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Very High Energy Emission from Blazars Interpreted Through Simultaneous Multiwavelength Observations
UNIVERSITA` DEGLI STUDI DI SIENA FACOLTA` DI SCIENZE MATEMATICHE, FISICHE E NATURALI Dipartimento di Fisica Very High Energy emission from blazars interpreted through simultaneous multiwavelength observations Relatore/Supervisor: Candidato/Candidate: Dr. Antonio Stamerra Giacomo Bonnoli Tutore/Tutor: Prof. Riccardo Paoletti Ph.D. School in Physics Cycle XXI December 2010 Abstract In the framework of Astroparticle Physics the understanding of the particle acceleration process and related high energy electromagnetic emission within astrophysical sources is an issue of fundamental importance to unravel the structure and evolution of many classes of celestial objects, on different scales from micro{quasars to active galactic nuclei. This has an important role not only for astrophysics itself, but for many related topics of cosmic ray physics and High Energy physics, such as the search for dark matter. Also cosmology is interested, as deepening our knowledge on Active Galactic Nuclei and their interaction with the environment can help to clarify open issues on the formation of cosmic structures and evolution of universe on large scales. The present view on sources emitting high energy radiation is now gaining new insight thanks to multiwavelength observations. This approach allows to explore the spectral energy distribution of the sources all across the electromagnetic spectrum, therefore granting the best achievable understanding of the physical processes that originate the radiation that we see, and their mutual relationships. Our theories model the sources in terms of parameters that can be inferred from the observables quantities measured, and the multiwavelength observations are a key instrument in order to rule out or support some selected models out of the many that compete in the effort of describing the processes at work. -
Dynamics and Evolution of Supermassive Black Holes in Merging Galaxies
Dynamics and Evolution of Supermassive Black Holes in Merging Galaxies Fazeel Mahmood Khan Astronomisches Rechen-Institut Zentrum f¨urAstronomie der Universit¨atHeidelberg Heidelberg 2011 Cover picture: Gemini image of NGC 5426-27 (Arp 271). Dissertation submitted to the Combined Faculties for the Natural Sciences and for Mathematics of the Ruperto-Carola University of Heidelberg, Germany for the degree of Doctor of Natural Sciences Put forward by Fazeel Mahmood Khan Born in: Azad Kashmir, Pakistan Oral examination: January 25, 2012 Dynamics and Evolution of Supermassive Black Holes in Merging Galaxies Referees: PD Dr. Andreas Just Prof. Dr. Volker Springel Abstract Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are ubiquitous in galaxy centers and are correlated with their hosts in fundamental ways, suggesting an intimate link between SMBH and galaxy evolution. In the paradigm of hierarchical galaxy formation this correlation demands prompt coalescence of SMBH binaries, presumably due to dynamical friction, interaction of stars and gas with the binary and finally due to gravitational wave emission. If they are able to coalesce in less than a Hubble time, SMBH binaries will be a promising source of gravitational waves for gravitational wave detectors. However, it has been suggested that SMBH binaries may stall at a separation of 1 parsec. This stalling is sometimes referred to as the \Final Parsec Problem (FPP)". This study uses N-body simulations to test an improved formula for the orbital decay of SMBHs due to dynamical friction. Using a large set of N-body simulations, we show that the FPP does not occur in galaxies formed via mergers. The non spherical shape of the merger remnants ensures a constant supply of stars for the binary to interact with. -
International Comet Quarterly
