| Spitzer Observations of MF 16 Nebula and the Associated Ultraluminous X-Ray Source |
01 Jun 2012 |
11 pages |
| Authors:
C T Berghea; R P Dudik; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
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 | We present Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph observations of the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) NGC 6946 X-1 and its associated nebula MF 16. This ULX has very similar properties to the famous Holmberg II ULX, the first ULX to show a prominent infrared [O iv] emission line comparable to those found in active galactic nuclei. This paper attempts to constrain the ULX spectral energy distribution (SED) given the optical/UV photometric fluxes and ... |
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| A Multi-Survey Approach to White Dwarf Discovery |
Apr 2012 |
13 pages |
| Authors:
Conor Sayres; John P Subasavage; P Bergeron; P Dufour; James R Davenport; Yusra Alsayyad; Benjamin M Tofflemire; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
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| By selecting astrometric and photometric data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the Lepine & Shara Proper Motion North Catalog (LSPM-North), the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), and the USNO-B1.0 catalog, we use a succession of methods to isolate white dwarf (WD) candidates for follow-up spectroscopy. Our methods include reduced proper motion diagram cuts, color cuts, and atmospheric model adherence. We present spectroscopy of 26WDs obtained from the ... |
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| 3-D Scene Reconstruction from Aerial Imagery |
Mar 2012 |
183 pages |
| Authors:
Jared M Ekholm; AIR FORCE INST OF TECH WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OH GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT
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| 3-D scene reconstructions derived from Structure from Motion (SfM) and Multi-View Stereo (MVS) techniques were analyzed to determine the optimal reconnaissance flight characteristics suitable for target reconstruction. In support of this goal, a preliminary study of a simple 3-D geometric object facilitated the analysis of convergence angles and number of camera frames within a controlled environment. Reconstruction accuracy measurements revealed at least 3 camera frames and a 6 convergence angle ... |
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| Lost Chevalier Pairs - A Followup |
Jan 2012 |
13 pages |
| Authors:
W I Hartkopf; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
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| Erno Berko (2011) recently undertook the commendable effort of investigating a large number of doubles which had been discoverered by Chevalier (1908) but never confirmed. While checking over Berko's work in the course of entering his corrections into the WDS 1 , some patterns began to emerge in these corrections; this prompted an analysis of Chevalier's paper. A number of errors were found in that early work, including one significant ... |
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| Exploring the Variable Sky with Linear. 1. Photometric Recalibration with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey |
Dec 2011 |
14 pages |
| Authors:
Branimir Sesar; J S Stuart; Zeljko Ivezic; Dylan P Morgan; Andrew C Becker; Przemyslaw Wozniak; CALIFORNIA INST OF TECH PASADENA
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| We describe photometric recalibration of data obtained by the asteroid survey LINEAR. Although LINEAR was designed for astrometric discovery of moving objects, the data set described here contains over 5 billion photometric measurements for about 25 million objects, mostly stars. We use Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data from the overlapping approx. 10,000 deg(2) of sky to recalibrate LINEAR photometry and achieve errors of 0.03 mag for sources not limited ... |
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| Understanding Satellite Characterization Knowledge Gained from Radiometric Data |
Sep 2011 |
12 pages |
| Authors:
Andrew Harms; Kris Hamada; Charles J Wetterer; Kim Luu; Chris Sabol; Kyle T Allfriend; PRINCETON UNIV NJ
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| This paper presents a framework for determining satellite characterization knowledge, in the form of estimated parameter uncertainties, from radiometric observation type, quantity, quality, and in combinations. The approach combines complex forward modeling capability with an Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) to map observation uncertainties into satellite characterization parameter space. These parameters can include size, shape, orientation, material properties, etc., and the observations can include broadband or narrowband spectral radiometry, spatially resolved ... |
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| Analysis of Galaxy 15 Satellite Images from a Small-Aperture Telescope |
Sep 2011 |
10 pages |
| Authors:
Sergei Nikolaev; Don Phillion; Lance Simms; Alex Pertica; Scot S Olivier; Rita Cognion; LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LAB CA
