We present an extensive set of photometric and spectroscopic data for SN 2009jf, a nearby Type Ib supernova (SN), spanning from ~20d before B-band maximum to 1yr after maximum. We show that SN 2009jf is a slowly evolving and energetic stripped-envelope SN and is likely from a massive progenitor (25-30M_{sun}_). The large progenitor's mass allows us to explain the complete hydrogen plus helium stripping without invoking the presence of a binary companion.
We present optical and ultraviolet (UV) photometry and spectra of the very nearby and highly reddened supernova (SN) 2014J in M82 obtained with the Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT). Comparison of the UVOT grism spectra of SN 2014J with Hubble Space Telescope observations of SN2011fe or UVOT grism spectra of SN 2012fr are consistent with an extinction law with a low value of R_V_~1.4. The high reddening causes the detected photon distribution in the broadband UV filters to have a much longer effective wavelength than for an unreddened SN. The light curve evolution is consistent with this shift and does not show a flattening due to photons being scattered back into the line of sight (LOS). The light curve shapes and color evolution are inconsistent with a contribution scattered into the LOS by circumstellar dust. We conclude that most or all of the high reddening must come from interstellar dust. We show that even for a single dust composition, there is not a unique reddening law caused by circumstellar scattering. Rather, when considering scattering from a time-variable source, we confirm earlier studies that the reddening law is a function of the dust geometry, column density, and epoch. We also show how an assumed geometry of dust as a foreground sheet in mixed stellar/dust systems will lead to a higher inferred R_V_. Rather than assuming the dust around SNe is peculiar, SNe may be useful probes of the interstellar reddening laws in other galaxies.
We present the results of our UBVRI CCD photometry for the second brightest supernova of 2009, SN 2009nr, discovered during a sky survey with the telescopes of the MASTER robotic network. Its light and color curves and bolometric light curves have been constructed. The light-curve parameters and the maximum luminosity have been determined. SN 2009nr is shown to be similar in light-curve shape and maximum luminosity to SN 1991T, which is the prototype of the class of supernovae Ia with an enhanced luminosity. SN 2009nr exploded far from the center of the spiral galaxy UGC 8255 and most likely belongs to its old halo population. We hypothesize that this explosion is a consequence of the merger of white dwarfs.
We present an analysis of ultraviolet (UV) to near-infrared observations of the fast-declining Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) 2007on and 2011iv, hosted by the Fornax cluster member NGC 1404. The B-band light curves of SN 2007on and SN 2011iv are characterised by {Delta}m15(B) decline-rate values of 1.96mag and 1.77mag, respectively. Although they have similar decline rates, their peak B- and H-band magnitudes differ by ~0.60mag and ~0.35mag, respectively. After correcting for the luminosity vs. decline rate and the luminosity vs. colour relations, the peak B-band and H-band light curves provide distances that differ by ~14% and ~9%, respectively. These findings serve as a cautionary tale for the use of transitional SNe Ia located in early-type hosts in the quest to measure cosmological parameters. Interestingly, even though SN 2011iv is brighter and bluer at early times, by three weeks past maximum and extending over several months, its B-V colour is 0.12mag redder than that of SN 2007on. To reconcile this unusual behaviour, we turn to guidance from a suite of spherical one-dimensional Chandrasekhar-mass delayed-detonation explosion models. In this context, ^56^Ni production depends on both the so-called transition density and the central density of the progenitor white dwarf. To first order, the transition density drives the luminosity-width relation, while the central density is an important second-order parameter. Within this context, the differences in the B-V colour evolution along the Lira regime suggest that the progenitor of SN 2011iv had a higher central density than SN 2007on.
A sample of 109 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) with recession velocity <~30000km/s is compiled from published SN Ia light curves to explore the expansion rate of the local universe. Based on the color parameter {Delta}C_12_ and the decline rate {delta}m15, we found that the average absorption-to-reddening ratios for SN Ia host galaxies are R_UBVI_=4.37+/-0.25, 3.33+/-0.11, 2.30+/-0.11, and 1.18+/-0.11, which are systematically lower than the standard values in the Galaxy. We investigated the correlations of the intrinsic luminosity with light-curve decline rate, color index, and SN environmental parameters.
