and LP655-48, respectively. In contrast, Cruz & Reid (2002) recently
determined spectral types of M6 for both objects, and commensurately larger
distances of 11.3+/-1.3 parsecs and 15.3+/-2.6 parsecs. LP655-48 is also a
bright X-ray source (1RXS J044022.8-053020). With only a few late M dwarfs
previously known within 10 parsecs, these two objects represent an important
addition to the census of the Solar neighbourhood.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics (Letters), in press; 5 pages, 1 figure, uses
aa.cls version 5.
SSSPM J1444-2019: an extremely high proper motion, ultracool subdwarf
We present the discovery of a new extreme high proper motion object (3.5
arcsec/year) which we classify as an ultracool subdwarf with [M/H] = -0.5. It
has a formal spectral type of sdM9 but also shows L-type features: while the VO
bands are completely absent, it exhibits extremely strong TiO absorption in its
optical spectrum. With a radial velocity of about -160 km/s and a rough
distance estimate of 16--24 pc, it is likely one of the nearest halo members
crossing the Solar neighbourhood with a heliocentric space velocity of
(U,V,W)=(-244,-256,-100)+/-(32,77,6) km/s.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures (Fig.1a-d available as jpg files), accepted for
publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letter
New High Proper Motion Stars from the Digitized Sky Survey. II. Northern Stars with 0.5<mu<2.0 arcsec/yr at High Galactic Latitudes
In a continuation of our systematic search for high proper motion stars in
the Digitized Sky Survey, we have completed the analysis of northern sky fields
at galactic latitudes above 25 degrees. With the help of our SUPERBLINK
software, a powerful automated blink comparator developed by us, we have
identified 1146 stars in the magnitude range 8<r<20 with proper motions
0.500<mu<2.000 arcsec/yr. These include 1080 stars previously listed in
Luyten's proper motion catalogs (LHS, NLTT), 9 stars not previously listed in
the Luyten catalogs but reported elsewhere in the literature (including 1
previously reported by our team), and 57 new objects reported here for the
first time. This paper includes a list of positions, proper motions,
magnitudes, and finder charts for all the new high proper motion stars.
Combined with our previous study of low galactic latitude fields (see Paper I),
our survey now covers over 98% of the northern sky. We conclude that the Luyten
catalogs were 90% complete in the northern sky for stars with 0.5<mu<2.0
arcsec/yr down to magnitude r=19. We discuss the incompleteness of the old
Luyten proper motion survey, and estimate completeness limits for our new
survey.Comment: To appear in The Astronomical Journa
Spectroscopic classification of red high proper motion objects in the Southern Sky
We present the results of spectroscopic follow-up observations for a sample
of 71 red objects with high proper motions in the range 0.08-1.14 arcsec/yr as
detected using APM and SSS measurements of multi-epoch photographic Schmidt
plates. Red objects were selected by combining the photographic BjRI magnitudes
with 2MASS near-infrared JHKs magnitudes. Some 50 of the 71 spectroscopically
classified objects turn out to be late-type (>M6) dwarfs and in more detail,
the sample includes 35 ultracool dwarfs with spectral types between M8 and L2,
some previously reported, as well as five M-type subdwarfs, including a cool
esdM6 object, SSSPM J0500-5406. Distance estimates based on the spectral types
and 2MASS J magnitudes place almost all of the late-type (>M6) dwarfs within 50
pc, with 25 objects located inside the 25 pc limit of the catalogue of nearby
stars. Most of the early-type M dwarfs are located at larger distances of
100-200 pc, suggesting halo kinematics for some of them. All objects with
Halpha equivalent widths larger than 10 Angstroms have relatively small
tangential velocities (<50 km/s). Finally, some late-type but blue objects are
candidate binaries.Comment: accepted on 06 June 2005 for publication in A&A, 22 pages, 14
figures, 7 table
Global survey of star clusters in the Milky Way II. The catalogue of basic parameters
Although they are the main constituents of the Galactic disk population, for
half of the open clusters in the Milky Way reported in the literature nothing
is known except the raw position and an approximate size. The main goal of this
study is to determine a full set of uniform spatial, structural, kinematic, and
astrophysical parameters for as many known open clusters as possible. On the
basis of stellar data from PPMXL and 2MASS, we used a dedicated data-processing
pipeline to determine kinematic and photometric membership probabilities for
stars in a cluster region. For an input list of 3784 targets from the
literature, we confirm that 3006 are real objects, the vast majority of them
are open clusters, but associations and globular clusters are also present. For
each confirmed object we determined the exact position of the cluster centre,
the apparent size, proper motion, distance, colour excess, and age. For about
1500 clusters, these basic astrophysical parameters have been determined for
the first time. For the bulk of the clusters we also derived the tidal radius.