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| Galaxy 15, a geostationary telecommunications satellite, ceased responding to ground operators commands on April 5, 2010. The satellite went into eastward longitudinal drift interfering with operation of other geostationary satellites. Before and after the control of Galaxy 15 was re-established on December 27, 2010, some optical observations of the satellite were conducted using a small-aperture telescope, at sidereal tracking rate, to derive more accurate orbital parameters for Galaxy 15. Here ... |
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| The Solar Neighborhood. XXV. Discovery of New Proper Motion Stars with 0.40 sec/yr > mu > or = 0.18 sec/yr Between Declinations -47 deg and 00 deg |
JUL 2011 |
17 pages |
| Authors:
Mark R. Boyd; Jennifer G. Winters; Todd J. Henry; Wei-Chun Jao; Charlie T. Finch; John P. Subasavage; Nigel C. Hambly; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
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| We present 2817 new southern proper motion systems with 0.40 sec/yr > mu > or = 0.18 sec/yr and declination between 47 deg and 00 deg. This is a continuation of the SuperCOSMOS-RECONS (SCR) proper motion searches of the southern sky. We use the same photometric relations as previous searches to provide distance estimates based on the assumption that the objects are single main-sequence stars. We find 79 new red ... |
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| Characteristics of Kepler Planetary Candidates Based on the First Data Set |
20 Feb 2011 |
21 pages |
| Authors:
William J Borucki; David G Koch; Gibor Basri; Natalie Batalha; Alan Boss; Timothy M Brown; Douglas Caldwell; Joergen Christensen-Dalsgaard; William D Cochran; Edna DeVore; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
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| In the spring of 2009, the Kepler Mission commenced high-precision photometry on nearly 156,000 stars to determine the frequency and characteristics of small exoplanets, conduct a guest observer program, and obtain asteroseismic data on a wide variety of stars. On 2010 June 15, the Kepler Mission released most of the data from the first quarter of observations. At the time of this data release, 705 stars from this first data ... |
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| Modeling Kepler Transit Light Curves as False Positives: Rejection of Blend Scenarios for Kepler-9, and Validation of Kepler-9 d, a Super-Earth-Size Planet in a Multiple System |
20 Jan 2011 |
20 pages |
| Authors:
Guillermo Torres; Francois Fressin; Natalie M Batalha; William J Borucki; Timothy M Brown; Stephen T Bryson; Lars A Buchhave; David Charbonneau; David R Ciardi; Edward W Dunham; CALIFORNIA INST OF TECHNOLOGY PASADENA CA JET PROPULSION LAB
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| Light curves from the Kepler Mission contain valuable information on the nature of the phenomena producing the transit-like signals. To assist in exploring the possibility that they are due to an astrophysical false positive we describe a procedure (BLENDER) to model the photometry in terms of a blend rather than a planet orbiting a star. A blend may consist of a background or foreground eclipsing binary (or star-planet pair) whose ... |
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| CCD Photometry of the Open Cluster Tombaugh 5 in the Vilnius System |
Jan 2011 |
14 pages |
| Authors:
J Zdanavicius; F J Vrba; K Zdanavicius; V Straizys; R P Boyle; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
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| We present the results of eight-color CCD photometry of 674 stars in the direction of the open cluster Tombaugh 5 in Camelopardalis. The stars are observed in the Vilnius system supplemented by the broad-band I filter the field is of 22' diameter, the limiting magnitude is V = 17.7 mag. The catalog contains the coordinates, V magnitudes, seven color indices, two-dimensional spectral types determined from photometric parameters, interstellar extinctions and ... |
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| Ultra-Bright Optical Transients Are Linked With Type Ic Supernovae |
20 Nov 2010 |
8 pages |
| Authors:
A Pastorello; S J Smartt; M T Botticella; K Maguire; M Fraser; K Smith; R Kotak; L Magill; S Valenti; D R Young; D G Monet; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
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| Recent searches by unbiased, wide-field surveys have uncovered a group of extremely luminous optical transients. The initial discoveries of SN 2005ap by the Texas Supernova Search and SCP-06F6 in a deep Hubble pencil beam survey were followed by the Palomar Transient Factory confirmation of host redshifts for other similar transients. The transients share the common properties of high optical luminosities (peak magnitudes -21 to -23), blue colors, and a ... |
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| The Solar Neighborhood. 22. Parallax Results from the CTIOPI 0.9 m Program: Trigonometric Parallaxes of 64 Nearby Systems With 0.5 < or = mu < or = 1.0 yr-1 (SLOWMO Sample) |
SEP 2010 |
16 pages |
| Authors:
Adric R. Riedel; John P. Subasavage; Charlie T. Finch; Wei-Chun Jao; Todd J. Henry; Jennifer G. Winters; Misty A. Brown; Philip A. Ianna; Edgardo Costa; Rene A. Mendez; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC ASTROMETRY DEPT
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| We present trigonometric parallaxes of 64 stellar systems with proper motions between 0".5 yr(exp -1)and 1".0 yr(exp -1) from the ongoing Research Consortium On Nearby Stars parallax program at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. All of the systems are south of decl. = +30, and 58 had no previous trigonometric parallaxes. In addition to parallaxes for the systems, we present proper motions, Johnson-Kron-Cousins VRI photometry, variability measurements, and spectral types. ... |
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| Supernova 2009kf: An Ultraviolet Bright Type IIP Supernova Discovered With Pan-Starrs 1 and Galex |
01 Jul 2010 |
6 pages |
| Authors:
M T Botticella; C Trundle; A Pastorello; S Rodney; A Rest; S Gezari; S J Smartt; G Narayan; M E Huber; J L Tonry; D G Monet; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
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| We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of a luminous Type IIP Supernova (SN) 2009kf discovered by the Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1) survey and also detected by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer. The SN shows a plateau in its optical and bolometric light curves, lasting approximately 70 days in the rest frame, with an absolute magnitude of Mv = -18.4 mag. The P-Cygni profiles of hydrogen indicate expansion velocities of 9000 km/s at ... |
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| Size and Albedo of Kuiper Belt Object 55636 from a Stellar Occultation |
JUN 2010 |
5 pages |
| Authors:
J. L. Elliot; M. J. Person; C. A. Zuluaga; A. S. Bosh; E. R. Adams; T. C. Brothers; A. A. Gulbis; S. E. Levine; M. Lockhart; A. M. Zangari; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
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| The Kuiper belt is a collection of small bodies (Kuiper belt objects, KBOs) that lie beyond the orbit of Neptune and which are believed to have formed contemporaneously with the planets. Their small size and great distance make them difficult to study. KBO 55636 (2002 TX300) is a member of the water-ice-rich Haumea KBO collisional family. The Haumea family are among the most highly reflective objects in the Solar System. ... |
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| Visitors from the Halo: 11 Gyr Old White Dwarfs in the Solar Neighborhood |
20 MAY 2010 |
6 pages |
| Authors:
Mukremin Kilic; Jeffrey A. Munn; Kurtis A. Williams; P. W. Kowalski; Ted von Hippel; Hugh C. Harris; Elizabeth J. Jeffery; Steven DeGennaro; Warren R. Brown; B. McLeod; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
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| We report the discovery of three nearby old halo white dwarf (WD) candidates in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), including two stars in a common proper motion binary system. These candidates are selected from our 2800 deg2 proper motion survey on the Bok and U.S. Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station 1.3m telescopes, and they display proper motions of 0".4-0".5 yr(exp -1). Follow-up MMT spectroscopy and near-infrared photometry demonstrate that all ... |
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| Kepler-7b: A Transiting Planet With Unusually Low Density |
20 Apr 2010 |
6 pages |
| Authors:
David W Latham; William J Borucki; David G Koch; Timothy M Brown; Lars A Buchhave; Gibor Basri; Natalie M Batalha; Douglas A Caldwell; William D Cochran; Edward W Dunham; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
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| We report on the discovery and confirmation of Kepler-7b, a transiting planet with unusually low density. The mass is less than half that of Jupiter, M(p) = 0.43M(j), but the radius is 50% larger, R(p) = 1.48R(j). The resulting density, Rho(p) = 0.17 g cm( -3), is the second lowest reported so far for an extrasolar planet. The orbital period is fairly long, P = 4.886 days, and the host ... |
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| Kepler Mission Design, Realized Photometric Performance, and Early Science |
20 Apr 2010 |
9 pages |
| Authors:
David G Koch; William J Borucki; Gibor Basri; Natalie M Batalha; Timothy M Brown; Douglas Caldwell; Joergen Christensen-Dalsgaard; William D Cochran; Edna DeVore; Edward W Dunham; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
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| The Kepler Mission, launched on 2009 March 6, was designed with the explicit capability to detect Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars using the transit photometry method. Results from just 43 days of data along with ground-based follow-up observations have identified five new transiting planets with measurements of their masses, radii, and orbital periods. Many aspects of stellar astrophysics also benefit from the unique, precise, extended, and ... |
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| Kepler-4b: A Hot Neptune-Like Planet of a G0 Star Near Main-Sequence Turnoff |
20 Apr 2010 |
6 pages |
| Authors:
William J Borucki; David G Koch; Timothy M Brown; Gibor Basri; Natalie M Batalha; Douglas A Caldwell; William D Cochran; Edward W Dunham; III Gautier Thomas N; John C Geary; Ronald L Gilliland; Steve B Howell; Jon M Jenkins; David W Latham; Jack J Lissauer; Geoffrey W Marcy; David Monet; Jason F Rowe; Dimitar Sasselov; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
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| Early time-series photometry from NASA's Kepler spacecraft has revealed a planet transiting the star we term Kepler-4, at R.A. = 19h02m27.s68, declination = +50 deg 08 min 08 sec.7. The planet has an orbital period of 3.213 days and shows transits with a relative depth of 0.87 x 10(exp -3) and a duration of about 3.95 hr. Radial velocity (RV) measurements from the Keck High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer show a ... |
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| Kepler-6b: A Transiting Hot Jupiter Orbiting a Metal-Rich Star |
20 Apr 2010 |
5 pages |
| Authors:
Edward W Dunham; William J Borucki; David G Koch; Natalie M Batalha; Lars A Buchhave; Timothy M Brown; Douglas A Caldwell; William D Cochran; Michael Endl; Debra Fischer; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
|
| The Kepler Mission was launched on 2009 March 6, to undertake a search for Earth-size planets orbiting in the habitable zones of stars similar to the Sun. Kepler uses the transit photometry approach for this task (Borucki et al. 2010a). Kepler s commissioning process went very well and the system provides data of exceptional photometric quality (Koch et al. 2010a). Indeed, the final commissioning data, 9.7 days of science-like observations ... |
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| Kepler Observations of Transiting Hot Compact Objects |
20 Apr 2010 |
6 pages |
| Authors:
Jason F Rowe; William J Borucki; David Koch; Steve B Howell; Gibor Basri; Natalie Batalha; Timothy M Brown; Douglas Caldwell; William D Cochran; Edward Dunham; David G Monet; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
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| Kepler photometry has revealed two unusual transiting companions: one orbiting an early A-star and the other orbiting a late B-star. In both cases, the occultation of the companion is deeper than the transit. The occultation and transit with follow-up optical spectroscopy reveal a 9400 K early A-star, KOI-74 (KIC 6889235), with a companion in a 5.2 day orbit with a radius of 0.08 solar radius and a 10,000 K late ... |
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| Achieving Milli-Arcsecond Residual Astrometric Error for the JMAPS Mission |
2010 |
7 pages |
| Authors:
Gregory S. Hennessy; Benjamin F. Lane; Dan Veilette; Christopher Dieck; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
|
| The Joint Milliarcsecond Pathfinder Survey (JMAPS) is a small, space-based, all-sky, visible wavelength astrometric and photometric survey mission for 0th through 14th I-band magnitude stars with a planned 2013 launch. The primary objective of the JMAPS mission is the generation of an astrometric star catalog with 1 milliarcsecond (mas) positional accuracy or better, and photometry to the 1% accuracy level or better at 1st to 12th mag. Achieving this level ... |
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| Segue: A Spectroscopic Survey of 240,000 Stars With g = 14-20 |
May-2009 |
24 pages |
| Authors:
Brian Yanny; Coryn A Bailer-Jones; Steve Bastian; Timothy C Beers; Eric Bell; Vasily Belokurov; Dmitry Bizyaev; Norm Blythe; John J Bochanski; SCOTT ANDERSON; Kurt S Anderson; Constance Rockosi; Heidi J Newberg; Gillian R Knapp; Jennifer K Adelman-McCarthy; Bonnie Alcorn; Sahar Allam; Carlos A Prieto; Deokkeun An; William N Boroski; FERMI NATIONAL ACCELERATOR LAB BATAVIA IL
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| The Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE) Survey obtained nearly equal to 240,000 moderate-resolution (R difference 1800) spectra from 3900 Angstrom to 9000 Angstom of fainter Milky Way stars (14.0 g 20.3) of a wide variety of spectral types, both main-sequence and evolved objects, with the goal of studying the kinematics and populations of our Galaxy and its halo. The spectra are clustered in 212 regions spaced over ... |
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| Joint Milli-Arcsecond Pathfinder Survey (JMAPS): Overview and Application to NWO Mission |
11-Mar-2009 |
15 pages |
| Authors:
B Dorland; R Dudik; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
|
| The Joint Milli-Arcsecond Pathfinder Survey (JMAPS) mission is a Department of Navy (DoN) space-based, all-all sky astrometric bright star survey, current set with a 2012 launch date. JMAPS will use a relatively modest aperture, very high accuracy astrometric telescope flown in low earth orbit aboard a microsat. Mission baseline is for a three-year mission life (2012-2015) in a 900 km sun synchonous terminator orbit. JMAPS will produce an all-sky astrometric, ... |
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| Division IV/Commission 26/Working Group. Binary and Multiple System Nomenclature. Triennial report 2006-2009 |
Jan-2009 |
3 pages |
| Authors:
Brian D Mason; William I Hartkopf; Dimitri Pourbaix; Colin D Scarfe; Marion Schmitz; Andrei A Tokovinin; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
|
| The Working Group on Binary and Multiple System Nomenclature was formed within Commission 26 following Special Session 3 held during the 2003 Sydney General Assembly. Its purpose is to create the Washington Multiplicity Catalog, a comprehensive database first introduced at a multi-commission meeting at the IAU XXIV General Assembly in Manchester, 2000. Data are being compiled from the US Naval Observatory visual binary catalogs and supplemented with binary and multiple ... |
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| A Nearby Old Halo White Dwarf Candidate from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey |
Jul-2008 |
8 pages |
| Authors:
Patrick B Hall; Piotr M Kowalski; Hugh C Harris; Akshay Awal; S K Leggett; Mukremin Kilic; Scott F Anderson; Evalyn Gates; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
|
| We report the discovery of a nearby old halo white dwarf (WD) candidate from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). SDSS J110217.48+411315.4 has a proper motion of 1'.75 yr-1 and redder optical colors than all other known featureless (type DC) WDs. We present SDSS imaging and spectroscopy of this object, along with near-infrared photometry obtained at the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT). Fitting its photometry with up-to-date model atmospheres, we ... |
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| Synthetic Spectrum Constraints on a Model of the Cataclysmic Variable QU Carinae |
Jan-2008 |
15 pages |
| Authors:
Albert P Linnell; Patrick Godon; Ivan Hubeny; Edward M Sion; Paula Szkody; Paul E Barrett; WASHINGTON UNIV SEATTLE DEPT OF ASTRONOMY
|
| Neither standard model SEDs nor truncated standard model SEDs fit observed spectra of QU Carinae with acceptable accuracy over the range 900-3000 angstroms. Nonstandard model SEDs fit the observation set accurately. The nonstandard accretion disk models have a hot region extending from the white dwarf to R = 1:36R(sub WD), a narrow intermediate-temperature annulus, and an isothermal remainder to the tidal cutoff boundary. The models include a range of values ... |
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| Exploring the Local Milky Way: M Dwarfs as Tracers of Galactic Populations |
DEC 2007 |
13 pages |
| Authors:
John J. Bochanski; Jeffrey A. Munn; Suzanne L. Hawley; Andrew A. West; Kevin R. Covey; Donald P. Schneider; WASHINGTON UNIV SEATTLE
|
| We have assembled a spectroscopic sample of low-mass dwarfs observed as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey along one Galactic sight line, designed to investigate the observable properties of the thin and thick disks. This sample of ~7400 K and M stars also has measured ugriz photometry, proper motions, and radial velocities. We compute UVW space-motion distributions, and investigate their structure with respect to vertical distance from the Galactic ... |
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| Exploring the Variable Sky with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey |
DEC 2007 |
17 pages |
| Authors:
Branimir Sesar; Zeljko Ivezic; Robert H. Lupton; Mario Juric; James E. Gunn; Gillian R. Knapp; Nathan De Lee; J. A. Smith; Gajus Miknaitis; Huan Lin; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
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| We quantify the variability of faint unresolved optical sources using a catalog based on multiple SDSS imaging observations. The catalog covers SDSS stripe 82, which lies along the celestial equator in the southern Galactic hemisphere (22h24m < J2000:0 < 04h08m, 1:27 < J2000:0 < 1:27 , 290 deg2), and contains 34 million photometric observations in the SDSS ugriz system for 748,084 unresolved sources at high Galactic latitudes (b < 20 ... |
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| Rotational Modulation of M/L Dwarfs Due to Magnetic Spots |
20 OCT 2007 |
5 pages |
| Authors:
C. Lane; G. Hallinan; R. T. Zavala; R. F. Butler; R. P. Boyle; S. Bourke; A. Antonova; J. G. Doyle; F. J. Vrba; A. Golden; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
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| We find periodic I-band variability in two ultracool dwarfs, TVLM 513-46546 and 2MASS J00361617+1821104, on either side of the M/L dwarf boundary. Both of these targets are short-period radio transients, with the detected I-band periods matching those found at radio wavelengths. We attribute the detected I-band periodicities to the periods of rotation of the dwarfs, supported by radius estimates and measured values for the objects. Based on the detected period ... |
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| The Nearby Young Visual Binary HIP 115147 and Its Common Proper Motion Companion LSPM J2322 + 7847 |
20 OCT 2007 |
5 pages |
| Authors:
V. V. Markov; N. Zacharias; G. S. Hennessy; H. C. Harris; A. K. Monet; MICHELSON SCIENCE CENTRE/CALTECH PASADENA CA
|
| We report a late M-type, common proper motion companion to a nearby young visual binary HIP 115147 (V368 Cep), separated by 963 arcsec from the primary K0 dwarf. This optically dim star was identified as a candidate high proper motion, nearby dwarf LSPM J2322 + 7847 by Lepine in 2005. The wide companion is one of the latest post-T Tauri low-mass stars found within 20 pc. We obtain a trigonometric ... |