We present 114 trigonometric parallaxes for 107 nearby white dwarf (WD) systems from both the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Parallax Investigation (CTIOPI) and the U. S. Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station (NOFS) parallax programs. Of these, 76 parallaxes for 69 systems were measured by the CTIOPI program and 38 parallaxes for as many systems were measured by the NOFS program. A total of 50 systems are confirmed to be within the 25-pc horizon of interest. Coupled with a spectroscopic confirmation of a common proper-motion companion to a Hipparcos star within 25pc as well as confirmation parallax determinations for two WD systems included in the recently released Tycho Gaia Astrometric Solution catalog, we add 53 new systems to the 25-pc WD sample-a 42% increase. Our sample presented here includes four strong candidate halo systems, a new metal-rich DAZ WD, a confirmation of a recently discovered nearby short-period (P=2.85hr) double degenerate, a WD with a new astrometric perturbation (long period, unconstrained with our data), and a new triple system where the WD companion main-sequence star has an astrometric perturbation (P~1.6year).
We present trigonometric, photometric, and photographic distances to 1748 southern ({delta}{<=}O{deg}) M dwarf systems with {mu}>=0.18''/yr, of which 1404 are believed to lie within 25pc of the Sun. The stars have 6.67{<=}V_J_{<=}21.38 and 3.50{<=}(V_J_-K_S_){<=}9.27, covering the entire M dwarf spectral sequence from M0.0 V through M9.5 V. This sample therefore provides a comprehensive snapshot of our current knowledge of the southern sky for the nearest M dwarfs that dominate the stellar population of the Galaxy. Roughly one-third of the 1748 systems, each of which has an M dwarf primary, have published high quality parallaxes, including 179 from the REsearch Consortium On Nearby Stars astrometry program. For the remaining systems, we offer photometric distance estimates that have well-calibrated errors. The bulk of these (~700) are based on new V_J_R_KC_I_KC_ photometry acquired at the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9m telescope, while the remaining 500 primaries have photographic plate distance estimates calculated using SuperCOSMOS B_J_R_59F_I_IVN_ photometry. Confirmed and candidate subdwarfs in the sample have been identified, and a census of companions is included.
We present a revised metallicity distribution of dwarfs in the solar neighbourhood. This distribution is centered on solar metallicity. We show that previous metallicity distributions, selected on the basis of spectral type, are biased against stars with solar metallicity or higher. A selection of G-dwarf stars is inherently biased against metal-rich stars and is not representative of the solar neighbourhood metallicity distribution. Using a sample selected on colour, we obtain a distribution where approximately half the stars in the solar neighbourhood have metallicities higher than [Fe/H]=0. The percentage of mid-metal-poor stars ([Fe/H}<-0.5) is approximately 4 per cent, in agreement with the present estimates of the thick disc.
We present a large sample of over 200 integrated-light spectra of confirmed globular clusters (GCs) associated with the Sombrero (M104) galaxy taken with the Deep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph (DEIMOS) instrument on the Keck telescope. A significant fraction of the spectra have signal-to-noise ratio levels high enough to allow measurements of GC metallicities using the method of Brodie & Huchra. We find a distribution of spectroscopic metallicities in the range -2.2<[Fe/H]<+0.1 that is bimodal, with peaks at [Fe/H]~-1.4 and -0.6. Thus, the GC system of the Sombrero galaxy, like a few other galaxies now studied in detail, reveals a bimodal spectroscopic metallicity distribution supporting the long-held belief that colour bimodality reflects two metallicity subpopulations. This further suggests that the transformation from optical colour to metallicity for old stellar populations, such as GCs, is not strongly non-linear. We also explore the radial and magnitude distribution with metallicity for GC subpopulations but small number statistics prevent any clear trends in these distributions.
This paper presents a catalogue of previously unpublished optical and infrared photometry for a sample of 162 emission-line objects and shell stars visible from the southern hemisphere. The data were obtained between 1978 and 1997 in the Walraven (WULBV), Johnson/Cousins UBV(RI)_c_ and ESO and SAAO near-infrared (JHKLM) photometric systems. Most of the observed objects are Herbig Ae/Be (HAeBe) stars or HAeBe candidates appearing in the list of HAeBe candidates of The et al. (1994, Cat. <J/A+AS/104/315>), although several B[e] stars, LBVs and T Tauri are also included in the sample. For many of the stars the data presented here are the first photo-electric measurements in the literature. The resulting catalogue consists of 1809 photometric measurements. Optical variability was detected in 66 out of the 116 sources that were observed more than once. 15 out of the 50 stars observed multiple times in the infrared showed variability at 2.2 microns (K band). Table 1 contains the stars identifiers, positions, types and a summary of the observational data on each star. Tables 2, 3 and 4 contain all obtained photometry in the Walraven WULBV, Johnson/Cousins UBV(RI)_c and ESO and SAAO near-infrared (JHKLM) photometric systems.