International Comet Quarterly Links International Comet Quarterly ICQ: Recommended (and condemned) sources for stellar magnitudes Cometary Science Center Comet magnitudes Below is a list that observers may use to evaluate whether the source(s) that they are Central Bureau for Astro. Tel. contemplating using for visual or V stellar magnitudes are recommended or not. Unfortunately, many errors have been found over the years in the both the individual variable-star charts of Minor Planet Center the AAVSO (ICQ code AC) and the AAVSO Variable Star Atlas (code AA); those variable-star EPS/Harvard charts were designed for the purpose of tracking the relative variation in brightness of individual variable stars, and they frequently are not adequately aligned with the proper magnitude scale. The new Hipparcos/Tycho catalogues have had new codes implemented (see below). New additions (and changes in categories) will be made to the following list as new information reaches the ICQ. MAGNITUDE-REFERENCE KEY Second-draft recommendation list, 1997 Dec. 1. Updated 2007 April 20 and 2017 Oct. 4. NOTE: For visual magnitude estimation of comets, NEVER USE SOURCES for which the available star magnitudes are only brighter than the comet! For example, the SAO Star Catalog is very poor for magnitudes fainter than 9.0, and should NEVER be used on comets fainter than mag 9.5. The Tycho catalogue should not be used for comets fainter than mag 10.5. (Even CCD photometrists should be wary of using bright stars for very faint comets; it is always best to use comparison stars within a few magnitudes of the comet when doing CCD photometry.) NOTE: It is highly recommended that users of variable-star charts also specify (in descriptive notes to accompany the tabulated data) the specific chart(s) used for each observation; this information will be published in the ICQ. -
Asteroid Shape and Spin Statistics from Convex Models J
Asteroid shape and spin statistics from convex models J. Torppa, V.-P. Hentunen, P. Pääkkönen, P. Kehusmaa, K. Muinonen To cite this version: J. Torppa, V.-P. Hentunen, P. Pääkkönen, P. Kehusmaa, K. Muinonen. Asteroid shape and spin statistics from convex models. Icarus, Elsevier, 2008, 198 (1), pp.91. 10.1016/j.icarus.2008.07.014. hal-00499092 HAL Id: hal-00499092 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00499092 Submitted on 9 Jul 2010 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Accepted Manuscript Asteroid shape and spin statistics from convex models J. Torppa, V.-P. Hentunen, P. Pääkkönen, P. Kehusmaa, K. Muinonen PII: S0019-1035(08)00283-2 DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2008.07.014 Reference: YICAR 8734 To appear in: Icarus Received date: 18 September 2007 Revised date: 3 July 2008 Accepted date: 7 July 2008 Please cite this article as: J. Torppa, V.-P. Hentunen, P. Pääkkönen, P. Kehusmaa, K. Muinonen, Asteroid shape and spin statistics from convex models, Icarus (2008), doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2008.07.014 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. -
Photometry of Asteroids: Lightcurves of 24 Asteroids Obtained in 1993–2005
ARTICLE IN PRESS Planetary and Space Science 55 (2007) 986–997 www.elsevier.com/locate/pss Photometry of asteroids: Lightcurves of 24 asteroids obtained in 1993–2005 V.G. Chiornya,b,Ã, V.G. Shevchenkoa, Yu.N. Kruglya,b, F.P. Velichkoa, N.M. Gaftonyukc aInstitute of Astronomy of Kharkiv National University, Sumska str. 35, 61022 Kharkiv, Ukraine bMain Astronomical Observatory, NASU, Zabolotny str. 27, Kyiv 03680, Ukraine cCrimean Astrophysical Observatory, Crimea, 98680 Simeiz, Ukraine Received 19 May 2006; received in revised form 23 December 2006; accepted 10 January 2007 Available online 21 January 2007 Abstract The results of 1993–2005 photometric observations for 24 main-belt asteroids: 24 Themis, 51 Nemausa, 89 Julia, 205 Martha, 225 Henrietta, 387 Aquitania, 423 Diotima, 505 Cava, 522 Helga, 543 Charlotte, 663 Gerlinde, 670 Ottegebe, 693 Zerbinetta, 694 Ekard, 713 Luscinia, 800 Kressmania, 1251 Hedera, 1369 Ostanina, 1427 Ruvuma, 1796 Riga, 2771 Polzunov, 4908 Ward, 6587 Brassens and 16541 1991 PW18 are presented. The rotation periods of nine of these asteroids have been determined for the first time and others have been improved. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Asteroids; Photometry; Lightcurve; Rotational period; Amplitude 1. Introduction telescope of the Crimean Astrophysics Observatory in Simeiz. Ground-based observations are the main source of knowledge about the physical properties of the asteroid 2. Observations and their reduction population. The photometric lightcurves are used to determine rotation periods, pole coordinates, sizes and Photometric observations of the asteroids were carried shapes of asteroids, as well as to study the magnitude-phase out in 1993–1994 using one-channel photoelectric photo- relation of different type asteroids. -