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| Astrometry With Digital Sky Surveys: From SDSS to LSST |
Oct-2007 |
8 pages |
| Authors:
Z Ivezic; P Pinto; A J Tyson; G R Knapp; J E Gunn; R H Lupton; J A Munn; B Sesar; M Juric; N Bond; D G Monet; K Cook; WASHINGTON UNIV SEATTLE DEPT OF ASTRONOMY
|
| Major advances in our understanding of the Universe have historically come from dramatic improvements in our ability to accurately measure astronomical quantities. The astrometric observations obtained by modern digital sky surveys are enabling unprecedentedly massive and robust studies of the kinematics of the Milky Way. For example, the astrometric data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), together with half a century old astrometry from the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey ... |
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| Sloan Digital Sky Survey Standard Star Catalog for Stripe 82: The Dawn of Industrial 1% Optical Photometry |
SEP 2007 |
27 pages |
| Authors:
Zeljko Ivezic; J. A. Smith; Gajus Miknaitis; Huan Lin; Douglas Tucker; Robert H. Lupton; James E. Gunn; Gillian R. Knapp; Michael A. Strauss; Branimir Sesar; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
|
| We describe a standard star catalog constructed using multiple SDSS photometric observations (at least four per band, with a median of 10) in the ugriz system. The catalog includes 1.01 million nonvariable unresolved objects from the equatorial stripe 82 in the right ascension range and with the corresponding r-band (approximately Johnson V-band) magnitudes in the range 14-22. The distributions of measurements for individual sources demonstrate that the photometric pipeline correctly ... |
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| On the Spectral Evolution of Cool, Helium-Atmosphere White Dwarfs: Detailed Spectroscopic and Photometric Analysis of DZ Stars |
10 JUL 2007 |
19 pages |
| Authors:
P. Dufour; P. Bergeron; James Liebert; H. C. Harris; G. R. Knapp; S. F. Anderson; Patrick B. Hall; Michael A. Strauss; Matthew J. Collinge; Matt C. Edwards; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
|
| We present a detailed analysis of a large spectroscopic and photometric sample of DZ white dwarfs based on our latest model atmosphere calculations. We revise the atmospheric parameters of the trigonometric parallax sample of Bergeron, Leggett, & Ruiz (12 stars) and analyze 147 new DZ white dwarfs discovered in the SDSS. The inclusion of metals and hydrogen in our model atmosphere calculations leads to different atmospheric parameters than those derived ... |
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| Late-Type Near-Contact Eclipsing Binary [HH97] FS AUR-79 |
MAY 2007 |
14 pages |
| Authors:
S. J. Austin; J. W. Robertson; C. Tycner; T. Campbell; R. K. Honeycutt; UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS CONWAY AR DEPT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY
|
| The secondary photometric standard star number 79 for the FS Aur field (Henden & Honeycutt 1997), designated as [HH97] FS Aur-79 (GSC 1874-399) is a short-period (0.2508 days) eclipsing binary whose light curve is a combination of the Beta Lyr and BY Dra type variables. High signal-to-noise ratio multicolor photometry was obtained using the US Naval Observatory 1 m telescope. These light curves show asymmetry at quadrature phases (the O'Connell ... |
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| Measuring Night-Sky Brightness With a Wide-Field CCD Camera |
13 FEB 2007 |
23 pages |
| Authors:
Dan M. Duriscoe; Christian B. Luginbuhl; Chadwick A. Moore; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
|
| We describe a system for rapidly measuring the brightness of the night sky using a mosaic of CCD images obtained with a low-cost automated system. The portable system produces millions of independent photometric measurements covering the entire sky, enabling the detailed characterization of natural sky conditions and light domes produced by cities. The measurements are calibrated using images of standard stars contained within the raw data, producing results closely tracking ... |
|
| Measuring Night-Sky Brightness With a Wild-Field CCD Camera |
FEB 2007 |
23 pages |
| Authors:
Dan M. Duriscoe; Christian B. Luginbuhl; Chadwick A. Moore; NAVAL OBSERVATORY FLAGSTAFF AZ
|
| We describe a system for rapidly measuring the brightness of the night sky using a mosaic of CCD images obtained with a low-cost automated system. The portable system produces millions of independent photometric measurements covering the entire sky, enabling the detailed characterization of natural sky conditions and light domes produced by cities. The measurements are calibrated using images of standard stars contained within the raw data, producing results closely tracking ... |
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| New Ultracool and Halo White Dwarf Candidates in SDSS Stripe 82 |
2007 |
12 pages |
| Authors:
S. Vidrih; D. M. Bramich; P. C. Hewett; N. W. Evans; G. Gilmore; S. Hodgkin; M. Smith; L. Wyrzykowski; V. Belokurov; M. Fellhauer; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
