We use data from the U.S. Naval Observatory fourth CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC4) in combination with photometry from the AAVSO Photometric All-Sky Survey and Two Micron All-Sky Survey to identify stars within 25pc of the Sun. A sample of nearby stars with accurate trigonometric parallaxes from the Research Consortium On Nearby Stars is used to generate a set of 16 new photometric color-M_K_ relations that provide distance estimates with uncertainties of 15%. This work expands the available suites of well-calibrated photometric distance relations that can be used to identify nearby stellar systems. The distance relations are used with quality cuts to extract an initial sample of stars from the UCAC4 estimated to be within 25pc. Color, proper motion, and existing literature sources are then used to obtain a clean sample of red dwarfs, while limiting the amount of contamination from background giants, resulting in a sample of 1761 candidate nearby stars within 25pc. Of these, 339 are new discoveries with no previously known published parallax or distance estimate, primarily with proper motions less than 0.2arcsec/yr. Five stars are estimated to be within 10pc, with the nearest, TYC 3980 1081 1, with V=10.50 estimated to be at 5.9pc. That several hundred new stars have been revealed so close to the Sun illustrates once again that there is considerable work yet to be done to map the solar neighborhood and that additional nearby stars are likely still to be discovered.
The UCAC3 all-sky CCD astrograph catalogue, minus the fields from
2MASS and SuperCosmos and matching/object flags (which can be
recovered with a local crossmatch).
We present mean proper motions and membership probabilities of individual stars for optically visible open clusters, which have been determined using data from the UCAC5 catalogue. This follows our previous studies with the UCAC2 and UCAC4 catalogues, but now using improved proper motions in the GAIA reference frame. In the present study results were obtained for a sample of 1108 open clusters. For five clusters, this is the first determination of mean proper motion, and for the whole sample, we present results with a much larger number of identified astrometric member stars than on previous studies. It is the last update of our Open cluster Catalogue based on proper motion data only. Future updates will count on astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic GAIA data as input for analyses.
This paper presents 442 new proper motion stellar systems in the southern sky between declinations -90{deg} and -47{deg} with 0.40"/yr>{mu}>=0.18"/yr. These systems constitute a 25.3% increase in new systems for the same region of the sky covered by previous SuperCOSMOS RECONS (SCR) searches that used Schmidt plates as the primary source of discovery. Among the new systems are 25 multiples, plus an additional 7 new common proper motion (CPM) companions to previously known primaries. All stars have been discovered using the third U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC3). A comparison of the UCAC3 proper motions to those from the Hipparcos, Tycho-2, Southern Proper Motion (SPM4), and SuperCOSMOS efforts is presented and shows that UCAC3 provides similar values and precision to the first three surveys.
We present 474 new proper motion stellar systems (500 objects) in the southern sky having no previously known components, with 0.40"/yr>{mu}>=0.18"/yr between declinations -47{deg} and 0{deg}. In this second paper utilizing the U.S. Naval Observatory third CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC3) we complete our sweep of the southern sky for objects in the proper motion range targeted by this survey with R magnitudes ranging from 9.80 to 19.61. The new systems contribute a ~16% increase in the number of new stellar systems for the same region of sky reported in previous SuperCOSMOS Research Consortium On Nearby Stars (RECONS) surveys. Among the newly discovered stellar systems are 16 multiples, plus an additional ten components that are new common proper motion companions to previously known objects. A comparison of UCAC3 proper motions to those from Hipparcos, Tycho-2, Southern Proper Motion, and SuperCOSMOS indicates that all proper motions are consistent to ~10mas/yr, with the exception of SuperCOSMOS. Distance estimates are derived for all stellar systems having SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey B_J_, R_59F_, and I_IVN_ plate magnitudes and Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) infrared photometry. We find five new red dwarf systems estimated to be within 25pc. These discoveries support results from previous proper motion surveys suggesting that more nearby stellar systems are to be found, particularly in the fainter, slower moving samples. In this second paper utilizing the UCAC3 we complete our sweep of the southern sky for objects in the proper motion range targeted by this survey with R magnitudes ranging from 9.80 to 19.61.