The Skyscraper 2009 04.Indd
A Better Galaxy Guide: Early Spring M67: One of the most ancient open clusters known and Craig Cortis is a great novelty in this regard. Located 1.7° due W of mag NGC 2419: 3.25° SE of mag 6.2 66 Aurigae. Hard to find 4.3 Alpha Cancri. and see; at E end of short row of two mag 7.5 stars. Highly NGC 2775: Located 3.7° ENE of mag 3.1 Zeta Hydrae. significant and worth the effort —may be approximately (Look for “Head of Hydra” first.) 300,000 light years distant and qualify as an extragalactic NGC 2903: Easily found at 1.5° due S of mag 4.3 Lambda cluster. Named the Intergalactic Wanderer. Leonis. NGC 2683: Marks NW “crook” of coathanger-type triangle M95: One of three bright galaxies forming a compact with easy double star mag 4.2 Iota Cancri (which is SSW by triangle, along with M96 and M105. All three can be seen 4.8°) and mag 3.1 Alpha Lyncis (at 6° to the ENE). together in a low power, wide field view. M105 is at the NE tip of triangle, midway between stars 52 and 53 Leonis, mag Object Type R.A. Dec. Mag. Size 5.5 and 5.3 respectively —M95 is at W tip. Lynx NGC 3521: Located 0.5° due E of mag 6.0 62 Leonis. M65: One of a pair of bright galaxies that can be seen in NGC 2419 GC 07h 38.1m +38° 53’ 10.3 4.2’ a wide field view along with M66, which lies just E. -
Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sufi and His Book of the Fixed Stars: a Journey of Re-Discovery
ResearchOnline@JCU This file is part of the following reference: Hafez, Ihsan (2010) Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi and his book of the fixed stars: a journey of re-discovery. PhD thesis, James Cook University. Access to this file is available from: http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/28854/ The author has certified to JCU that they have made a reasonable effort to gain permission and acknowledge the owner of any third party copyright material included in this document. If you believe that this is not the case, please contact [email protected] and quote http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/28854/ 5.1 Extant Manuscripts of al-Ṣūfī’s Book Al-Ṣūfī’s ‘Book of the Fixed Stars’ dating from around A.D. 964, is one of the most important medieval Arabic treatises on astronomy. This major work contains an extensive star catalogue, which lists star co-ordinates and magnitude estimates, as well as detailed star charts. Other topics include descriptions of nebulae and Arabic folk astronomy. As I mentioned before, al-Ṣūfī’s work was first translated into Persian by al-Ṭūsī. It was also translated into Spanish in the 13th century during the reign of King Alfonso X. The introductory chapter of al-Ṣūfī’s work was first translated into French by J.J.A. Caussin de Parceval in 1831. However in 1874 it was entirely translated into French again by Hans Karl Frederik Schjellerup, whose work became the main reference used by most modern astronomical historians. In 1956 al-Ṣūfī’s Book of the fixed stars was printed in its original Arabic language in Hyderabad (India) by Dārat al-Ma‘aref al-‘Uthmānīa. -
Occultation Newsletter Volume 8, Number 4
Volume 12, Number 1 January 2005 $5.00 North Am./$6.25 Other International Occultation Timing Association, Inc. (IOTA) In this Issue Article Page The Largest Members Of Our Solar System – 2005 . 4 Resources Page What to Send to Whom . 3 Membership and Subscription Information . 3 IOTA Publications. 