We use Hubble Space Telescope imaging to show that the nearby dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 4449 (=UGC 7592) has an unusual abundance of luminous red star clusters. Joint constraints from integrated photometry, low-resolution spectroscopy, dynamical mass-to-light ratios, and resolved color-magnitude diagrams provide evidence that some of these clusters are old globular clusters (GCs). Spectroscopic data for two massive clusters suggest intermediate metallicities ([Fe/H]~-1) and subsolar Mg enhancement ([Mg/Fe]~-0.1 to -0.2). One of these clusters may be the nucleus of a tidally disrupting dwarf galaxy; the other is very massive (~3*10^6^M_{sun}_). We have also identified a population of remote halo GCs. NGC 4449 is consistent with an emerging picture of the ubiquity of stellar halos among dwarf galaxies, and study of its GCs may help distinguish between accretion and in situ scenarios for such halos.
The literature was searched for [Fe/H] estimates of individual member stars of open clusters (OCs) based on the analysis of high-resolution spectra. The lower limit for spectral resolving power (R={lambda}/{Delta}{lambda}) was set to 25000, and the lower limit for signal-to-noise ratio was set to 50. We searched the PASTEL database (2010A&A...515A.111S, Cat. B/pastel) and the recent literature for such metallicity determinations in references posterior to 1990 and until June 2013. Only stars with an effective temperature lower than 7000K were included to avoid rapid rotators and chemical peculiarities. We eliminated confirmed non-members, spectroscopic binaries, and chemically peculiar stars and kept only stars with a high probability of membership. This resulted in a list of 571 stars in 86 OCs, with 830 metallicity determinations from 94 papers, which we call the starting sample.
The optical identification of large number of X-ray sources such as those from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey is challenging with conventional spectroscopic follow-up observations. We investigate two ROSAT All-Sky Survey fields of size 10{deg}x10{deg} each, one at galactic latitude b=83{deg} (26 Com), the other at b=-5{deg} (gamma Sge), in order to optically identify the majority of sources. We used optical variability, among other more standard methods, as a means of identifying a large number of ROSAT All- Sky Survey sources. All objects fainter than about 12mag and brighter than about 17mag, in or near the error circle of the ROSAT positions, were tested for optical variability on hundreds of archival plates of the Sonneberg field patrol.
Two hundred and forty radio sources that are common for RC (RATAN-600) and UTRAO (VLA, Douglas J.N.+, 1980PAUTx..17....1D) catalogs were identified on the enlarged prints of the Palomar Sky Atlas. The number of identified radio sources with flux density between 15 and 300 mJy drops with decreasing flux density in the centimeter wavelength range.
The Byurakan/Hamburg/ROSAT Catalogue (BHRC) of the optical identifications of X-ray sources is presented. The BHRC includes all 2791 sources from the ROSAT-FSC (<IX/29>) with |b|>30, DEC>0 and ROSAT count rate CR>0.04cts/s. The optical identifications were carried out by means of the Hamburg Quasar Survey (HQS) digitized spectroscopic plates, the DSS1 and DSS2 (blue, red, and IR) images, and other available data. We managed to identify 97% of sources (2696 sources) that are associated with 3202 optical objects. 2248 X-ray sources have a single optical counterpart, 144 have a double or multiple optical counterpart (binaries, galaxy groups etc.), and 304 have ambiguous identifications. The table gives all available multiwavelength data for the identified sources.
An update of the optical identification status of the S4 radio source catalogue is presented. An extensive literature search has been made to gather the types of the optical counterparts, their magnitudes and redshifts. As far as possible, references to other optical catalogues are given for these data, which are often supplemented by more detailed notes on individual sources. Accurate radio positions taken from the literature are given for a large fraction of the sources.
We present optical candidates for 75 X-ray sources in a 1deg^2^ overlapping region with the 1997 medium-deep ROSAT survey by Molthagen et al. (1996, Cat. <J/A+AS/126/509>). These candidates are selected using the multicolor CCD imaging observations made for the T329 field of the Beijing-Arizona-Taiwan-Connecticut (BATC) Sky Survey, which uses the NAOC 0.6/0.9m Schmidt telescope with 15 intermediate-band filters covering the wavelength range 3360-9745{AA}. These X-ray sources are relatively faint (CR<<0.2ct/s) and thus are mostly not included in the ROSAT Bright Source Catalogue; they also remain as X-ray sources without optical candidates in a previous identification program carried out by the Hamburg Quasar Survey (1998, <J/A+AS/128/507> and 1999, <J/A+AS/134/483>).
Files list1, list2, and list3 contain the lists of flat spectrum radio sources with their optical identifications from the APM (Automated Plate Measurement Facility at Cambridge) catalogue. List1 corresponds to the sources which are part of both the complete JVAS++ (a new complete sample constructed with selection criteria similar to those of JVAS -- Jodrell Bank VLA Astrometric Survey: S_5GHz_>200mJy, {alpha}_1.4-5GHz_>-0.5), and with the use of the more accurate GB6 and NVSS surveys) and original JVAS sample, List2 corresponds to sources which are only part of JVAS++, and List3 to sources which are only part of JVAS. The combination of List1 and List2 is a complete sample with S_6cm_>200mJy.