The U.S. Naval Observatory is in the process of making new reductions of the Astrographic Catalogue (AC) using a modern reference system, the ACRS, which represents the system of the FK5. The data from the Uccle Zone, whose plates are centered between declinations +34 and +35 degrees (eq. 1900), have been analyzed for scale, rotation, tilt, coma, magnitude equation, radial distortion and distortions introduced by the use of reseaux in the Carte du Ciel program. The result is a positional catalog of over 117,000 stars on eq. J2000.0, epoch of observation. Additionally, all stars have been matched with the Tycho Input Catalog (revised); those numbers have been added for additional identification purposes.
All the previously cataloged ultracompact dwarf (UCD) galaxies in the Fornax and Virgo clusters have 17.5<b_J_<20. Using the 2dF spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope, we have carried out a search for fainter UCDs in the Fornax Cluster. In the magnitude interval 19.5<b_J_<21.5, we have found 54 additional compact cluster members within a projected radius of 0.9{deg} (320kpc) of the cluster center, all of which meet our selection and observational criteria to be UCDs.
We have undertaken a spectroscopic search for ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) in the dense core of the dynamically evolved, massive Coma cluster as part of the Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys (HST/ACS) Coma Cluster Treasury Survey. UCD candidates were initially chosen based on color, magnitude, degree of resolution within the ACS images, and the known properties of Fornax and Virgo UCDs. Follow-up spectroscopy with Keck/Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer confirmed 27 candidates as members of the Coma cluster, a success rate >60% for targeted objects brighter than M_R_=-12. Another 14 candidates may also prove to be Coma members, but low signal-to-noise spectra prevent definitive conclusions.
We present a novel approach to constrain the formation channels of ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs). They most probably are an inhomogeneous class of objects, composed of remnants of tidally stripped dwarf elliptical galaxies and star clusters that occupy the high mass end of the globular cluster luminosity function. We use three methods to unravel their nature: 1) we analyzed their surface brightness profiles; 2) we carried out a direct search for tidal features around UCDs; and 3) we compared the spatial distribution of GCs and UCDs in the halo of their host galaxy. Based on FORS2 observations under excellent seeing conditions, we studied the detailed structural composition of a large sample of 97 UCDs in the halo of NGC1399, the central galaxy of the Fornax cluster, by analyzing their surface brightness profiles. We found that 13 of the UCDs were resolved above the resolution limit of 23pc and we derived their structural parameters fitting a single Sersic function. When decomposing their profiles into composite King and Sersic profiles, we find evidence for faint stellar envelopes at {mu}=~26mag/arcsec^2^, surrounding the UCDs up to an extension of 90pc in radius. We also show new evidence for faint asymmetric structures and tidal tail-like features surrounding several of these UCDs, a possible tracer of their origin and assembly history within their host galaxy halos. In particular, we present evidence for the first discovery of a significant tidal tail with an extension of ~350pc around UCD-FORS2. Finally, we studied the local overdensities in the spatial distribution of globular clusters within the halo of NGC1399 out to 110kpc to see if they are related to the positions of the UCDs. We found a local overabundance of globular clusters on a scale of <=1kpc around UCDs, when we compared it to the distribution of globulars from the host galaxy. This effect is strongest for the metal-poor blue GCs. We discuss how likely it is that these clustered globulars were originally associated with the UCD, either as globular cluster systems of a nucleated dwarf galaxy that was stripped down to its nucleus, or as a surviving member of a merged super star cluster complex.
The UCL DaCHS server's TAP end point. The Table Access
Protocol (TAP) lets you execute queries against our database tables,
inspect various metadata, and upload your own data. It is thus the
VO's premier way to access public data holdings.
Tables exposed through this endpoint include: columns, groups, key_columns, keys, schemas, tables from the tap_schema schema, emptyobscore, obscore from the ivoa schema, epn_core from the mdisc schema.