3 The Offices and Officers of IOTA . .11 IOTA European Section (IOTA/ES) . .11 IOTA on the World Wide Web. Back Cover ON THE COVER: Steve Preston posted a prediction for the occultation of a 10.8-magnitude star in Orion, about 3° from Betelgeuse, by the asteroid (238) Hypatia, which had an expected diameter of 148 km. The predicted path passed over the San Francisco Bay area, and that turned out to be quite accurate, with only a small shift towards the north, enough to leave Richard Nolthenius, observing visually from the coast northwest of Santa Cruz, to have a miss. But farther north, three other observers video recorded the occultation from their homes, and they were fortuitously located to define three well- spaced chords across the asteroid to accurately measure its shape and location relative to the star, as shown in the figure. The dashed lines show the axes of the fitted ellipse, produced by Dave Herald’s WinOccult program. This demonstrates the good results that can be obtained by a few dedicated observers with a relatively faint star; a bright star and/or many observers are not always necessary to obtain solid useful observations. – David Dunham Publication Date for this issue: July 2005 Please note: The date shown on the cover is for subscription purposes only and does not reflect the actual publication date. -
September 2020 BRAS Newsletter
A Neowise Comet 2020, photo by Ralf Rohner of Skypointer Photography Monthly Meeting September 14th at 7:00 PM, via Jitsi (Monthly meetings are on 2nd Mondays at Highland Road Park Observatory, temporarily during quarantine at meet.jit.si/BRASMeets). GUEST SPEAKER: NASA Michoud Assembly Facility Director, Robert Champion What's In This Issue? President’s Message Secretary's Summary Business Meeting Minutes Outreach Report Asteroid and Comet News Light Pollution Committee Report Globe at Night Member’s Corner –My Quest For A Dark Place, by Chris Carlton Astro-Photos by BRAS Members Messages from the HRPO REMOTE DISCUSSION Solar Viewing Plus Night Mercurian Elongation Spooky Sensation Great Martian Opposition Observing Notes: Aquila – The Eagle Like this newsletter? See PAST ISSUES online back to 2009 Visit us on Facebook – Baton Rouge Astronomical Society Baton Rouge Astronomical Society Newsletter, Night Visions Page 2 of 27 September 2020 President’s Message Welcome to September. You may have noticed that this newsletter is showing up a little bit later than usual, and it’s for good reason: release of the newsletter will now happen after the monthly business meeting so that we can have a chance to keep everybody up to date on the latest information. Sometimes, this will mean the newsletter shows up a couple of days late. But, the upshot is that you’ll now be able to see what we discussed at the recent business meeting and have time to digest it before our general meeting in case you want to give some feedback. Now that we’re on the new format, business meetings (and the oft neglected Light Pollution Committee Meeting), are going to start being open to all members of the club again by simply joining up in the respective chat rooms the Wednesday before the first Monday of the month—which I encourage people to do, especially if you have some ideas you want to see the club put into action. -
And Ecclesiastical Cosmology
GSJ: VOLUME 6, ISSUE 3, MARCH 2018 101 GSJ: Volume 6, Issue 3, March 2018, Online: ISSN 2320-9186 www.globalscientificjournal.com DEMOLITION HUBBLE'S LAW, BIG BANG THE BASIS OF "MODERN" AND ECCLESIASTICAL COSMOLOGY Author: Weitter Duckss (Slavko Sedic) Zadar Croatia Pусскй Croatian „If two objects are represented by ball bearings and space-time by the stretching of a rubber sheet, the Doppler effect is caused by the rolling of ball bearings over the rubber sheet in order to achieve a particular motion. A cosmological red shift occurs when ball bearings get stuck on the sheet, which is stretched.“ Wikipedia OK, let's check that on our local group of galaxies (the table from my article „Where did the blue spectral shift inside the universe come from?“) galaxies, local groups Redshift km/s Blueshift km/s Sextans B (4.44 ± 0.23 Mly) 300 ± 0 Sextans A 324 ± 2 NGC 3109 403 ± 1 Tucana Dwarf 130 ± ? Leo I 285 ± 2 NGC 6822 -57 ± 2 Andromeda Galaxy -301 ± 1 Leo II (about 690,000 ly) 79 ± 1 Phoenix Dwarf 60 ± 30 SagDIG -79 ± 1 Aquarius Dwarf -141 ± 2 Wolf–Lundmark–Melotte -122 ± 2 Pisces Dwarf -287 ± 0 Antlia Dwarf 362 ± 0 Leo A 0.000067 (z) Pegasus Dwarf Spheroidal -354 ± 3 IC 10 -348 ± 1 NGC 185 -202 ± 3 Canes Venatici I ~ 31 GSJ© 2018 www.globalscientificjournal.com GSJ: VOLUME 6, ISSUE 3, MARCH 2018 102 Andromeda III -351 ± 9 Andromeda II -188 ± 3 Triangulum Galaxy -179 ± 3 Messier 110 -241 ± 3 NGC 147 (2.53 ± 0.11 Mly) -193 ± 3 Small Magellanic Cloud 0.000527 Large Magellanic Cloud - - M32 -200 ± 6 NGC 205 -241 ± 3 IC 1613 -234 ± 1 Carina Dwarf 230 ± 60 Sextans Dwarf 224 ± 2 Ursa Minor Dwarf (200 ± 30 kly) -247 ± 1 Draco Dwarf -292 ± 21 Cassiopeia Dwarf -307 ± 2 Ursa Major II Dwarf - 116 Leo IV 130 Leo V ( 585 kly) 173 Leo T -60 Bootes II -120 Pegasus Dwarf -183 ± 0 Sculptor Dwarf 110 ± 1 Etc. -
