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Elemental abundances in the atmosphere of clump giants
Aims.The aim of this paper is to provide the fundamental parameters andabundances for a large sample of local clump giants with a highaccuracy. This study is a part of a big project, in which the verticaldistribution of the stars in the Galactic disc and the chemical anddynamical evolution of the Galaxy are being investigated. Methods:.The selection of clump stars for the sample group was made applying acolour-absolute magnitude window to nearby Hipparcos stars. Theeffective temperatures were estimated by the line depth ratio method.The surface gravities (log {g}) were determined by two methods (thefirst one was the method based on the ionization balance of iron and thesecond one was the method based on fitting of the wings of the Ca I6162.17 Å line). The abundances of carbon and nitrogen wereobtained from the molecular synthetic spectrum, and the Mg and Naabundances were derived using the non-LTE approximation. The "classical"models of stellar evolution without atomic diffusion androtation-induced mixing were employed. Results: .The atmosphericparameters ({T_eff}, log {g}, [Fe/H], {Vt}) and Li, C, N, O,Na, Mg, Si, Ca, and Ni abundances in 177 clump giants of the Galacticdisc were determined. The underabundance of carbon, overabundance ofnitrogen, and "normal" abundance of oxygen were detected. A small sodiumoverabundance was found. A possibility of a selection of the clumpgiants based on their chemical composition and the evolutionary trackswas explored. Conclusions: .The theoretical predictions based onthe classical stellar evolution models are in good agreement with theobserved surface variations of the carbon and nitrogen just after thefirst dredge-up episode. The giants show the same behaviour of thedependencies of O, Mg, Ca, and Si (α-elements) and Ni (iron-peakelement) abundances vs. [Fe/H] as dwarfs do. This allows us to use suchabundance ratios to study the chemical and dynamical evolution of theGalaxy.
| Precise radial velocities of giant stars. I. Stable stars
Context: .Future astrometric missions such as SIM PlanetQuest need verystable reference stars. K giants have large luminosities, which placethem at large distances and thus the jitter of their photocenters bycompanions is relatively small. Therefore K giants would be best suitedas references. To confirm this observationally a radial velocity surveyis performed to quantify the level of intrinsic variability in Kgiants. Aims: .From this radial velocity survey we present 34 Kgiants with an observed standard deviation of the radial velocity ofless than 20 m/s. These stars are considered "stable" and can be used asradial velocity standards. Methods: .The radial velocity surveycontains 179 K giants. All K giants have a declination between -30°and +65° and visual magnitude of 3{-}6 mag. The CoudéAuxiliary Telescope (CAT) at UCO/Lick Observatory is used to obtainradial velocities with an accuracy of 5{-}8 m/s. The number of epochsfor the 34 stable stars ranges from 11 to 28 with a total timespan ofthe observations between 1800 and a little over 2200 days. Results: .The observational results of the 34 "stable" stars are showntogether with a discussion about their position in the MV vs.B-V diagram and some conclusions concerning the radial velocityvariability of K giants. These results are in agreement with thetheoretical predictions. K giants in a certain range of theMV vs. B-V diagram are suitable reference stars.
| A New Stellar Library in the K Band
Stellar population synthesis models are crucial for the understanding ofthe large amount of data which is being gathered for galaxies at low andhigh redshift, and provide the only way to compare the ``real world''with the theoretical framework. The best models require extensiveempirical stellar spectral libraries, which at present are starting tobe quite complete in the optical range. However the situation isdifferent in the near-infrared, which observational windows have been,until recently, poorly exploited. This is specially due to the lack ofappropriate instrumentation. We present the preliminary results of anongoing observational program aimed to overcome this problem and toprovide a stellar library in the K band with the required coverage ofphysical stellar parameters: effective temperature, gravity, metallicityand non-solar abundance ratios. In particular, the CO feature at 2.3μ m is a very promising spectroscopic line-strength index that willhelp to face outstanding problems in galaxy formation and evolution. Theavailability of this library will be essential to interpret the stellarcontent of composite stellar populations with EMIR. In addition, thislibrary will be also useful for other purposes, like the study of highlyreddened objects, and the spectral classification of late type stars.
