DOCSLIB.ORG

NOAO FY 2010 Quarter Report

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
NOAO FY 2010 Quarter Report NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY QUARTERLY SCIENTIFIC REPORT (2) FY 2010 January 1–March 31, 2010 Left: Velocity map of 33 H II regions derived from Gemini South GMOS spectra for galaxy ESO 137-001 superposed on Chandra X-ray contours. The imprint of ESO 137-001’s disk rotation pattern can be seen in the velocity map; near-vertical dashed line runs along major axis and dotted circle (radius of 15 kpc) represents size of ESO 137-001’s tidally truncated halo. Upper right: H II velocities vs. their projected distance to major axis of galaxy. Bottom right: Velocities vs. projected distance to dashed line running between X-ray tails. (Angular scale: 30 arcsec = 9.8 kpc) These results show, for the first time, that active star formation can happen in the interstellar medium gas stripped by intracluster medium ram pressure. Credit: Ming Sun/U. of Virginia (Reproduced by permission of the AAS) Submitted to the National Science Foundation Pursuant to Cooperative Support Agreement No. AST-0950945, Article 3-A Cooperative Agreement No. AST-0809409 Also published on the NOAO Web site: http://www.noao.edu NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation National Optical Astronomy Observatory Quarterly Scientific Report (2) FY 2010 (January 1, 2010 – March 31, 2010) Submitted to the National Science Foundation Pursuant to Cooperative Support Agreement No. AST-0950945 April 30, 2010 Contents 1 NOAO DIVISIONS ............................................................................................................1 1.1 NOAO South......................................................................................................1 1.1.1 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory ..........................................1 1.1.2 NOAO South Operations.....................................................................2 1.2 NOAO North......................................................................................................4 1.2.1 Kitt Peak National Observatory...........................................................4 1.2.2 Central Facilities Operations ...............................................................6 1.2.3 Computer Infrastructure Services........................................................7 1.2.4 Safety Report.......................................................................................8 1.3 NOAO System Science Center ..........................................................................8 1.3.1 System User Support ...........................................................................9 1.3.2 Science Data Management ................................................................10 1.3.3 System Community Development.....................................................11 1.4 NOAO System Technology Center..................................................................12 1.4.1 System Instrumentation .....................................................................12 1.4.2 ReSTAR Instrumentation ..................................................................12 1.4.3 Telescope System Instrumentation Program .....................................13 1.4.4 LSST Technology Program...............................................................14 1.4.5 GSMT/ELT Technology Program.....................................................16 2 NOAO-WIDE PROGRAMS ...........................................................................................17 2.1 Central Administrative Services ......................................................................17 2.2 Office of Science..............................................................................................18 2.3 Education and Public Outreach........................................................................19 2.4 NOAO Director’s Office..................................................................................21 2.5 ARRA Infrastructure Renewal.........................................................................23 3 OBSERVING PROGRAMS SEMESTER 2010A .........................................................25 3.1 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.......................................................25 3.2 Kitt Peak National Observatory .......................................................................30 i NOAO QUARTERLY REPORT FY 2010 (2) 3.3 Gemini Observatory ........................................................................................ 34 3.4 Community Access to Private Telescopes....................................................... 40 3.4.1 Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy.............................. 40 3.4.2 MMT Observatory ............................................................................ 41 3.4.3 Las Campanas Observatory .............................................................. 42 3.4.4 Palomar Observatory ........................................................................ 42 4 USAGE OF ARCHIVED DATA .................................................................................... 43 5 GRANTS........................................................................................................................... 44 ii 1 NOAO DIVISIONS 1.1 NOAO SOUTH 1.1.1 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Program Highlights On Saturday, 27 February 2010, at 3:34 am Chilean time, one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded occurred in CTIO Visitor Center & CADIAS southern Chile. This magnitude 8.8 earthquake had an Summary of Visitors epicenter near Concepción and, together with the (3 months ending 3/31/10) following tsunami, caused major destruction and significant loss of life in that region. At the Cerro Tololo Group/Program # of Visitors Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) facilities in northern CADIAS Center 310 Chile, the earthquake was about a magnitude 4. None of the telescope facilities on-site suffered damage. The CADIAS Outreach 2,735 telescope buildings were evacuated during the earthquake, Tololo Guided Tours 777 but observations continued about 15 minutes after the event. All of the facilities and infrastructure (e.g., School Groups K-12 0 buildings, roads, water lines, gas lines) were inspected later that morning, and no damage was detected other than Special Tours 174 a few minor rock slides that were cleared by 7 am. An TOTAL