Your Guide to the Transit of Mercury of 9Th May 2016
!1 ! Your guide to the Transit of Mercury of 9th May 2016 a publication of the Public Outreach & Education Committee of the Astronomical Society of India Your guide to the Transit of Mercury 2016 !2 ! This work is licensed under a Creative Commons (Attribution - Non Commercial - ShareAlike) License. Please share/print/ photocopy/distribute this work widely, with attribution to the Public Outreach and Education Committee (POEC) of the Astronomical Society of India (ASI) under this same license. This license is granted for non-commercial use only. Contact details of the Public Outreach and Education Committee of the ASI : URL : http://astron-soc.in/outreach Email : [email protected] Facebook : asi poec Twitter : www.twitter.com/asipoec Download from : The pdf of this documents is available for free download from : http://astron-soc.in/outreach/activities/sky-event-related/transit- of-mercury-2016/ (also http://bit.ly/tom-india) Acknowledgement : We thank all those who made images available online either under the Creative Commons License or by a copyleft through image credits. Compiled by Niruj Ramanujam with contributions from Samir Dhurde, B.S. Shylaja and N. Rathnasree, for the POEC of the ASI April 2016 Your guide to the Transit of Mercury 2016 !3 1. Transit of Mercury ! Transit of Mercury, 8 Nov 2006, Transit of Venus, 6 Jun 2012, photographed by Eric Kounce, from Hungary Texas, USA DID YOU KNOW? The planets, with their moons, steadily revolve around the The next transit Sun, with Mercury taking 88 days and Neptune taking as of Mercury will much as 165 years to make one revolution! We barely occur on 9 May notice any of this, unless something spectacular happens to 2016 but it will not be visible remind us how fast this motion actually is. -
Asteroid Cratering Families: Recognition and Collisional Interpretation
Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. cratering_paper_AA_rev2 c ESO 2018 December 19, 2018 Asteroid cratering families: recognition and collisional interpretation A. Milani1⋆, Z. Kneževic´2, F. Spoto3, and P. Paolicchi4 1 Dept.Mathematics, University of Pisa, Largo Pontecorvo 5, I-56127 Pisa, Italy e-mail: [email protected] 2 Serbian Academy Sci. Arts, Kneza Mihaila 35, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia e-mail: [email protected] 3 IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Univ. Lille 77 av. Denfert-Rochereau, 75014, Paris, France e-mail: [email protected] 4 Dept.Physics, University of Pisa, Largo Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa, Italy e-mail: [email protected] 19 November 2018 ABSTRACT Aims. We continue our investigation of the bulk properties of asteroid dynamical families iden- tified using only asteroid proper elements (Milani et al. 2014) to provide plausible collisional interpretations. We focus on cratering families consisting of a substantial parent body and many small fragments. Methods. We propose a quantitative definition of cratering families based on the fraction in vol- ume of the fragments with respect to the parent body; fragmentation families are above this empirical boundary. We assess the compositional homogeneity of the families and their shape in proper element space by computing the differences of the proper elements of the fragments with respect to the ones of the major body, looking for anomalous asymmetries produced either by post-formation dynamical evolution, or by multiple collisional/cratering events, or by a failure of arXiv:1812.07535v1 [astro-ph.EP] 18 Dec 2018 the Hierarchical Clustering Method (HCM) for family identification.