| Shapes of Spectral Line Bisectors for Cool Stars
The shape of the line bisector for the prototype spectral line Fe Iλ6253 was measured for an array of 54 stars on the cool half ofthe HR diagram. These bisectors are given in tables along with theirerrors. The classic C shape is shown by only a rather restricted rangein effective temperature and luminosity. The detailed change in bisectorshape with effective temperature and luminosity is documented moreprecisely than in previous work. The most blueward point on the bisectorchanges its height systematically with luminosity and can be used as aluminosity or gravity discriminant. The wide range of bisector shapescontains significant information about the velocity fields in theatmospheres of these stars, but extracting that information may requireextensive modeling.
| CHARM2: An updated Catalog of High Angular Resolution Measurements
We present an update of the Catalog of High Angular ResolutionMeasurements (CHARM, Richichi & Percheron \cite{CHARM}, A&A,386, 492), which includes results available until July 2004. CHARM2 is acompilation of direct measurements by high angular resolution methods,as well as indirect estimates of stellar diameters. Its main goal is toprovide a reference list of sources which can be used for calibrationand verification observations with long-baseline optical and near-IRinterferometers. Single and binary stars are included, as are complexobjects from circumstellar shells to extragalactic sources. The presentupdate provides an increase of almost a factor of two over the previousedition. Additionally, it includes several corrections and improvements,as well as a cross-check with the valuable public release observationsof the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). A total of 8231entries for 3238 unique sources are now present in CHARM2. Thisrepresents an increase of a factor of 3.4 and 2.0, respectively, overthe contents of the previous version of CHARM.The catalog is only available in electronic form at the CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/431/773
| Local kinematics of K and M giants from CORAVEL/Hipparcos/Tycho-2 data. Revisiting the concept of superclusters
The availability of the Hipparcos Catalogue has triggered many kinematicand dynamical studies of the solar neighbourhood. Nevertheless, thosestudies generally lacked the third component of the space velocities,i.e., the radial velocities. This work presents the kinematic analysisof 5952 K and 739 M giants in the solar neighbourhood which includes forthe first time radial velocity data from a large survey performed withthe CORAVEL spectrovelocimeter. It also uses proper motions from theTycho-2 catalogue, which are expected to be more accurate than theHipparcos ones. An important by-product of this study is the observedfraction of only 5.7% of spectroscopic binaries among M giants ascompared to 13.7% for K giants. After excluding the binaries for whichno center-of-mass velocity could be estimated, 5311 K and 719 M giantsremain in the final sample. The UV-plane constructed from these datafor the stars with precise parallaxes (σπ/π≤20%) reveals a rich small-scale structure, with several clumpscorresponding to the Hercules stream, the Sirius moving group, and theHyades and Pleiades superclusters. A maximum-likelihood method, based ona Bayesian approach, has been applied to the data, in order to make fulluse of all the available stars (not only those with precise parallaxes)and to derive the kinematic properties of these subgroups. Isochrones inthe Hertzsprung-Russell diagram reveal a very wide range of ages forstars belonging to these groups. These groups are most probably relatedto the dynamical perturbation by transient spiral waves (as recentlymodelled by De Simone et al. \cite{Simone2004}) rather than to clusterremnants. A possible explanation for the presence of younggroup/clusters in the same area of the UV-plane is that they have beenput there by the spiral wave associated with their formation, while thekinematics of the older stars of our sample has also been disturbed bythe same wave. The emerging picture is thus one of dynamical streamspervading the solar neighbourhood and travelling in the Galaxy withsimilar space velocities. The term dynamical stream is more appropriatethan the traditional term supercluster since it involves stars ofdifferent ages, not born at the same place nor at the same time. Theposition of those streams in the UV-plane is responsible for the vertexdeviation of 16.2o ± 5.6o for the wholesample. Our study suggests that the vertex deviation for youngerpopulations could have the same dynamical origin. The underlyingvelocity ellipsoid, extracted by the maximum-likelihood method afterremoval of the streams, is not centered on the value commonly acceptedfor the radial antisolar motion: it is centered on < U > =-2.78±1.07 km s-1. However, the full data set(including the various streams) does yield the usual