PUBLIC 3,996 intensive effort to confirm that all of our staff were safe, including those on vacation in southern Chile, was conducted. By Monday afternoon, all staff had been accounted for as safe and unharmed. While the facilities and staff at the observatory were not directly impacted, the earthquake damaged some of the critical Chilean infrastructure, such as sea ports and the airport in Santiago, and thus impacted observatory operations significantly in a variety of ways, especially in air travel (for staff and visiting astronomers) and shipping. CTIO staff worked to minimize the problems, and most operations were fully back to normal by the end of this quarter. The transition of two senior management positions became effective January 1. The Cerro Tololo telescope operations manager, Oscar Saa, stepped down and his deputy stepped up to take over management of telescope operations, which includes support for the CTIO-operated telescopes and support for tenant telescopes on a cost-recovery basis. Saa will remain part of the team for at least this year to aid in the transition and help with the commissioning of many of the new, small telescopes being opened on Cerro Tololo, including those of the Southeastern Astronomy Research Association (0.6-m) and the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGTN). In La Serena, the manager of the Engineering and Technical Services (ETS) group, Dr. Brooke Gregory, stepped down and Dr. Tim Abbott took on the responsibility for leading the group. Gregory will continue to lead the installation of the NEWFIRM camera and oversee much of the infrastructure work necessary to support both NEWFIRM and DECam (see FY10 Milestones bullet below). The highlight of the second quarter of FY10 was the shipment and arrival of the NEWFIRM wide-field infrared imager from Tucson. Due to shipping delays, the camera arrived approximately 1.5 months later than planned, but the schedule was revised and commissioning should be only about a month late. The shipment arrived on Cerro Tololo (see Figure 1) in good condition, was unpacked, and is being prepared for mounting on the Blanco 4-m telescope on Cerro Tololo. 1 NOAO QUARTERLY REPORT FY 2010 (2) Also in this quarter, another telescope began operations on Cerro Tololo. The Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA) completed the refurbishment of the Lowell 0.6-m telescope and began commissioning the new remote observation system. Status of FY10 Milestones • Install NEWFIRM on the Blanco 4-m telescope Status: NEWFIRM arrived in Santiago, Chile on March 31 and immediately was taken to Cerro Tololo, arriving there at 3:30 pm on April 1. • Install the SOAR Adaptive Module with laser guide-star and commence commissioning on the SOAR 4.1-m telescope SIFS Status: The SIFS instrument, delivered from Brazil in the first quarter of FY10, underwent extensive work on the optical alignment and was tested thoroughly off the telescope in January. The Figure 1 NEWFIRM arrives at Blanco 4-m instrument was integrated and installed on the Telescope telescope in February and March, and first light is expected in the middle of the third quarter of FY10.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • FY08 Technical Papers by GSMTPO Staff
    AURA/NOAO ANNUAL REPORT FY 2008 Submitted to the National Science Foundation July 23, 2008 Revised as Complete and Submitted December 23, 2008 NGC 660, ~13 Mpc from the Earth, is a peculiar, polar ring galaxy that resulted from two galaxies colliding. It consists of a nearly edge-on disk and a strongly warped outer disk. Image Credit: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska, Anchorage NATIONAL OPTICAL ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY NOAO ANNUAL REPORT FY 2008 Submitted to the National Science Foundation December 23, 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................. 1 1 SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES AND FINDINGS ..................................................................................... 2 1.1 Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory...................................................................................... 2 The Once and Future Supernova η Carinae...................................................................................................... 2 A Stellar Merger and a Missing White Dwarf.................................................................................................. 3 Imaging the COSMOS...................................................................................................................................... 3 The Hubble Constant from a Gravitational Lens.............................................................................................. 4 A New Dwarf Nova in the Period Gap............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • On the Progenitor of V838 Monocerotis
    A&A 441, 1099–1109 (2005) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20042485 & c ESO 2005 Astrophysics On the progenitor of V838 Monocerotis R. Tylenda1,3,N.Soker2, and R. Szczerba1 1 Department for Astrophysics, N. Copernicus Astronomical Center, Rabianska´ 8, 87-100 Torun,´ Poland e-mail: [tylenda;szczerba]@ncac.torun.pl 2 Department of Physics, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, 32000 Haifa, Israel e-mail: [email protected] 3 Centre for Astronomy, N. Copernicus University, 87-100 Torun,´ Poland Received 6 December 2004 / Accepted 9 June 2005 ABSTRACT We summarize and analyze the available observational data on the progenitor and the environment of V838 Mon. From the available photometric data for the progenitor of V838 Mon we exclude the possibility that the object before eruption was an evolved red giant star (AGB or RGB star). We find that most likely it was a main sequence or pre-main sequence star of ∼5−10 M. From the light echo structure and evolution we conclude that the reflecting dust is of interstellar nature rather than blown by V838 Mon in the past. We discuss the IRAS and CO data for interstellar medium observed near the position of V838 Mon. Several interstellar molecular regions have radial velocities similar to that of V838 Mon, so dust seen in the light echo might be related to one of them. Key words. stars: early-type – stars: binaries: close – stars: circumstellar matter – stars: individual: V838 Mon – ISM: reflection nebulae – ISM: structure 1. Introduction binary system which can be an important fact for identifying the outburst mechanism.
