The epoch International Celestial Reference Frame (epoch ICRF) is proposed as a new concept in order to consider the effect of apparent proper motion of the position of a radio source due to acceleration of the spatial origin of the ICRF, the centre of mass of the Solar system. This apparent proper motion has a magnitude of approximately 5.8-microarcsec ({mu}as) per year, and for the 30-year very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observational history these position variations will exceed 100{mu}as. We show that the dipole structure of the apparent proper motions leads to global rotation in the ICRF2 and the main term, the shift of direction of the origin of right ascension, reaches 25{mu}as per century. The 'epoch ICRF' is constructed using epoch positions at J2000.0 and apparent proper motions of radio sources, which are reported here for 295 ICRF2-defining sources.
The carriers of the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are largely unidentified molecules ubiquitously present in the interstellar medium (ISM). After decades of study, two strong and possibly three weak near-infrared DIBs have recently been attributed to the C^+^_60_ fullerene based on observational and laboratory measurements. There is great promise for the identification of the over 400 other known DIBs, as this result could provide chemical hints towards other possible carriers. In an effort to systematically study the properties of the DIB carriers, we have initiated a new large-scale observational survey: the ESO Diffuse Interstellar Bands Large Exploration Survey (EDIBLES). The main objective is to build on and extend existing DIB surveys to make a major step forward in characterising the physical and chemical conditions for a statistically significant sample of interstellar lines-of-sight, with the goal to reverse-engineer key molecular properties of the DIB carriers. EDIBLES is a filler Large Programme using the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope at Paranal, Chile. It is designed to provide an observationally unbiased view of the presence and behaviour of the DIBs towards early-spectral-type stars whose lines-of-sight probe the diffuse-to-translucent ISM. Such a complete dataset will provide a deep census of the atomic and molecular content, physical conditions, chemical abundances and elemental depletion levels for each sightline. Achieving these goals requires a homogeneous set of high-quality data in terms of resolution (R~70000-100000), sensitivity (S/N up to 1000 per resolution element), and spectral coverage (305-1042nm), as well as a large sample size (100+ sightlines). In this first paper the goals, objectives and methodology of the EDIBLES programme are described and an initial assessment of the data is provided.
We describe the results of the ESO Key-programme on "Structure and Dynamics of Rich Galaxy Clusters" (which we will henceforth refer to as the ESO Nearby Abell Cluster Survey - or ENACS). We discuss the sample of clusters for which data were obtained, and the observational programme of spectroscopy and photometry that we carried out. The final database contains a total of 5634 galaxies in the directions of 107 clusters from the catalogue by Abell, Corwin and Olowin 1989 (ACO hereafter) with richness R>=1 and mean redshifts z<=0.1.
The ESO Nearby Abell Cluster Survey (the ENACS) has yielded 5634 redshifts for galaxies in the directions of 107 rich, Southern clusters selected from the ACO catalogue (Abell et al. 1989). By combining these data with another 1000 redshifts from the literature, of galaxies in 37 clusters, we construct a volume-limited sample of 128 R_ACO_>=1 clusters in a solid angle of 2.55sr centered on the South Galactic Pole, out to a redshift z=0.1. For a subset of 80 of these clusters we can calculate a reliable velocity dispersion, based on at least 10 (but very often between 30 and 150) redshifts.
I present a catalogue of positions and correlated flux densities of 109 compact extragalactic radio sources in the Galactic plane determined from analysis of a 48 hour VLBI experiment at 22GHz with the European VLBI Network. The median position uncertainty is 9mas. The correlated flux densities of detected sources are in the range of 20 to 300mJy. In addition to target sources, nine water masers have been detected, two of them new. I derived position of masers with accuracies 30 to 200mas and determined velocities of maser components and their correlated flux densities.