value for theradial solar motion, when properly accounting for the biases inherent tothis kind of analysis (namely, < U > = -10.25±0.15 kms-1). This discrepancy clearly raises the essential questionof how to derive the solar motion in the presence of dynamicalperturbations altering the kinematics of the solar neighbourhood: doesthere exist in the solar neighbourhood a subset of stars having no netradial motion which can be used as a reference against which to measurethe solar motion?Based on observations performed at the Swiss 1m-telescope at OHP,France, and on data from the ESA Hipparcos astrometry satellite.Full Table \ref{taba1} is only available in electronic form at the CDSvia anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/430/165}
| Some processes of mixing in the atmospheres of cold giants. observed evidence of burning of hydrogen
Some atmosphere parameters (Teff, lgg, [Fe/H], Vt)and the abundances of 21 elements for 19 giants of the disk aredetermined. The gravity is determined through three methods, namely, bycondition of ionization balance for atoms of iron, with the use ofparallaxes (and masses) and the adjustment of wings of the Ca I λ616.217 nm line. The abundances of the carbon, nitrogen and oxygen aredetermined from a molecular synthetic spectrum, the abundances of themagnesium and natrium are deduced in the assumption of NLTE, and theabundance of europium is determined from a sophisticated considerationof hyperfine structure. The study of the evidence of stellar evolutionand mixing in the stellar atmospheres is carried out. The average valuesfor the abundances of elements of the CNO-group are obtained. They pointto the underabundance of the carbon, overabundance of nitrogen and"normal" abundance of the oxygen, which is indicative of the reactionsof the CNO-cycle of hydrogen burning and subsequent transfer of theenriched material on a surface. A small surplus of the natrium and atrend of its abundance with lgg are found. A similar trend is revealedin the case of the nitrogen as well. This, probably, points to reactionsof burning of hydrogen also in NeNa-cycle where additional Ne can beobtained during a number of transformations from nitrogen.
| Determination of fundamental characteristics for stars of the F, G, and K spectral types. The surface gravities and metallicity parameters.
Not Available
| The Indo-US Library of Coudé Feed Stellar Spectra
We have obtained spectra for 1273 stars using the 0.9 m coudéfeed telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. This telescope feedsthe coudé spectrograph of the 2.1 m telescope. The spectra havebeen obtained with the no. 5 camera of the coudé spectrograph anda Loral 3K×1K CCD. Two gratings have been used to provide spectralcoverage from 3460 to 9464 Å, at a resolution of ~1 Å FWHMand at an original dispersion of 0.44 Å pixel-1. For885 stars we have complete spectra over the entire 3460 to 9464 Åwavelength region (neglecting small gaps of less than 50 Å), andpartial spectral coverage for the remaining stars. The 1273 stars havebeen selected to provide broad coverage of the atmospheric parametersTeff, logg, and [Fe/H], as well as spectral type. The goal ofthe project is to provide a comprehensive library of stellar spectra foruse in the automated classification of stellar and galaxy spectra and ingalaxy population synthesis. In this paper we discuss thecharacteristics of the spectral library, viz., details of theobservations, data reduction procedures, and selection of stars. We alsopresent a few illustrations of the quality and information available inthe spectra. The first version of the complete spectral library is nowpublicly available from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory(NOAO) via ftp and http.
| Synthetic Lick Indices and Detection of α-enhanced Stars. II. F, G, and K Stars in the -1.0 < [Fe/H] < +0.50 Range
We present an analysis of 402 F, G, and K solar neighborhood stars, withaccurate estimates of [Fe/H] in the range -1.0 to +0.5 dex, aimed at thedetection of α-enhanced stars and at the investigation of theirkinematical properties. The analysis is based on the comparison of 571sets of spectral indices in the Lick/IDS system, coming from fourdifferent observational data sets, with synthetic indices computed withsolar-scaled abundances and with α-element enhancement. We useselected combinations of indices to single out α-enhanced starswithout requiring previous knowledge of their main atmosphericparameters. By applying this approach to the total data set, we obtain alist of 60 bona fide α-enhanced stars and of 146 stars withsolar-scaled abundances. The properties of the detected α-enhancedand solar-scaled abundance stars with respect to their [Fe/H] values andkinematics are presented. A clear kinematic distinction betweensolar-scaled and α-enhanced stars was found, although a one-to-onecorrespondence to ``thin disk'' and ``thick disk'' components cannot besupported with the present data.