    [Show full text]
  • V838 Monocerotis Revisited: Space Phenomenon Imitates Art
    HEIC0405: EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:00 (CET)/6:00 (EST) 04 March, 2004 Photo release: V838 Monocerotis revisited: Space phenomenon imitates art 04-March-2004 "Starry Night", Vincent van Gogh's famous painting, is renowned for its bold whorls of light sweeping across a raging night sky. Although this image of the heavens came only from the artist's restless imagination, a new picture from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope bears remarkable similarities to the van Gogh work, complete with never-before-seen spirals of dust swirling across trillions of kilometres of interstellar space. This image, obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on February 8, 2004, is Hubble's latest view of an expanding halo of light around a distant star, named V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon). The illumination of interstellar dust comes from the red supergiant star at the middle of the image, which gave off a flashbulb-like pulse of light two years ago. V838 Mon is located about 20,000 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Monoceros, placing the star at the outer edge of our Milky Way galaxy. Called a light echo, the expanding illumination of a dusty cloud around the star has been revealing remarkable structures ever since the star suddenly brightened for several weeks in early 2002. Though Hubble has followed the light echo in several snapshots, this new image shows swirls or eddies in the dusty cloud for the first time. These eddies are probably caused by turbulence in the dust and gas around the star as they slowly expand away.
    [Show full text]
  • Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the Light Echoes Around V838 Monocerotis
    Asymmetric Planetary Nebulae III ASP Conference Series, Vol. XXX, 2004 M. Meixner, J. Kastner, B. Balick and N. Soker eds. Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the Light Echoes around V838 Monocerotis Howard E. Bond1, Arne Henden2, Zoltan G. Levay1, Nino Panagia1, William B. Sparks1, Sumner Starrfield3, R. Mark Wagner4, R. L. M. Corradi5, and U. Munari6 Abstract. The outburst of the unusual variable star V838 Monocero- tis is being accompanied by the most spectacular display of light echoes in the history of astronomy. We have imaged the echoes on 5 occasions in 2002 with the Hubble Space Telescope and its Advanced Camera for Surveys. Analysis of the angular expansion rates and polarimetry data yields a direct geometric distance (6 kpc), and establishes that the star was extremely luminous at the maximum of its outburst. Unlike a classi- cal nova, V838 Mon has remained a very cool red supergiant, and is now producing copious amounts of dust. The dust illuminated in the echoes was presumably ejected during previous similar outbursts. This event thus bears some similarities to the proto-PN ejection process from more normal AGB and post-AGB stars, and is of relevance to this conference. Light-echo imaging allows construction of fully 3-D maps of the dust dis- tribution, and we present a map based on these early observations. The dust is already seen to be highly non-spherical and non-homogeneous, similar to the structure inferred for many proto-PNe. 1. The Light-Echo Phenomenon A light echo is produced when a wave of illumination from a stellar outburst sweeps out into space.
