We present V and I photometry of a 9.4'x9.4' field centered on the dwarf spheroidal galaxy Leo I. The I magnitude of the tip of the Red Giant Branch is robustly estimated from two different datasets I^TRGB^=17.97 (^+0.05^_-0.03_). From this estimate, adopting [M/H]~-1.2 from the comparison of RGB stars with Galactic templates, we obtain a distance modulus (m-M)_0=22.02+/-0.13, corresponding to a distance D=254^+16^_-19_kpc.
Leo P is a low-luminosity dwarf galaxy discovered through the blind HI Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey. The HI and follow-up optical observations have shown that Leo P is a gas-rich dwarf galaxy with active star formation, an underlying older population, and an extremely low oxygen abundance. We have obtained optical imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope to two magnitudes below the red clump in order to study the evolution of Leo P. We refine the distance measurement to Leo P to be 1.62+/-0.15Mpc, based on the luminosity of the horizontal branch stars and 10 newly identified RR Lyrae candidates. This places the galaxy at the edge of the Local Group, ~0.4Mpc from Sextans B, the nearest galaxy in the NGC 3109 association of dwarf galaxies of which Leo P is clearly a member. The star responsible for ionizing the HII region is most likely an O7V or O8V spectral type, with a stellar mass >~25M_{sun}_. The presence of this star provides observational evidence that massive stars at the upper end of the initial mass function are capable of being formed at star formation rates as low as ~10^-5^M_{sun}_/yr. The best-fitting star formation history (SFH) derived from the resolved stellar populations of Leo P using the latest PARSEC models shows a relatively constant star formation rate over the lifetime of the galaxy. The modeled luminosity characteristics of Leo P at early times are consistent with low-luminosity dSph Milky Way satellites, suggesting that Leo P is what a low-mass dSph would look like if it evolved in isolation and retained its gas. Despite the very low mass of Leo P, the imprint of reionization on its SFHIs subtle at best, and consistent with being totally negligible. The isolation of Leo P, and the total quenching of star formation of Milky Way satellites of similar mass, implies that the local environment dominates the quenching of the Milky Way satellites.
We derive photometric redshifts from 17-band optical to mid-infrared photometry of 78 robust radio, 24um and Spitzer IRAC counterparts to 72 of the 126 submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) selected at 870um by LABOCA observations in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South (ECDF-S). We test the photometric redshifts of the SMGs against the extensive archival spectroscopy in the ECDF-S.
An analysis of 44GHz Very Large Array observations of the z=1.574 radio-loud quasar 3C 318 has revealed emission from the redshifted J=1-->0 transition of the CO molecule and spatially resolved the 6.3kpc radio jet associated with the quasar at 115GHz rest frame. The continuum-subtracted line emitter is spatially offset from the quasar nucleus by 0.33arcsec (2.82kpc in projection). This spatial offset has a significance of >8{sigma} and, together with a previously published -400km/s velocity offset measured in the J=2-->1 CO line relative to the systemic redshift of the quasar, rules out a circumnuclear starburst or molecular gas ring and suggests that the quasar host galaxy is either undergoing a major merger with a gas-rich galaxy or is otherwise a highly disrupted system. If the merger scenario is correct, then the event may be in its early stages, acting as the trigger for both the young radio jets in the quasar and a starburst in the merging galaxy. The total molecular gas mass in the spatially offset line emitter as measured from the ground-state CO line MH_2_=3.7(+/-0.4)x10^10^ ({alpha}CO/0.8)M_{sun}_. Assuming that the line emitter can be modelled as a rotating disc, an inclination-dependent upper limit is derived for its dynamical mass M_dyn_sin^2^(i)<3.2x10^9^M_{sun}_, suggesting that for MH2 to remain less than M_dyn_ the inclination angle must be i<16{deg}. The far-infrared and CO luminosities of 246 extragalactic systems are collated from the literature for comparison. The high molecular gas content of 3C 318 is consistent with that of the general population of high-redshift quasars and submillimetre galaxies.
In Spring 2011, the Lick AGN Monitoring Project observed a sample of 15 bright, nearby Seyfert 1 galaxies in the V band as part of a reverberation mapping campaign. The observations were taken at six ground-based telescopes, including the West Mountain Observatory 0.91m telescope, the 0.76m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope, 0.6m Super-LOTIS (Livermore Optical Transient Imaging System) at Kitt Peak, the Palomar 60inch telescope, and the 2m Faulkes telescopes North and South. The V-band light curves measure the continuum variability of our sample of Seyferts on an almost daily cadence for 2-3 months. We use image-subtraction software to isolate the variability of the Seyfert nucleus from the constant V-band flux of the host galaxy for the most promising targets, and we adopt standard aperture photometry techniques for the targets with smaller levels of variability. These V-band light curves will be used, with measurements of the broad emission line flux, to measure supermassive black hole masses and to constrain the geometry and dynamics of the broad-line region through dynamical modeling techniques.
