We present a new broad-band radio frequency catalogue across 0.12GHz<={nu}<=20GHz created by combining data from the Murchison Widefield Array Commissioning Survey, the Australia Telescope 20GHz survey, and the literature. Our catalogue consists of 1285 sources limited by S_20GHz_>40mJy at 5{sigma}, and contains flux density measurements (or estimates) and uncertainties at 0.074, 0.080, 0.119, 0.150, 0.180, 0.408, 0.843, 1.4, 4.8, 8.6, and 20GHz. We fit a second-order polynomial in log-log space to the spectral energy distributions of all these sources in order to characterize their broad-band emission. For the 994 sources that are well described by a linear or quadratic model we present a new diagnostic plot arranging sources by the linear and curvature terms. We demonstrate the advantages of such a plot over the traditional radio colour-colour diagram. We also present astrophysical descriptions of the sources found in each segment of this new parameter space and discuss the utility of these plots in the upcoming era of large area, deep, broad-band radio surveys.
Our current understanding of radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGN) comes predominantly from studies at frequencies of 5GHz and below. With the recent completion of the Australia Telescope 20GHz (AT20G) survey, we can now gain insight into the high-frequency radio properties of AGN. This paper presents supplementary information on the AT20G sources in the form of optical counterparts and redshifts. Optical counterparts were identified using the SuperCOSMOS data base and redshifts were found from either the 6dF Galaxy Survey or the literature. We also report 144 new redshifts. For AT20G sources outside the Galactic plane, 78.5% have optical identifications and 30.9% have redshift information. The optical identification rate also increases with increasing flux density. Targets which had optical spectra available were examined to obtain a spectral classification.
The rapidly increasing number of stellar spectra obtained by existing and future large-scale spectroscopic surveys feeds a demand for fast and efficient tools for the spectroscopic determination of fundamental stellar parameters. Such tools should not only comprise customized solutions for one particular survey or instrument, but, in order to enable cross-survey comparability, they should also be capable of dealing with spectra from a variety of spectrographs, resolutions, and wavelength coverages. To meet these ambitious specifications, we developed ATHOS (A Tool for HOmogenizing Stellar parameters), a fundamentally new analysis tool that adopts easy-to-use, computationally inexpensive analytical relations tying flux ratios (FRs) of designated wavelength regions in optical spectra to the stellar parameters effective temperature (Teff), iron abundance ([Fe/H]), and surface gravity (logg). Our Teff estimator is based on FRs from nine pairs of wavelength ranges around the Balmer lines H{beta} and H{alpha}, while for [Fe/H] and logg we provide 31 and 11 FRs, respectively, which are spread between ~4800{AA} and ~6500{AA}; a region covered by most optical surveys. The analytical relations employing these FRs were trained on N=124 real spectra of a stellar benchmark sample that covers a large parameter space of Teff~=4000 to 6500K (spectral types F to K), [Fe/H]~=-4.5 to 0.3dex, and logg~=1 to 5dex, which at the same time reflects ATHOS' range of applicability. We find accuracies of 97K for Teff, 0.16dex for [Fe/H], and 0.26dex for logg, which are merely bounded by finite uncertainties in the training sample parameters. ATHOS' internal precisions can be better by up to 70%. We tested ATHOS on six independent large surveys spanning a wide range of resolutions (R~=2000 to 52000), amongst which are the Gaia-ESO and the SDSS/SEGUE surveys. The exceptionally low execution time (<30ms per spectrum per CPU core) together with a comparison to the literature parameters showed that ATHOS can successfully achieve its main objectives, in other words fast stellar parametrization with cross-survey validity, high accuracy, and high precision. These are key to homogenize the output from future surveys, such as 4MOST or WEAVE.
The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) observes most of the sky every night in search of dangerous asteroids. Its data are also used to search for photometric variability, where sensitivity to variability is limited by photometric accuracy. Since each exposure spans 7.6{deg} corner to corner, variations in atmospheric transparency in excess of 0.01mag are common, and 0.01mag photometry cannot be achieved by using a constant flat-field calibration image. We therefore have assembled an all-sky reference catalog of approximately one billion stars to m~19 from a variety of sources to calibrate each exposure's astrometry and photometry. Gaia DR2 is the source of astrometry for this ATLAS Refcat2. The sources of g, r, i, and z photometry include Pan-STARRS DR1, the ATLAS Pathfinder photometry project, ATLAS reflattened APASS data, SkyMapper DR1, APASS DR9, the Tycho-2 catalog, and the Yale Bright Star Catalog. We have attempted to make this catalog at least 99% complete to m<19, including the brightest stars in the sky. We believe that the systematic errors are no larger than 5mmag rms, although errors are as large as 20mmag in small patches near the Galactic plane.
Here we release the first version of the atlas and catalog of dark clouds derived by using the optical database Digitized Sky Survey I (DSS). Applying a traditional star-count technique to 1043 plates contained in DSS, we have produced an Av map covering the entire region in the galactic latitude range |b|=<40{deg}. The map was drawn at two different angular resolutions of 6' and 18', and is released in FITS format. Based on the Av map, we identified 2448 dark clouds and 2841 clumps located inside them. Physical parameters, such as the position, extent, and optical extinction, were measured for each of the clouds and clumps. We also searched for counterparts among already known dark clouds in the literature. The catalog of dark clouds presented here lists the cloud parameters as well as the counterparts. Printed version of the atlas and catalog was published in a special issue of Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ) in February 2005 (Dobashi et al., 2005, PASJ, 57, pp.S1-S386).