    [Show full text]
  • The Infrared Evolution of Dust in V838 Monocerotis C
    Draft version August 19, 2021 Typeset using LATEX twocolumn style in AASTeX63 The Infrared Evolution of Dust in V838 Monocerotis C. E. Woodward ,1 A. Evans ,2 D. P. K. Banerjee ,3 T. Liimets ,4, 5 A. A. Djupvik ,6 S. Starrfield ,7 G. C. Clayton ,8 S. P. S. Eyres ,9 R. D. Gehrz ,1 and R. M. Wagner 10, 11 1Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA 2Astrophysics Group, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK 3Physical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380009, India 4Astronomick´y´ustav,Akademie vˇed Cesk´erepubliky,ˇ v.v.i., Friˇcova298, 251 65 Ondˇrejov,Czech Republic 5Tartu Observatory, University of Tartu, Observatooriumi 1, 61602 T~oravere, Estonia 6Nordic Optical Telescope, Rambla Jos´eAna Fern´andezP´erez 7, ES-38711 Bre~naBaja, Spain 7School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA 8Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Department of Physics & Astronomy Baton Rouge, LA 70803-001, USA 9Faculty of Computing, Engineering & Science, University of South Wales, Pontypridd, CF37 1DL, UK 10Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, 140 W. 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA 11Large Binocular Telescope Observatory, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA (Received 2021 June 21; Accepted 2021 August 17; Published To Appear in The Astronomical Journal) ABSTRACT Luminous Red Variables (LRVs) are most likely eruptions that are the outcome of stellar mergers. V838 Mon is one of the best-studied members of this class, representing an archetype for stellar mergers resulting from B-type stars.
    [Show full text]
  • V838 Monocerotis: the Central Star and Its Environment a Decade After Outburst
    A&A 569, L3 (2014) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201424458 & c ESO 2014 Astrophysics Letter to the Editor V838 Monocerotis: the central star and its environment a decade after outburst O. Chesneau1, , F. Millour1,O.DeMarco2,S.N.Bright1,2,A.Spang1,D.P.K.Banerjee3,N.M.Ashok3, T. Kaminski´ 4,J.P.Wisniewski5, A. Meilland1, and E. Lagadec1, 1 Laboratoire Lagrange, UMR 7293, Univ. Nice Sophia-Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, 06300 Nice, France e-mail: [email protected] 2 Department of Physics & Astronomy, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia 3 Physical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, 380009 Gujarat, India 4 Max-Planck Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany 5 HL Dodge Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, 440 W Brooks Street, Norman, OK 73019, USA Received 24 June 2014 / Accepted 21 July 2014 ABSTRACT Aims. V838 Monocerotis erupted in 2002, brightened in a series of outbursts, and eventually developed a spectacular light echo. A very red star emerged a few months after the outburst. The whole event has been interpreted as the result of a merger. Methods. We obtained near- and mid-IR interferometric observations of V838 Mon with the AMBER and MIDI recombiners located at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) array. The MIDI two-beam observations were obtained with the 8 m unit telescopes between October 2011 and February 2012. The AMBER three-beam observations were obtained with the compact array (B ≤ 35 m) in April 2013 and the long array (B ≤ 140 m) in May 2014, using the 1.8 m auxiliary telescopes.
    [Show full text]
  • Latest Views of the V838 Monocerotis Light Echo from Hubble 26 October 2006
    Latest views of the V838 Monocerotis light echo from Hubble 26 October 2006 The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has been observing the V838 Mon light echo since 2002. Each new observation of the light echo reveals a new and unique "thin-section" through the interstellar dust around the star. This release shows new images of the light echo from the Hubble Advanced Camera for Surveys taken in November 2005 (left) and again in September 2006 (right). The numerous whorls and eddies in the interstellar dust are particularly noticeable. Possibly they have been produced by the effects of magnetic fields in the space between the stars. The Hubble observations have been used to These images show the evolution of the light echo around the star V838 in the constellation of Monoceros. determine the distance to V838 Mon, using a They were taken by the Hubble Advanced Camera for technique based on the polarisation of the reflected Surveys in November 2005 (left) and again in light. Hubble has polarising filters that only pass September 2006 (right). The numerous whorls and light that vibrates at certain angles. This method eddies in the interstellar dust are particularly noticeable. yields a distance of 20,000 light-years for V838 Possibly they have been produced by the effects of Mon, suggesting that, during its outburst, V838 Mon magnetic fields in the space between the stars. Credit: was one of the brightest stars in the entire Milky NASA, ESA and H. Bond (STScI) Way. Although the reason for the eruption is still unclear, some astronomers have suggested it might have resulted from the collision of two stars.