Snowden & Young (2005ApJS..157..126S) suggested that the reason why there are GK subgiants is because they are members of binaries, which would bring them above the main sequence in an Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram. They studied a sample of 30 G0-K1 IV stars and were disappointed to find only two to be spectroscopic binaries. With more accurate radial velocities I found seven binaries in their samples of subgiants and control stars; orbital elements are given for those seven. Using Hipparcos parallaxes and SIMBAD data, I found that nearly all of the G0-K1 IV stars fall on the evolutionary tracks by Girardi et al. (2000, J/A+AS/141/371) for Population I stars with masses of 0.9-1.9 M_{sun}_ and ages of up to 10^10^ yr, which are normal parameters for nearby field stars. Therefore there is no problem regarding the existence of GK subgiants.
We present an attempt to reconstruct the complete evolutionary path followed by cataclysmic variables (CVs), based on the observed mass-radius relationship of their donor stars. Along the way, we update the semi-empirical CV donor sequence presented previously by one of us, present a comprehensive review of the connection between CV evolution and the secondary stars in these systems, and reexamine most of the commonly used magnetic braking (MB) recipes, finding that even conceptually similar ones can differ greatly in both magnitude and functional form.
The extended Gaia-PS1-SDSS (GPS1+) proper motion catalog
Short Name:
I/351
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
The Gaia + PanSTARRS1 (PS1) + Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) + Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) (GPS1) catalog was released in 2017. It delivered precise proper motions for around 350 million sources down to a magnitude of r~20mag. In this study, we present GPS1+, the extension GPS1 catalog down to r~22.5mag, based on Gaia data release 2 (DR2), PS1, SDSS, and 2MASS astrometry. GPS1+ totally provides proper motions for ~400 million sources with a characteristic systematic error of less than 0.1mas/yr. This catalog is divided into two subsamples, i.e., the primary and secondary parts. The primary ~264 million sources have either or both Gaia and SDSS astrometry, with a typical precision of 2.0-5.0mas/yr. In this part, ~160 million sources have Gaia proper motions, and we provide another new proper motion for each of them by building a Bayesian model. Relative to Gaia's values, the precision is improved by ~0.1dex on average; ~50 million sources are the objects whose proper motions are missing in Gaia DR2, and we provide their proper motions with a precision of ~4.5mas/yr. The remaining ~54 million faint sources are beyond Gaia detecting capability, and we provide their proper motions for the first time with a precision of 7.0mas/yr. However, the secondary ~136 million sources only have PS1 astrometry, where the average precision is worse than 15.0mas/yr. The large uncertainty probably limits it to qualitative applications. All the proper motions have been validated using QSOs and the existing Gaia proper motions. The catalog will be available via the TAP Service in the German Astrophysical Virtual Observatory.
M17 is one of the youngest and most massive nearby star-formation regions in the Galaxy. It features a bright HII region erupting as a blister from the side of a giant molecular cloud (GMC). Combining photometry from the Spitzer Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) with complementary infrared (IR) surveys, we identify candidate young stellar objects (YSOs) throughout a 1.5x1{deg} field that includes the M17 complex. The long sightline through the Galaxy behind M17 creates significant contamination in our YSO sample from unassociated sources with similar IR colors. Removing contaminants, we produce a highly reliable catalog of 96 candidate YSOs with a high probability of association with the M17 complex. We fit model spectral energy distributions to these sources and constrain their physical properties. Extrapolating the mass function of 62 intermediate-mass YSOs (M_*_>3M_{sun}_), we estimate that >1000 stars are in the process of forming in the extended outer regions of M17. The remaining 34 candidate YSOs are found in a 0.17deg^2^ field containing the well-studied M17 HII region and photodissociation region (PDR), where bright diffuse mid-IR emission drastically reduces the sensitivity of the GLIMPSE point-source detections.
The authors have used the IRAS data to compile a sample of 893 galaxies, including 118 Seyfert galaxies. Please refer to the "12micron.doc" (ascii) or "12micron.tex" (LaTeX) file for complete descriptions.