This paper presents an atlas and catalog of dark clouds derived based on the 2 Micron All Sky Survey Point Source Catalog (2MASS PSC). Color excess maps of E(J-H) and E(H-K_S_) as well as extinction maps of A_J_, A_H_, and A_K_S_ covering all of the sky have been produced at the 1' grid with a changing angular resolution (~1'-12'), depending on the regions in the sky. Maps drawn at the lower 15' grid with a fixed 1{deg} resolution were also derived for various sets of threshold magnitudes in the J, H, and K_S_ bands to estimate the background star colors and star densities needed to derive the color excess and extinction maps. The maps obtained in this work are presented on various scales in a series of figures that can be used as an atlas of dark clouds for general research purposes. On the basis of the E(J-H) and A_J_ maps drawn at the 1' grid, we have carried out a systematic survey for dark clouds all over the sky. In total, we identified 7614 dark clouds, and measured the coordinates, extents, and A_V_ values for each of them. We also searched for their counterparts in a previously published catalog of dark clouds based on the optical photographic plates DSS (Dobashi et al., 2005PASJ...57S...1D, Cat. VII/244). These cloud parameters, including the information of the counterparts, are compiled into a new catalog of dark clouds.
The traditional knowledge of the mechanisms that caused the formation and evolution of early-type galaxies (ETG) in a hierarchical universe was challenged by the unexpected finding by ATLAS^3D^ that 86% of the ETGs show signs of a fast-rotating disk at their interior. This implies a common origin of most spiral galaxies, followed by a quenching phase, while only a minority of the most massive systems are slow rotators and were likely to be the products of merger events. Our aim is to improve our knowledge on the content and distribution of ionized hydrogen and their usage to form stars in a representative sample of ETGs for which the kinematics and detailed morphological classification were known from ATLAS^3D^. Methods. Using narrow-band filters centered on the redshifted H{alpha} line along with a broad-band (r-Gunn) filter to recover the stellar continuum, we observed or collected existing imaging observations for 147 ETGs (including members of the Virgo cluster) that are representative of the whole ATLAS3D survey. Fifty-five ETGs (37%) were detected in the H{alpha} line above our detection threshold, (EW(H{alpha})<=-1{AA}), and 21 harbor a strong source (EW(H{alpha})<=-5{AA}). The strong H{alpha} emitters appear associated with mostly low-mass (M*~10^10^M_{sun}_) S0 galaxies that contain conspicuous stellar and gaseous discs. These harbor significant star formation at their interior, including their nuclei. The weak H{alpha} emitters are almost one order of magnitude more massive, contain gas-poor discs and harbor an AGN at their centers. Their emissivity is dominated by [NII] and does not imply star formation. The 92 undetected ETGs constitute the majority in our sample and are gas-free systems that lack a disc and exhibit passive spectra even in their nuclei. These pieces of evidence reinforce the conclusion made previously that the evolution of ETGs followed the secular channel for the less massive systems and the dry merging channel for the most massive galaxies at the center of clusters of galaxies.
The ATLAS^3D^ project is a multiwavelength survey combined with a theoretical modelling effort. The observations span from the radio to the millimetre and optical, and provide multicolour imaging, two-dimensional kinematics of the atomic (HI), molecular (CO) and ionized gas (H{beta}, [OIII] and [NI]), together with the kinematics and population of the stars (H{beta}, Fe5015 and Mgb), for a carefully selected, volume-limited (1.16x10^5^Mpc^3^) sample of 260 early-type (elliptical E and lenticular S0) galaxies (ETGs). The models include semi-analytic, N-body binary mergers and cosmological simulations of galaxy formation. Here we present the science goals for the project and introduce the galaxy sample and the selection criteria. The sample consists of nearby (D<42Mpc, |DE-29{deg}|<35{deg}, |b|>15{deg}) morphologically selected ETGs extracted from a parent sample of 871 galaxies (8 per cent E, 22 per cent S0 and 70 per cent spirals) brighter than M_K_<-21.5mag (stellar mass M_*_>~6x10^9^M_{sun}_).
We provide a census of the apparent stellar angular momentum within one effective radius of a volume-limited sample of 260 early-type galaxies (ETGs) in the nearby Universe, using the integral-field spectroscopy obtained in the course of the ATLAS3D project. We exploit the {lambda}_R_ parameter (previously used via a constant threshold value of 0.1) to characterize the existence of two families of ETGs: slow rotators which exhibit complex stellar velocity fields and often include stellar kinematically distinct cores, and fast rotators which have regular velocity fields. Our complete sample of 260 ETGs leads to a new criterion to disentangle fast and slow rotators which now includes a dependency on the apparent ellipticity {epsilon}.
We have carried out a survey for CO J=1-0 and J=2-1 emission in the 260 early-type galaxies of the volume-limited ATLAS3D sample, with the goal of connecting their star formation and assembly histories to their cold gas content. This is the largest volume-limited CO survey of its kind and is the first to include many Virgo cluster members. Sample members are dynamically hot galaxies with a median stellar mass ~3x10^10^M_{sun}_; they are selected by their morphology rather than colour, and the bulk of them lie on the red sequence. The overall CO detection rate is 56/259=0.22+/-0.03, with no dependence on the K luminosity and only a modest dependence on the dynamical mass. There are a dozen CO detections among the Virgo cluster members; statistical analysis of their H_2_ mass distributions and their dynamical status within the cluster shows that the cluster's influence on their molecular masses is subtle at best, even though (unlike spirals) they seem to be virialized within the cluster. We suggest that the cluster members have retained their molecular gas through several Gyr residences in the cluster.
