We present the catalog of RR Lyr stars discovered in a 4.5 square degrees area in the central parts of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Presented sample contains 7612 objects, including 5455 fundamental mode pulsators (RRab), 1655 first-overtone (RRc), 272 second-overtone (RRe) and 230 double-mode RR Lyr stars (RRd). Additionally we attach alist of several dozen other short-period pulsating variables. The catalog data include astrometry, periods, BVI photometry, amplitudes, and parameters of the Fourier decomposition of the I-band light curve of each object. We provide a list of six LMC star clusters which contain RR Lyr stars. The richest cluster, NGC 1835, hosts 84 RR Lyr variables. The period distribution of these stars suggests that NGC1835 shares features of Oosterhoff type I and type II groups. All presented data, including individual BVI observations and finding charts are available from the OGLE Internet archive at ftp://sirius.astrouw.edu.pl/ogle/ogle2/var_stars/lmc/rrlyr
We present three color, BVI maps of the Small Magellanic Cloud. The maps contain precise photometric and astrometric data for about 2.2million stars from the central regions of the SMC bar covering ~2.4 square degrees on the sky. Mean brightness of stars is derived from observations collected in the course of the OGLE-II microlensing search from about 130, 30 and 15 measurements in the I, V and B-bands, respectively. Accuracy of the zero points of photometry is about 0.01mag, and astrometry 0.15arcsec (with possible systematic error up to 0.7arcsec). Color magnitude diagrams of observed fields are also presented. The maps of the SMC are the first from the series of similar maps covering other OGLE fields: LMC, Galactic bulge and Galactic disk. The data are very well suited for many projects, particularly for the SMC which has been neglected photometrically for years.
We present the catalog of clusters found in the area of ~2.4 square degrees in the central region of the Small Magellanic Cloud. The catalog contains data for 238 clusters, 72 of them are new objects. For each cluster equatorial coordinates, radii, approximate number of members, cross-identification, finding chart and color magnitude diagrams: V-(B-V) and V-(V-I) are provided.
We present UBVI photometry for 8530 stars in Baade's Window obtained during the OGLE-II microlensing survey. Among these are over one thousand red clump giants. 1391 of them have photometry with errors smaller than 0.04, 0.06, 0.12, and 0.20 mag in the I, V, B, and U-band, respectively. We constructed a map of interstellar reddening. The corrected colors of the red clump giants: (U-B)_0_, (B-V)_0_, and (V-I)_0_ are very well correlated, indicating that a single parameter determines the observed spread of their values, reaching almost 2mag in the (U-B)_0_. It seems most likely that heavy element content is the dominant parameter, but it is possible that another parameter: the age (or mass) of a star moves it along the same trajectory in the color-color diagram as the metallicity. The current ambiguity can be resolved with spectral analysis, and our catalog may be useful as a finding list of red clump giants. We point out that these K giants are more suitable for a fair determination of the distribution of metallicity than brighter M giants. We also present a compilation of UBVI data for 308 red clump giants near the Sun, for which Hipparcos parallaxes are more accurate than 10%. Spectral analysis of their metallicity may provide information about the local metallicity distribution as well as the extent to which mass (age) of these stars affects their colors.
We analyse the poorly studied open cluster King 1 in the second Galactic quadrant. From wide-field photometry, we have studied the spatial distribution of this cluster. We determined that the centre of King 1 is located at {alpha}_2000_=00:22 and {delta}_2000_=+64:23. By parameterizing the stellar density with a King profile, we have obtained a central density of {rho}_0_= 6.5+/-0.2star/arcmin^2^ and a core radius of r_core_=1.9+/-0.2arcmin. By comparing the observed colour-magnitude diagram of King 1 with those of similar open clusters and with different sets of isochrones, we have estimated an age of 2.8+/-0.3Gyr, a distance modulus of (m-M)_o_=10.6+/-0.1mag and a reddening of E(B-V)=0.80+/-0.05mag. To complete our analysis, we acquired medium resolution spectra for 189 stars in the area of King 1. From their derived radial velocities, we determined an average velocity <V_r_>=-53.1+/-3.1km/s. From the strength of the infrared CaII lines in red giants we have determined an average metallicity of <[M/H]>=+0.07+/-0.08dex. From spectral synthesis, we have also estimated an {alpha}-elements abundance of <[{alpha}/M]>=-0.10+/-0.08dex.
We aim to determine accurate distances and ages of eight open clusters in order to: (1) assess their possible binarity (2) provide probes to trace the structure of the Third Galactic Quadrant. Cluster reddenings, distances, ages and metallicities are derived from ZAMS and isochrone fits in UBVRI photometric diagrams. Field contamination is reduced by restricting analysis to stars within the cluster limits derived from star counts. Further membership control is done by requiring that stars have consistent positions in several diagrams and by using published spectral types.