|
| A 2.5 100 region along the celestial equator (Stripe 82) has been imaged repeatedly from 1998 to 2005 by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). A new catalogue of ~4 million light-motion curves, together with over 200 derived statistical quantities, for objects in Stripe 82 brighter than r~21.5 has been constructed by combining these data by Bramich, et al. This catalogue is at present the deepest catalogue of its kind. ... |
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| Optical Reference Star Catalogs for Space Surveillance: Current Status and Future Plans |
2007 |
12 pages |
| Authors:
P. K. Seidelmann; R. Gaume; N. Zacharias; K. Johnston; B. Dorland; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
|
| The current status of existing star catalogs of relevance for Space Surveillance applications will be reviewed. Hipparcos and Tycho 2 provided reference stars with milliarcsecond (mas) accuracies at their epoch of 1991.25. During the 16 years since then, the proper motion uncertainties have reduced the accuracies significantly. Ground-based programs such as the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC) will soon provide an all-sky, astrometrically accurate (20-70 mas) reference star catalog to ... |
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| On the Search for Transits of the Planets Orbiting Gliese 876 |
10 DEC 2006 |
9 pages |
| Authors:
P. D. Shankland; E. J. Rivera; A. Price; F. Ringwald; G. W. Henry; P. McGee; B. Carter; S. Lee; J. Biggs; B. Monard; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
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| We report the results of a globally coordinated photometric campaign to search for transits by the P~30 day and P~60 day outer planets of the three-planet system orbiting the nearby M dwarf Gl 876. These two planets experience strong mutual perturbations, which necessitate the use of a dynamical (four-body) model to compute transit ephemerides for the system. Our photometric data have been collected from published archival sources, as well as ... |
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| Basic Operations Guide to the Analysis of Sulfur Using the Varian 3400 Pulsed Flame Photometric Detector (PFPD) |
NOV 2006 |
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| Authors:
Rachel Moore; DEFENCE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ORGANISATION VICTORIA (AUSTRALIA) HUMAN PROTECTION AND PERFORMANCE DIV
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 | This step-by-step manual is intended to provide instructions for first-time users in the use and maintenance of the Varian 3400 Gas Chromatograph (GC) with Pulsed Flame Photometric Detector (PFPD). The instructions are specific for the analysis of sulfur mustard (HD) in diethyl phthalate (DEP) and are not intended as an exhaustive reference and therefore do not provide any insight into the theory of the PFPD or gas chromatographic principles. The ... |
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| Space-Based Observations of Satellites From the MOST Microsatellite |
NOV 2006 |
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| Authors:
R. L. Scott; B. Wallace; D. Bedard; DEFENCE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CANADA OTTAWA (ONTARIO)
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| On October 12th 2005, Canada's MOST spacecraft acquired Canada's first microsatellitebased observations of a deep space satellite. MOST repeated this success by conducting an observation on a different spacecraft the following day. This report summarizes the experimental setup, access particulars, metric and photometry data. Comparison of the derived orbital metric data with high precision ephemerides yielded root mean square errors of 13 arcseconds. The errors are shown to result largely ... |
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| The Origin Billions Star Survey: Galactic Explorer |
18 OCT 2006 |
16 pages |
| Authors:
K. J. Johnston; B. Dorland; R. Gaume; G. Hennessy; R. Olling; N. Zacharias; B. Behr; M. Efroimsky; A. Hajian; H. Harris; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
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| The Origins Billions Star Survey is a mission concept addressing the astrophysics of extrasolar planets, Galactic structure, the Galactic halo and tidal streams, the Local Group and local supercluster of galaxies, dark matter, star formation, open clusters, the solar system, and the celestial reference frame by determining the position, parallax, and proper motion, as well as photometry, for billions of stars down to 23rd visual magnitude. It is capable of ... |
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| HST BVI Photometry of Triton and Proteus |
15 SEP 2006 |
6 pages |
| Authors:
Dan Pascu; Alex D. Storrs; Eddie N. Wells; John L. Hershey; James R. Rohde; P. K. Seidelmann; Douglas G. Currie; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
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| BVI photometry of Triton and Proteus was derived from HST images taken in 1997. The VEGAMAG photometric technique was used. Triton was found to be brighter by a few percent than observations of the 1970's and 1980's, as expected due to the increasingly greater exposure of the bright south polar region. The leading side was also found to be brighter than the trailing side by 0.09 mag in all filters ... |
