We present results from ground based VLT/FLAMES spectroscopy in combination with HST data for six Galactic globular clusters. The aim of this work is to probe whether these massive clusters host an intermediate-mass black hole at their center using analytical Jeans models.
ArH+ and p-H2O+ spectra towards 7 molecular clouds
Short Name:
J/A+A/643/A91
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
One of the surprises of the Herschel mission was the detection of ArH+, toward the Crab Nebula in emission and in absorption toward strong Galactic background sources. Although, these detections were limited to the first quadrant of the Galaxy, the existing data suggests that ArH+ ubiquitously and exclusively probes the diffuse atomic regions of the interstellar medium. In this study we extend the coverage of ArH+ to other parts of the Galaxy with new observations of its J=1-0 transition along seven Galactic sight lines toward bright sub-millimetre continuum sources. We aim to benchmark its efficiency as a tracer of purely atomic gas by evaluating its correlation (or lack of correlation as suggested by chemical models) with other well known atomic gas tracers like OH+ and H_2_O+ and the molecular gas tracer CH. The observations of the J=1-0 line of ArH+ near 617.5GHz were made feasible with the new, sensitive SEPIA660 receiver on the APEX 12m telescope. Further, the two sidebands of this receiver allowed us to observe the N_KaKc_=1_1,0_-1_0,1_ transitions of para-H_2_O+ at 607.227GHz simultaneously with the ArH+ line. We model the optically thin absorption spectra of the different species and subsequently derived their column densities. By analysing the steady state chemistry of OH+ and o-H_2_O+ we derive on average a cosmic-ray ionisation rate of 2.3+/-0.3x10^-16^s^-1^, toward the sightlines studied in this work. Using the derived values of the cosmic-ray ionisation rates and the observed ArH+ abundances we constrain the molecular fraction of the gas traced by ArH+ to lie below 2x10^-2^ with a median value of 8.8x10^-4^. Combined, our observations of ArH+, OH+, H_2_O+ and CH probe different regimes of the interstellar medium, from diffuse atomic to diffuse and translucent molecular clouds. Over Galactic scales, we see that the distribution of N(ArH+) is associated with that of N(H), particularly in the inner Galaxy (within 7 kpc of the Galactic center) with potentially even contributions from the warm neutral medium phase of atomic gas at larger galactocentric distances. We derive an average ortho-to-para ratio for H_2_O+ of 2.1+/-1.0, which corresponds to a nuclear spin temperature of 41K, consistent with the typical gas temperatures of diffuse clouds.
The All Sky Monitor was one of six X-ray instruments on the Ariel 5 satellite. The satellite was launched into a low inclination (2.8 degrees), nearly circular orbit (altitude ~520 km) on 15 October 1974. Ariel 5 was actively pointed so that objects of interest could be observed by the four instruments aligned along its spin axis. The ASM was mounted 90 degrees from the spin axis; the satellite had a spin period of 6 seconds. The ASM operated from October 18, 1974 to March 10, 1980. The ASM instrument, built by the Lab for High Energy Astrophysics at NASA- Goddard Space Flight Center, provided continuous coverage of the entire sky, except for a 20 degree band straddling the satellite's equator. The ASM was intended to act as an early detection system for transients, and to monitor the variability of bright ( > 0.2 Crab) galactic sources. The instrument consisted of a pair of X-ray pinhole cameras, each covering opposite halves of the sky, with gas-filled imaging proportional counters. Position determination of sources was accomplished through position-sensitive anode wires and satellite rotation. Each camera had a 1-cm<sup>2</sup> aperture. Overall telemetry constraints limited the duty cycle for any given source to 1 percent. With the low telemetry rate provided for this instrument (1 bit/s), temporal and spectral information were sacrificed for the sake of all-sky coverage. Hence, spectral information was limited to a single 3 - 6 keV bandpass, and temporal resolution was limited to the satellite orbital period, ~100 minutes. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
ARI's "Geschichte des Fixsternhimmels" is an attempt to collect all
astrometrically useful observations from before ca. 1970 in a way
comparable to what has been done to construct the FK* series of
fundamental catalogs. About 7e6 published positions are included.
In GAVO's DC, we provide tables of identified and non-identified stars
together with the master catalog that objects were identified against.
The catalogue ARIHIP has been constructed by selecting the 'best
data' for a given star from combinations of HIPPARCOS data with Boss'
GC and/or the Tycho-2 catalogue as well as the FK6. It provides 'best
data' for 90 842 stars with a typical mean error of 0.89 mas/year
(about a factor of 1.3 better than Hipparcos for this sample of
stars).
This service provides the data for the TGAS catalogue (Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution ; a subset of the Gaia DR1 catalogue providing parallaxes and proper motions from Tycho2 for a little more than 2 million sources).