| High-Precision Stellar Radial Velocities in the Galactic Center
We present radial velocities for 85 cool stars projected onto thecentral parsec of the Galaxy. The majority of these velocities haverelative errors of ~1 km s-1, or a factor of ~30-100 smallerthan those previously obtained with proper-motion or other radialvelocity measurements for a similar stellar sample. The error in atypical individual stellar velocity, including all sources ofuncertainty, is 1.7 km s-1. Two similar data sets wereobtained 1 month apart, and the total error in the relative velocitiesis 0.80 km s-1 in the case where an object is common to bothdata sets. The data are used to characterize the velocity distributionof the old population in the Galactic center. We find that the starshave a Gaussian velocity distribution with a mean heliocentric velocityof -10.1+/-11.0 km s-1 (blueshifted) and a standard deviationof 100.9+/-7.7 km s-1 the mean velocity of the sample isconsistent with no bulk line-of-sight motion with respect to the localstandard of rest. At the 1 σ level, the data are consistent with asymmetric velocity distribution about any arbitrary axis in the plane ofthe sky. We find evidence for a flattening in the distribution oflate-type stars within a radius of ~0.4 pc and infer a volume densitydistribution of r-1/4 in this region. Finally, we establish afirst epoch of radial velocity measurements that can be compared withsubsequent epochs to measure small accelerations (1 km s-1yr-1), corresponding to the magnitude expected over a timespan of several years for stars nearest to Sgr A*.Data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, whichis operated as a scientific partnership among the California Instituteof Technology, the University of California, and the NationalAeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possibleby the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.
| The Evolutionary State of Stars in the NGC 1333S Star Formation Region
We present 2 μm near-IR spectroscopic observations of a sample of 33objects in the NGC 1333S active star-forming cluster centered on thepre-main-sequence star SSV 13. We have previously studied this regionphotometrically in the optical and near-IR, and with the addition ofthese near-IR spectra, we further probe the pre-main-sequence clustermembership and evolutionary state. From the atomic and molecularabsorption features observed, together with the earlier photometry, wederive spectral types, effective temperatures, masses, and ages of thestars and conclude that almost all (90%) the stars observed in thissample are pre-main-sequence objects. This result significantly refinesthe evolutionary information obtained from photometric evidence alone.Comparison with theoretical evolutionary tracks and isochrones suggeststhat our survey has sampled sources with masses in the range 0.2-2Msolar and stellar ages between 7×104 and1×108 yr with a preponderance of sources around3×106 yr. This implies the presence of low- tointermediate-mass T Tauri stars of evolutionary designation Class I toClass III. We conclude that star formation seems to have occurred inlikely several bursts rather than occurring coevally. Star formation insuch a region as NGC 1333S is likely significantly affected by the largenumber of active molecular outflows in the region, which could provide amechanism for cloud turbulence and the onset of subsequent starformation.
| Line Absorption as a Metallicity Index for Giant Stars
The fraction of light removed from a star's spectrum by the spectrallines, the line absorption, is shown to be a precise empirical indicatorof metallicity. We measured the line absorption in 89 class III giantstars in a 42.5 Å window between 6219.0 and 6261.5 Å andthen calibrated these values against published metallicities. We showthat the line absorption can be measured precisely enough to improve themetallicity precision about fivefold over the original calibrationmetallicities, reaching a precision of 0.01 dex in favorable cases.
| Spectroscopic binary orbits from photoelectric radial velocities. Paper 163: HD 213503/4 and HD 220636/7 with a conjecture concerning gamma Cephei
Not Available
| Empirical calibration of the near-infrared Ca II triplet - III. Fitting functions
Using a near-infrared stellar library of 706 stars with a wide coverageof atmospheric parameters, we study the behaviour of the CaII tripletstrength in terms of effective temperature, surface gravity andmetallicity. Empirical fitting functions for recently definedline-strength indices, namely CaT*, CaT and PaT, are provided. Thesefunctions can be easily implemented into stellar population models toprovide accurate predictions for integrated CaII strengths. We alsopresent a thorough study of the various error sources and their relationto the residuals of the derived fitting functions. Finally, the derivedfunctional forms and the behaviour of the predicted CaII are comparedwith those of previous works in the field.
