Wra 751 is a Luminous Blue Variable that lately exhibits strong changes in light and colour. We summarize the available photometry of Wra 751, present new photometric observations, and discuss these data with special attention on the systematic differences between the various data sources. In addition, we establish an empirical relationship between b-y and B-V for this class of stars. Wra 751 is a strong-active member of the S Dor class exhibiting very-long term S Doradus phases with an amplitude of about two magnitudes in V and a cycle length of several decades. The associated B-V colour-index amplitude is about 0.4mag. At this moment this LBV, which is the reddest member of the class, goes through the bright (and red) stage of a long-term S Dor cycle. The S Dor behaviour of this system shows some resemblance to the temporal characteristics of the Galactic LBV AG Car: time scales and amplitudes of light and colour variability are very similar.
Observations of 170 local (z<~0.08) galaxy clusters in the northern hemisphere have been obtained with the Wendelstein Telescope Wide Field Imager (WWFI). We correct for systematic effects such as point-spread function broadening, foreground star contamination, relative bias offsets, and charge persistence. Background inhomogeneities induced by scattered light are reduced down to {Delta}SB>31 g' mag/arcsec^2^ by large dithering and subtraction of night-sky flats. Residual background inhomogeneities brighter than SB_{sigma}_<27.6 g' mag/arcsec^2^ caused by galactic cirrus are detected in front of 23% of the clusters. However, the large field of view allows discrimination between accretion signatures and galactic cirrus. We detect accretion signatures in the form of tidal streams in 22%, shells in 9.4%, and multiple nuclei in 47% of the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) and find two BCGs in 7% of the clusters. We measure semimajor-axis surface brightness profiles of the BCGs and their surrounding intracluster light (ICL) down to a limiting surface brightness of SB=30 g' mag/arcsec^2^. The spatial resolution in the inner regions is increased by combining the WWFI light profiles with those that we measured from archival Hubble Space Telescope images or deconvolved WWFI images. We find that 71% of the BCG+ICL systems have surface brightness (SB) profiles that are well described by a single Sersic function, whereas 29% require a double Sersic function to obtain a good fit. We find that BCGs have scaling relations that differ markedly from those of normal ellipticals, likely due to their indistinguishable embedding in the ICL.
Photographic magnitudes are presented for the irregular variable WW Vulpeculae. They were derived from Argelander brightness estimates carried out on N=2774 plates of the Harvard College Observatory Plate Collection. The data set covers the period 1898 to 1966.
We present near-infrared J-band photometric observations of the intermediate polar WX Pyx. The frequency analysis indicates the presence of a period at 1559.2+/-0.2s which is attributed to the spin period of the white dwarf. The spin period inferred from the infrared data closely matches that determined from X-ray and optical observations. WX Pyx is a system whose orbital period has not been measured directly and which is not too well constrained. From the IR observations, a likely peak at 5.30+/-0.02h is seen in the power spectrum of the object. It is suggested that this corresponds to the orbital period of the system. In case this is indeed the true orbital period, some of the system physical parameters may be estimated. Our analysis indicates that the secondary star is of M2 spectral type and the distance to the object is 1.53kpc. An upper limit of 30 for the angle of inclination of the system is suggested. The mass transfer rate and the magnetic moment of the white dwarf are estimated to be (0.95-1.6)x10^-9^M_{sun}/yr and (1.9-2.4)x10^33^G*cm^3^ respectively.
We present new multiband CCD photometry for WZ Cyg made on 22 nights in two observing seasons of 2007 and 2008. Our light-curve synthesis indicates that the system is in poor thermal contact with a fill-out factor of 4.8% and a temperature difference of 1447K. Including our 40 timing measurements, a total of 371 times of minimum light spanning more than 112yr were used for a period study. Detailed analysis of the O-C diagram showed that the orbital period has varied by a combination of an upward parabola and a sinusoid.
Recent observational progress has enabled the detection of galaxy clusters and groups out to very high redshifts and for the first time allows detailed studies of galaxy population properties in these densest environments in what was formerly known as the "redshift desert" at z>1.5. We aim to investigate various galaxy population properties of the massive X-ray luminous galaxy cluster XDCP J0044.0-2033 at z=1.58, which constitutes the most extreme currently known matter-density peak at this redshift. We analyzed deep VLT/HAWK-I near-infrared data with an image quality of 0.5" and limiting Vega magnitudes (50% completeness) of 24.2 in J- and 22.8 in the Ks band, complemented by similarly deep Subaru imaging in i and V, Spitzer observations at 4.5um, and new spectroscopic observations with VLT/FORS 2.
