The Orion Star-forming Complex (OSFC) is a central target for the APOGEE-2 Young Cluster Survey. Existing membership catalogs span limited portions of the OSFC, reflecting the difficulty of selecting targets homogeneously across this extended, highly structured region. We have used data from wide-field photometric surveys to produce a less biased parent sample of young stellar objects (YSOs) with infrared (IR) excesses indicative of warm circumstellar material or photometric variability at optical wavelengths across the full 420deg^2^ extent of the OSFC. When restricted to YSO candidates with H<12.4, to ensure S/N~100 for a six-visit source, this uniformly selected sample includes 1307 IR excess sources selected using criteria vetted by Koenig & Leisawitz (2014ApJ...791..131K) and 990 optical variables identified in the Pan-STARRS1 3{pi} survey: 319 sources exhibit both optical variability and evidence of circumstellar disks through IR excess. Objects from this uniformly selected sample received the highest priority for targeting, but required fewer than half of the fibers on each APOGEE-2 plate. We filled the remaining fibers with previously confirmed and new color-magnitude selected candidate OSFC members. Radial velocity measurements from APOGEE-1 and new APOGEE-2 observations taken in the survey's first year indicate that ~90% of the uniformly selected targets have radial velocities consistent with Orion membership. The APOGEE-2 Orion survey will include >1100 bona fide YSOs whose uniform selection function will provide a robust sample for comparative analyses of the stellar populations and properties across all sub-regions of Orion.
Continuing our census of late-type dwarfs in the solar neighborhood, we present BVRI photometry and optical spectroscopy of 800 mid-type M dwarfs drawn from the NLTT proper-motion catalog. The targets are taken both from our own cross-referencing of the NLTT Catalogue and the 2MASS Second Incremental Data Release, and from the revised NLTT compiled recently by Salim & Gould (Cat. <J/ApJ/582/1011>). All are identified as nearby-star candidates based on their location in the (m_r_, m_r_-K_s_) diagram. Three hundred stars discussed here have previous astrometric, photometric, or spectroscopic observations. We present new BVRI photometry for 101 stars, together with low-resolution spectroscopy of a further 400 dwarfs.
We examined light curves of 1138 stars brighter than 18.0mag in the I band and less than a mean magnitude error of 0.1mag in the V band from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE)-III eclipsing binary catalogue, and found 90 new binary systems exhibiting apsidal motion. In this study, the samples of apsidal motion stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) were increased by a factor of about 3.0 than previously known. In order to determine the period of the apsidal motion for the binaries, we analysed in detail both the light curves and eclipse timings using the MACHO (MAssive Compact Halo Objects) and OGLE photometric data base. For the eclipse timing diagrams of the systems, new times of minimum light were derived from the full light curve combined at intervals of one year from the survey data. The new 90 binaries have apsidal motion periods in the range of 12-897yr. An additional short-term oscillation was detected in four systems (OGLE-SMC-ECL-1634, 1947, 3035, and 4946), which most likely arises from the existence of a third body orbiting each eclipsing binary. Since the systems presented here are based on homogeneous data and have been analysed in the same way, they are suitable for further statistical analysis.
For the first time, we have detected Cepheid variables in the Sculptor Group spiral galaxy NGC 7793. From wide-field images obtained in the optical V and I bands on 56 nights in 2003-2005, we have discovered 17 long-period (24-62 days) Cepheids whose periods and mean magnitudes define tight period-luminosity relations. We use the (V-I) Wesenheit index to determine a reddening-free true distance modulus to NGC 7793 of 27.68+/-0.05mag (internal error) +/-0.08mag (systematic error).
We present near-infrared J- and K-band photometry of 77 Cepheid variables in the Local Group galaxy NGC 3109. Combining our data with the previously published optical V- and I-band photometry of Cepheids in this galaxy, we derive an accurate distance and interstellar reddening toward NGC 3109.
We have detected, for the first time, Cepheid variables in the Sculptor Group SB(s)m galaxy NGC 55. From wide-field images obtained in the optical V and I bands during 77 nights in 2002-2003, we have found 143 Cepheids with periods ranging from 5.6 to 175.9 days; 133 of these objects have periods longer than 10 days, making NGC 55 to date the galaxy with the largest known number of long-period Cepheids in the Sculptor Group.
We have conducted an extensive wide-field imaging survey for Cepheid variables in the Local Group irregular galaxy WLM. From data obtained on 101 nights, we have discovered 60 Cepheids, which include 14 of the 15 Cepheid variables previously detected by Sandage and Carlson. Our Cepheid survey in WLM should be practically complete down to a period of 3-days. Importantly, we have found for the first time a long-period Cepheid (P=54.2-days) in this galaxy, alleviating the problem that WLM with its many blue, massive stars does not contain Cepheids with periods longer than about 10-days.
We have obtained deep images in the near-infrared J and K filters of four fields in the Sculptor group spiral galaxy NGC 55 with the ESO VLT and ISAAC camera. For 40 long-period Cepheid variables in these fields, which were recently discovered by Pietrzyski et al., we have determined mean J and K magnitudes from observations at two epochs, and derived distance moduli from the observed period-luminosity (PL) relations in these bands.
We have obtained mosaic images of NGC 6822 in the V and I bands on 77 nights. From these data, we have conducted an extensive search for Cepheid variables over the entire field of the galaxy, and we have found 116 such variables with periods ranging from 1.7 to 124 days. We used the long-period (>5.6 days) Cepheids to establish the period-luminosity (PL) relations in V, I, and in the reddening-independent Wesenheit index, which are all very tightly defined.
We have measured near-infrared magnitudes in the J and K bands for 56 Cepheid variables in the Local Group galaxy NGC 6822 with well-determined periods and optical light curves in the V and I bands. Using the template light-curve approach of Soszyski and coworkers (2005PASP..117..823S), accurate mean magnitudes were obtained from these data, which allowed us to determine with unprecedented accuracy the distance to NGC 6822 from a multi-wavelength period-luminosity solution in the VIJK bands.