    [Show full text]
  • The Continued Optical to Mid-Infrared Evolution of V838 Monocerotis* S
    The Astronomical Journal, 149:17 (8pp), 2015 January doi:10.1088/0004-6256/149/1/17 © 2015. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. THE CONTINUED OPTICAL TO MID-INFRARED EVOLUTION OF V838 MONOCEROTIS* S. R. Loebman1,13, J. P. Wisniewski2,14, S. J. Schmidt3, A. F. Kowalski4, R. K. Barry5, K. S. Bjorkman6,14, H. B. Hammel7, S. L. Hawley8, L. Hebb9, M. M. Kasliwal10,15, D. K. Lynch11,14, R. W. Russell11,14, M. L. Sitko12,14,16, and P. Szkody8 1 Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 830 Dennison, 500 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1042, USA; [email protected] 2 Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Oklahoma, 440 W. Brooks Street, Norman, OK 73019, USA 3 Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA 4 NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 671, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA 5 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Laboratory for Exoplanets & Stellar Astrophysics, Code 667, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA 6 Ritter Observatory, MS #113, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606-3390, USA 7 AURA, 1212 New York Avenue NW, Suite 450, Washington, DC 20005, USA 8 Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195, USA 9 Department of Physics, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, 300 Pulteney Street, Geneva, NY 14456, USA 10 The Observatories, Carnegie Institution for Science, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA 11 The Aerospace Corporation, M2-266, P.O. Box 92957, Los Angeles, CA 90009-29257, USA 12 Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH 45221, USA Received 2014 June 19; accepted 2014 September 7; published 2014 December 15 ABSTRACT The eruptive variable V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon) gained notoriety in 2002 when it brightened nine magnitudes in a series of three outbursts and then rapidly evolved into an extremely cool supergiant.
    [Show full text]
  • Discovery of Multiple Shells Around V838 Monocerotis
    A&A 427, 193–197 (2004) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20041388 & c ESO 2004 Astrophysics Discovery of multiple shells around V838 Monocerotis J. Th. van Loon, A. Evans, M. T. Rushton, and B. Smalley Astrophysics Group, School of Chemistry and Physics, Keele University, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, UK e-mail: [email protected] Received 15 April 2004 / Accepted 3 July 2004 Abstract. We report the discovery of multiple shells around the eruptive variable star V838 Mon. Two dust shells are seen in IRAS and MSX images, which themselves are situated in a shell of CO. This securely establishes V838 Mon as an evolved object. We revisit the light echo, which arises from scattering off the innermost resolved dust shell, to infer a distance to V838 Mon of ∼>5.5 kpc. The dynamical timescales of the ejected shells, location in the Milky Way and inferred luminosity are consistent with V838 Mon being a low-mass AGB star experiencing thermal pulses of which the 2002 eruption might have sent the star into the post-AGB phase. This scenario, however, is inconsistent with the presence of a (young and massive) B3 V companion. Key words. stars: AGB and post-AGB – stars: circumstellar matter – stars: distances – stars: individual: V838 Monocerotis – stars: mass-loss – stars: peculiar 1. Introduction interstellar medium, emits at far-IR wavelengths. The sky around V838 Mon is included in both the IRAS all sky survey V838 Monocerotis was discovered on January 6, 2002, (Brown (12, 25, 60 and 100 µm), and the Galactic plane survey by the 2002) as a new eruptive variable star, and peaked at m V MSX in several mid-IR bands of which band A (8.3 µm) was 7 mag on February 5, 2002.
    [Show full text]
  • Astronomy 2009 Index
    Astronomy Magazine 2009 Index Subject Index 1RXS J160929.1-210524 (star), 1:24 4C 60.07 (galaxy pair), 2:24 6dFGS (Six Degree Field Galaxy Survey), 8:18 21-centimeter (neutral hydrogen) tomography, 12:10 93 Minerva (asteroid), 12:18 2008 TC3 (asteroid), 1:24 2009 FH (asteroid), 7:19 A Abell 21 (Medusa Nebula), 3:70 Abell 1656 (Coma galaxy cluster), 3:8–9, 6:16 Allen Telescope Array (ATA) radio telescope, 12:10 ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array), 4:21, 9:19 Alpha (α) Canis Majoris (Sirius) (star), 2:68, 10:77 Alpha (α) Orionis (star). See Betelgeuse (Alpha [α] Orionis) (star) Alpha Centauri (star), 2:78 amateur astronomy, 10:18, 11:48–53, 12:19, 56 Andromeda Galaxy (M31) merging with Milky Way, 3:51 midpoint between Milky Way Galaxy and, 1:62–63 ultraviolet images of, 12:22 Antarctic Neumayer Station III, 6:19 Anthe (moon of Saturn), 1:21 Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), 4:24 APEX (Atacama Pathfinder Experiment) radio telescope, 3:19 Apollo missions, 8:19 AR11005 (sunspot group), 11:79 Arches Cluster, 10:22 Ares launch system, 1:37, 3:19, 9:19 Ariane 5 rocket, 4:21 Arianespace SA, 4:21 Armstrong, Neil A., 2:20 Arp 147 (galaxy pair), 2:20 Arp 194 (galaxy group), 8:21 art, cosmology-inspired, 5:10 ASPERA (Astroparticle European Research Area), 1:26 asteroids. See also names of specific asteroids binary, 1:32–33 close approach to Earth, 6:22, 7:19 collision with Jupiter, 11:20 collisions with Earth, 1:24 composition of, 10:55 discovery of, 5:21 effect of environment on surface of, 8:22 measuring distant, 6:23 moons orbiting,
    [Show full text]
  • Polarimetric Evolution of V838 Monocerotis?