Photometric redshifts, which have become the cornerstone of several of the largest astronomical surveys like PanStarrs, DES, J-PAS and LSST, require precise measurements of galaxy photometry in different bands using a consistent physical aperture. This is not trivial, due to the variation in the shape and width of the point spread function (PSF) introduced by wavelength differences, instrument positions and atmospheric conditions. Current methods to correct for this effect rely on a detailed knowledge of PSF characteristics as a function of the survey coordinates, which can be difficult due to the relative paucity of stars tracking the PSF behaviour. Here we show that it is possible to measure accurate, consistent multicolour photometry without knowing the shape of the PSF. The Chebyshev-Fourier functions (CHEFs) can fit the observed profile of each object and produce high signal-to-noise integrated flux measurements unaffected by the PSF. These total fluxes, which encompass all the galaxy populations, are much more useful for galaxy evolution studies than aperture photometry. We compare the total magnitudes and colours obtained using our software to traditional photometry with SExtractor, using real data from the COSMOS survey and the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF). We also apply the CHEF technique to the recently published eXtreme Deep Field (XDF) and compare the results to those from ColorPro on the HUDF. We produce a photometric catalogue with 35732 sources (10823 with signal-to-noise ratio >=5), reaching a photometric redshift precision of 2 per cent due to the extraordinary depth and wavelength coverage of the eXtreme Deep Field images.
The ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) was the first imaging X-ray survey of the entire sky. Combining the RASS Bright and Faint Source Catalogs (Cat. <IX/10>, 1RXS and <IX/29>) yields an average of about three X-ray sources per square degree. However, while X-ray source counterparts are known to range from distant quasars to nearby M dwarfs, the RASS data alone are often insufficient to determine the nature of an X-ray source. As a result, large-scale follow-up programs are required to construct samples of known X-ray emitters. We use optical data produced by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to identify 709 stellar X-ray emitters cataloged in the RASS and falling within the SDSS Data Release 1 footprint. Most of these are bright stars with coronal X-ray emission unsuitable for SDSS spectroscopy, which is designed for fainter objects (g>15[mag]). Instead, we use SDSS photometry, correlations with the Two Micron All Sky Survey and other catalogs, and spectroscopy from the Apache Point Observatory 3.5m telescope to identify these stellar X-ray counterparts. Our sample of 707 X-ray-emitting F, G, K, and M stars is one of the largest X-ray-selected samples of such stars. We identify 17 new X-ray-emitting DA (hydrogen) WDs, of which three are newly identified WDs. We report on follow-up observations of three candidate cool X-ray-emitting WDs (one DA and two DB (helium) WDs); we have not confirmed X-ray emission from these WDs.
Combining all available photometric data from various surveys and literature with our observations, we present 10 sets of light curves for the eclipsing binary V0599 Aur covering a timescale of 20 yr. During the last two decades, the O'Connell effect continuously varied and went through at least two flips between positive and negative effects. The photometric solutions from our two sets of multicolored light curves show that V0599 Aur is a W-type shallow contact binary with an active spot on the secondary. Its absolute parameters are determined by combining the Gaia distance with the photometric solutions. The period investigation reveals a secular decrease and a cyclic variation in its orbital period. The former mainly originates from the mass transfer from the more massive secondary to the less massive primary. The latter can be preferentially explained as a result of cyclic magnetic activity of the secondary, with three observational supports: (1) the existence and evolution of an active spot suggested by the long-term photometry, (2) periodic variation in both the O'Connell effect and relative luminosity, and (3) weak correlations between O'Connell effect/relative luminosity changes and cyclic period variation. Together with the cyclic period variation and its theoretical reasonability by Applegate's mechanism, we suggest that the secondary of V0599 Aur is a solar-type magnetic-activity star with an approximately 11 yr active cycle. Furthermore, by combining the secular period decrease with the Roche-lobe model, we infer that V0599 Aur is evolving from the marginal contact state controlled by thermal relaxation oscillation theory to the overcontact state.
Compact hierarchical systems are important because the effects caused by the dynamical interaction among its members occur ona human timescale. These interactions play a role in the formation of close binaries through Kozai cycles with tides. One such system is xi Tauri: it has three hierarchical orbits: 7.14d (eclipsing components Aa, Ab), 145d (components Aa+Ab, B), and 51yr (components Aa+Ab+B, C). We aim to obtain physical properties of the system and to study the dynamical interaction between its components. Our analysis is based on a large series of spectroscopic photometric (including space-borne) observations and long-baseline optical and infrared spectro-interferometric observations. We used two approaches to infer the system properties: a set of observation-specific models, where all components have elliptical trajectories, and an N-body model, which computes the trajectory of each component by integrating Newton's equations of motion.