The main objective of this work is to determine the cluster members of 1876 open clusters, using positions and proper motions of the astrometric fourth United States Naval Observatory (USNO) CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC4). For this purpose, we apply three different methods, all based on a Bayesian approach, but with different formulations: a purely parametric method, another completely non-parametric algorithm and a third, recently developed by Sampedro & Alfaro (2016MNRAS.457.3949S), using both formulations at different steps of the whole process. The first and second statistical moments of the members' phase-space subspace, obtained after applying the three methods, are compared for every cluster. Although, on average, the three methods yield similar results, there are also specific differences between them, as well as for some particular clusters. The comparison with other published catalogues shows good agreement. We have also estimated, for the first time, the mean proper motion for a sample of 18 clusters. The results are organized in a single catalogue formed by two main files, one with the most relevant information for each cluster, partially including that in UCAC4, and the other showing the individual membership probabilities for each star in the cluster area. The final catalogue, with an interface design that enables an easy interaction with the user, is available in electronic format at the Stellar Systems Group (SSG-IAA) web site (http://ssg.iaa.es/en/content/sampedro-cluster-catalog).
This paper has two main objectives: (1) To determine the intrinsic properties of sixteen faint and mostly unstudied open clusters in the poorly known sector of the Galaxy at 270{deg}-300{deg}, to probe the Milky Way structure in future investigations. (2) To address previously reported systematics in Gaia DR2 parallaxes by comparing the cluster distances derived from photometry with those derived from parallaxes. Deep UBVI photometry of 16 open clusters was carried out. Observations were reduced and analyzed in an automatic way using the ASteCA package to get individual distances, reddening, masses, ages and metallicities. Photometric distances were compared to those obtained from a Bayesian analysis of Gaia DR2 parallaxes. Ten out of the sixteen clusters are true or highly probable open clusters. Two of them are quite young and follow the trace of the Carina Arm and the already detected warp. The rest of the clusters are placed in the interarm zone between the Perseus and Carina Arms as expected for older objects. We found that the cluster van den Berg-Hagen 85 is 7.5x10^9^yrs old becoming then one of the oldest open cluster detected in our Galaxy so far. The relationship of these ten clusters with the Galaxy structure in the solar neighborhood is discussed. The comparison of distances from photometry and parallaxes data, in turn, reveals a variable level of disagreement. Various zero point corrections for Gaia DR2 parallax data recently reported were considered for a comparison between photometric and parallax based distances. The results tend to improve with some of these corrections. Photometric distance analysis suggest an average correction of ~+0.026mas (to be added to the parallaxes). The correction may have a more intricate distance dependency, but addressing that level of detail will require a larger cluster sample.
We present CCD photometry and a proper motion study of the young open star cluster, NGC 581 (M 103). Fitting isochrones to the colour magnitude diagram, we found an age of 16+/-4Myr and a distance of roughly 3kpc for this cluster. The proper motion study identifies 77 stars of V=14.5mag or brighter to be cluster members. We combine membership determination by proper motions and statistical field star subtraction to derive the IMF of the cluster and find a quite steep slope of {Gamma}=-1.80.
The Ophiuchus stream is a recently discovered stellar tidal stream in the Milky Way. We present high-quality spectroscopic data for 14 stream member stars obtained using the Keck and MMT telescopes. We confirm the stream as a fast moving (v_los_~290km/s), kinematically cold group ({sigma}_{nu}_los__<~1km/s) of {alpha}-enhanced and metal-poor stars ([{alpha}/Fe]~0.4dex, [Fe/H]~-2.0dex). Using a probabilistic technique, we model the stream simultaneously in line-of-sight velocity, color-magnitude, coordinate, and proper motion space, and so determine its distribution in 6D phase-space. We find that the stream extends in distance from 7.5 to 9kpc from the Sun; it is 50 times longer than wide, merely appearing highly foreshortened in projection. The analysis of the stellar population contained in the stream suggests that it is ~12Gyr old, and that its initial stellar mass was ~2x10^4^M_{sun}_ (or at least >~7x10^3^M_{sun}_). Assuming a fiducial Milky Way potential, we fit an orbit to the stream that matches the observed phase-space distribution, except for some tension in the proper motions: the stream has an orbital period of ~350Myr, and is on a fairly eccentric orbit (e~0.66) with a pericenter of ~3.5kpc and an apocenter of ~17kpc. The phase-space structure and stellar population of the stream show that its progenitor must have been a globular cluster that was disrupted only ~240Myr ago. We do not detect any significant overdensity of stars along the stream that would indicate the presence of a progenitor, and conclude that the stream is all that is left of the progenitor.