We estimated additionally average radial velocities for more than 30% of the
confirmed clusters. The present sample (called MWSC) reaches both the central
parts of the Milky Way and its outer regions. It is almost complete up to 1.8
kpc from the Sun and also covers neighbouring spiral arms. However, for a small
subset of the oldest open clusters () we found some evidence
of incompleteness within about 1 kpc from the Sun.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
A new wide pair of cool white dwarfs in the Solar neighbourhood
We report the discovery of a wide pair (93 arcsec angular separation) of
extremely cool ( K) white dwarfs with a very large common proper
motion ( arcsec/yr). The objects were discovered in a high proper
motion survey in the poorly investigated southern sky region with
using SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey (SSS) data. Both objects,
SSSPM J2231-7514 and SSSPM J2231-7515, show featureless optical spectra. Fits
of black-body models to the spectra yield effective temperatures of 3810 K and
3600 K, respectively for the bright (V=16.60) and faint (V=16.87) component.
Both degenerates are much brighter than other recent discoveries of cool white
dwarfs with comparable effective temperatures and/or colours.
Therefore, they should be relatively nearby objects. The comparison with other
cool white dwarfs and a photometric distance determination yield distance
estimates between 9 pc and 14 pc. The latter seems to be more realistic, since
the good agreement of the proper motion of both components within the errors of
about 8 mas/yr and the angular separation between the two stars support a
distance of about 15 pc with relatively small masses of the components. With
smaller distance we should be able to measure a differential proper motion due
to orbital motion if the orbital plane is not strongly inclined and the present
orbital velocity vector is not close to the line of sight. The space velocity
based on that distance and assumptions on radial velocity makes the new pair of
extremely cool white dwarfs some of the probably oldest members of the Galactic
disk population, although the possibility that these objects are part of a
Galactic halo dark matter component can also not yet be ruled out.Comment: 9 pages (with emulateapj5.sty), 3 figures, accepted for publication
in The Astrophysical Journa
Global survey of star clusters in the Milky Way IV. 63 new open clusters detected by proper motions
AIMS: In their 1st extension to the Milky Way Star Clusters (MWSC) survey,
Schmeja et al. applied photometric filters to the 2MASS to find new cluster
candidates that were subsequently confirmed or rejected by the MWSC pipeline.
To further extend the MWSC census, we aimed at discovering new clusters by
conducting an almost global search in proper motion catalogues as a starting
point. METHODS: We first selected high-quality samples from the PPMXL and UCAC4
for comparison and verification of the proper motions. For 441 circular proper
motion bins (radius 15 mas/yr) within 50 mas/yr, the sky outside a thin
Galactic plane zone (5) was binned in small areas ('sky
pixels') of 0.250.25 deg. Sky pixels with enhanced numbers of stars
with a certain common proper motion in both catalogues were considered as
cluster candidates. After visual inspection of the sky images, we built an
automated procedure that combined these representations of the sky for
neighbouring proper motion subsamples after a background correction. RESULTS:
About half of our 692 candidates overlapped with known clusters (46 globular
and 68 open clusters in the Galaxy, about 150 known clusters of galaxies) or
the Magellanic Clouds. About 10% of our candidates turned out to be 63 new open
clusters confirmed by the MWSC pipeline. They occupy predominantly the two
inner Galactic quadrants and have apparent sizes and numbers of high-probable
members slightly larger than those of the typically small MWSC clusters,
whereas their other parameters (ages, distances, tidal radii) fall in the
typical ranges. As our search aimed at finding compact clusters, we did not
find new very nearby (extended) clusters. (abridged)Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
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