    A&A 414, 591–600 (2004) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20031689 & c ESO 2004 Astrophysics Polarimetric evolution of V838 Monocerotis? S. Desidera1,E.Giro1, U. Munari2,Y.S.Efimov3,A.Henden4, S. Benetti1,T.Tomov5, A. Bianchini6, and C. Pernechele1 1 INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell’ Osservatorio 5, 35122, Padova, Italy 2 INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova - Sede di Asiago, 36012, Asiago, Italy 3 Crimean Astrophysical Observatory and Isaac Newton Institute of Chile, Crimean Branch, Ukraine 4 Universities Space Research Association/US Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station, PO Box 1149, Flagstaff AZ 86002-1149, USA 5 Centre for Astronomy Nicholaus Copernicus University, ul. Gagarina 11, 87-100 Torun, Poland 6 Universit´a di Padova, Dipartimento di Astronomia, Vicolo dell’Osservatorio 2, 35122, Padova, Italy Received 28 April 2003 / Accepted 30 September 2003 Abstract. We present the results of our polarimetric and spectropolarimetric monitoring of V838 Monocerotis, performed at the Asiago and Crimean observatories during and after the multiple outbursts that occurred in January March 2002. The polariza- tion of the object is mainly due to interstellar polarization (P 2:48%). Intrinsic polarization up to− 0.7% at 5000 Å is present ∼ ∼ during the second maximum of the object (February 2002). This intrinsic component increases toward shorter wavelengths but our limited spectral coverage (5000 7500 Å) does not allow conclusive inferences about its origin. A strong depolarization across the H profile is observed. The− interstellar polarization gives a lower limit to the reddening of E(B V) > 0:28, with α − E(B V) 0:5 being the most probable value.
    [Show full text]
  • V838 Monocerotis As Seen by ALMA: a Remnant of a Binary Merger
    Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. V838ALMAdust ©ESO 2021 June 15, 2021 V838 Monocerotis as seen by ALMA: a remnant of a binary merger in a triple system Tomek Kaminski´ 1, Romuald Tylenda1, Aleksandra Kiljan2, Mirek Schmidt1, Krzysztof Lisiecki3, Carl Melis4, Adam Frankowski1, Vishal Joshi5, and Karl M. Menten6 1 Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Rabianska´ 8, 87-100 Torun,´ e-mail: [email protected] 2 Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa, Poland 3 Institute of Astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun,´ Grudzi˛adzka5, 87-100 Torun,´ Poland 4 Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093-0424, USA 5 Physical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380009, India 6 Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53-121 Bonn, Germany June 15, 2021 ABSTRACT Context. V838 Mon erupted in 2002 quickly becoming the prototype of a new type of stellar eruptions known today as (luminous) red novae. The red nova outbursts are thought to be caused by stellar mergers. The merger in V838 Mon took place in a triple or higher system involving two B-type stars. Aims. We wish to characterize the merger remnant ∼17 yr after the eruption to learn more about the remaining system, the progenitor, and merger physics. Methods. We mapped the merger site with ALMA at a resolution of ∼25 mas, or 148 au for a distance of 5.9 kpc, in continuum dust emission and in rotational lines of simple molecules, including CO, SiO, SO, SO2, AlOH, and H2S. We use radiative transfer calculations to reproduce the remnant’s architecture at the epoch of the ALMA observations.
    [Show full text]