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| On the Search for Transits of the Planets Orbiting GL 876 [PREPRINT] |
13 AUG 2006 |
18 pages |
| Authors:
P. D. Shankland; E. J. Rivera; G. Laughlin; D. L. Blank; A. Price; B. Gary; R. Bissinger; F. Ringwald; G. White; G .W. Henry; JAMES COOK UNIV OF NORTH QUEENSLAND TOWNSVILLE (AUSTRALIA)
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| We report the results of a globally coordinated photometric campaign to search for transits by the P~30d and P~60d outer planets of the 3-planet system orbiting the nearby M-dwarf Gl 876. These two planets experience strong mutual perturbations, which necessitate use of a dynamical (four-body) model to compute transit ephemerides for the system. Our photometric data have been collected from published archival sources, as well as from our photometric campaigns ... |
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| Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy of Carbon Stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud |
10 JUL 2006 |
14 pages |
| Authors:
G. C. Sloan; K. E. Kraemer; M. Matsuura; P. R. Wood; S. D. Price; M. P. Egan; AIR FORCE RESEARCH LAB HANSCOM AFB MA SPACE VEHICLES DIRECTORATE
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| We have observed a sample of 36 objects in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) with the Infrared Spectrometer on the Spitzer Space Telescope. Of these sources, 19 are carbon stars. An examination of the near- and mid-infrared photometry shows that the carbon-rich and oxygen-rich dust sources follow two easily separated sequences. A comparison of the spectra of the 19 carbon stars in the SMC to spectra from the Infrared Space ... |
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| Cataclysmic Variables from Sloan Digital Sky Survey. V. The Fifth Year (2004) |
01 FEB 2006 |
12 pages |
| Authors:
Paula Szkody; Arne Henden; Gillian R. Knapp; Gary D. Schmidt; Todd K. Watson; Don Winget; J. C. Barentine; Ronald A. Downes; Eric H. Neilsen; Donald P. Schneider; WASHINGTON UNIV SEATTLE
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| This paper identifies the cataclysmic variables that appear in spectra obtained in 2004 as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Spectra of 41 objects, including seven systems that were previously known (CC Cnc, DW Cnc, PQ Gem, AR UMa, AN UMa, RX J1131.3+4322, and UMa 6) and 34 new cataclysmic variables are presented. The positions and ugriz photometry of all 41 systems are given, as well as additional follow-up ... |
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| Introduction & Overview to Symposium 240: Binary Stars as Critical Tools and Tests in Contemporary Astrophysics |
2006 |
13 pages |
| Authors:
Edward F. Guinan; Petr Harmanec; William Hartkopf; VILLANOVA UNIV PA DEPT OF ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
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| An overview is presented of the many new and exciting developments in binary and multiple star studies that were discussed at IAU Symposium 240. Impacts on binary and multiple star studies from new technologies, techniques, instruments, missions and theory are highlighted. It is crucial to study binary and multiple stars because the vast majority of stars (>60%) in our Galaxy and in other galaxies consist, not of single stars, but ... |
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| The Kepler Mission and Eclipsing Binaries |
2006 |
9 pages |
| Authors:
David Koch; William Borucki; Gibor Basri; Timothy Brown; Douglas Caldwell; Jorgen Christensen-Dalsgaard; William Cochran; Edna DeVore; Edward Dunham; Thomas N. Gautier; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
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| The Kepler Mission is a space-based photometric mission with a differential photometric precision of 14 ppm (at V = 12 for a 6.5 hour transit). It is designed to continuously observe a single field of view (FOV) of greater then 100 square degrees in the Cygnus-Lyra region for four or more years. The primary goal of the mission is to monitor more than one-hundred thousand stars for transits of Earth-size ... |
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| SDSS Spectroscopic Survey of Stars |
2006 |
9 pages |
| Authors:
Z. Ivezic; D. Schlegel; A. Uomoto; N. Bond; T. Beers; C. A. Prieto; R. Wilhelm; Y. S. Lee; T. Sivarani; M. Juric; R. Lupton; NAVAL OBSERVATORY WASHINGTON DC
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| In addition to optical photometry of unprecedented quality, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is also producing a massive spectroscopic database. We discuss determination of stellar parameters, such as effective temperature, gravity and metallicity from SDSS spectra, describe correlations between kinematics and metallicity, and study their variation as a function of the position in the Galaxy. We show that stellar parameter estimates by Beers et al. show a good correlation ... |
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Reports by Keyword(s)
PHOTOMETRY