We present absorption line indices measured in the integrated spectra of globular clusters both from the Galaxy and from M31. Our samples include 41 Galactic globular clusters, and more than 300 clusters in M31. The conversion of instrumental equivalent widths into the Lick system is described, and zero-point uncertainties are provided. Comparison of line indices of old M31 clusters and Galactic globular clusters suggests an absence of important differences in chemical composition between the two cluster systems. In particular, CN indices in the spectra of M31 and Galactic clusters are essentially consistent with each other, in disagreement with several previous works. We reanalyze some of the previous data, and conclude that reported CN differences between M31 and Galactic clusters were mostly due to data calibration uncertainties. Our data support the conclusion that the chemical compositions of Milky Way and M31 globular clusters are not substantially different, and that there is no need to resort to enhanced nitrogen abundances to account for the optical spectra of M31 globular clusters.
The Lick Northern Proper Motion (NPM) program measured proper motions, positions, and photographic photometry for some 149,000 stars (NPM1 Catalog) covering the sky outside the Milky Way north of declination 23 degrees. The NPM1 proper motions were measured with respect to an absolute reference frame defined by some 50,000 faint galaxies (mostly 16 < B < 18 mag). The rms position errors for the NPM1 reference galaxies average 0.2 arcsec. The rms errors for the B magnitudes average 0.25 mag. More complete descriptive information is available in the ASCII or LaTeX documentation written by R.B. Hanson (UCO/Lick Obs.).
Most types of supernovae (SNe) have yet to be connected with their progenitor stellar systems. Here, we reanalyze the 10-year SN sample collected during 1998-2008 by the Lick Observatory Supernova Search (LOSS; see Leaman+, 2011, J/MNRAS/412/1419) in order to constrain the progenitors of SNe Ia and stripped-envelope SNe (SE SNe, i.e., SNe IIb, Ib, Ic, and broad-lined Ic). We matched the LOSS galaxy sample with spectroscopy from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and measured SN rates as a function of galaxy stellar mass, specific star formation rate, and oxygen abundance (metallicity). We find significant correlations between the SN rates and all three galaxy properties. The SN Ia correlations are consistent with other measurements, as well as with our previous explanation of these measurements in the form of a combination of the SN Ia delay-time distribution and the correlation between galaxy mass and age. The ratio between the SE SN and SN II rates declines significantly in low-mass galaxies. This rules out single stars as SE SN progenitors, and is consistent with predictions from binary-system progenitor models. Using well-known galaxy scaling relations, any correlation between the rates and one of the galaxy properties examined here can be expressed as a correlation with the other two. These redundant correlations preclude us from establishing causality-that is, from ascertaining which of the galaxy properties (or their combination) is the physical driver for the difference between the SE SN and SN II rates. We outline several methods that have the potential to overcome this problem in future works.
Using high-quality data on 149 galaxies within 10Mpc, I find no correlation between luminosity and peculiar velocity at all. There is no unequivocal sign on scales of 12Mpc of the expected gravitational effect of the brightest galaxies, in particular infall toward groups, or of infall toward the supergalactic plane on any scale. Either dark matter is not distributed in the same way as luminous matter in this region, or peculiar velocities are not due to fluctuations in mass. The sensitivity of peculiar velocity studies to the background model is highlighted.
We present an analysis of M31 RR Lyrae stars in six different fields using archival imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope. Published data for M31, M33, and several M31 dwarf spheroidal galaxies are also used to study the global properties of RR Lyrae in these systems. From the properties of RR Lyrae stars, we found that the majority of M31 and M33 RRLs are of Oosterhoff I (OoI),while those in M31 dSphs are of Oosterhoff intermediate. The main parameter affecting these Oosterhoff types is likely to be metallicity. Metallicity also plays a role in the lack of RRLs in the high amplitude short period(HASP, defined as those with P<=0.48 and A_V_>=0.75mag) variables in M31 dSphs. This difference in the properties of RRLs between their parent galaxy and satellites, as well as the lack of RRLs in the HASP region in dSphs can also be observed in the Milky Way (MW). Therefore, systems like these dSphs are unlikely to be the main building blocks of the M31 and MW halo.
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