| Adaptive Optics Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of the Sagittarius A* Cluster
We present K-band λ/Δλ~2600 spectroscopy of fivestars (K~14-16 mag) within 0.5" of Sgr A*, the radio source associatedwith the compact massive object suspected to be a2.6×106Msolar black hole at the center ofour Galaxy. High spatial resolution of ~0.09" and good Strehl ratios of~0.2 achieved with adaptive optics on the 10 m Keck telescope make itpossible to measure moderate-resolution spectra of these starsindividually for the first time. Two stars (S0-17 and S0-18) areidentified as late-type stars by the detection of CO band headabsorption in their spectra. Their absolute K magnitudes and CO bandhead absorption strengths are consistent with early K giants. Threestars (S0-1, S0-2, and S0-16) with rproj<0.0075 pc (~0.2")from Sgr A* lack CO band head absorption, confirming the results ofearlier lower spectral and lower spatial resolution observations thatthe majority of the stars in the Sgr A* cluster are early-type stars.The absolute K magnitudes of the early-type stars suggest that they arelate O, early B main-sequence stars of ages less than 20 Myr. Thepresence of young stars in the Sgr A* cluster so close to the centralsupermassive black hole poses the intriguing problem of how these starscould have formed or could have been brought within its strong tidalfield.
| CHARM: A Catalog of High Angular Resolution Measurements
The Catalog of High Angular Resolution Measurements (CHARM) includesmost of the measurements obtained by the techniques of lunaroccultations and long-baseline interferometry at visual and infraredwavelengths, which have appeared in the literature or have otherwisebeen made public until mid-2001. A total of 2432 measurements of 1625sources are included, along with extensive auxiliary information. Inparticular, visual and infrared photometry is included for almost allthe sources. This has been partly extracted from currently availablecatalogs, and partly obtained specifically for CHARM. The main aim is toprovide a compilation of sources which could be used as calibrators orfor science verification purposes by the new generation of largeground-based facilities such as the ESO Very Large Interferometer andthe Keck Interferometer. The Catalog is available in electronic form atthe CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/386/492, and from theauthors on CD-Rom.
| Lick Spectral Indices for Super-Metal-rich Stars
We present Lick spectral indices for a complete sample of 139 candidatesuper-metal-rich stars of different luminosity classes (MK type from Ito V). For 91 of these stars we were able to identify, in anaccompanying paper, the fundamental atmosphere parameters. This confirmsthat at least 2/3 of the sample consists of stars with [Fe/H] in excessof +0.1 dex. Optical indices for both observations and fiducialsynthetic spectra have been calibrated to the Lick system according toWorthey et al. and include the Fe I indices of Fe5015, Fe5270, andFe5335 and the Mg I and MgH indices of Mg2 and Mg b at 5180Å. The internal accuracy of the observations is found to beσ(Fe5015)=+/-0.32 Å, σ(Fe5270)=+/-0.19 Å,σ(Fe5335)=+/-0.22 Å, σ(Mg2)=+/-0.004 mag,and σ(Mg b)=+/-0.19 Å. This is about a factor of 2 betterthan the corresponding theoretical indices from the synthetic spectra,the latter being a consequence of the intrinsic limitations in the inputphysics, as discussed by Chavez et al. By comparing models andobservations, we find no evidence for nonstandard Mg versus Fe relativeabundance, so [Mg/Fe]=0, on the average, for our sample. Both theWorthey et al. and Buzzoni et al. fitting functions are found tosuitably match the data and can therefore confidently be extended forpopulation synthesis application also to supersolar metallicity regimes.A somewhat different behavior of the two fitting sets appears, however,beyond the temperature constraints of our stellar sample. Its impact onthe theoretical output is discussed, as far as the integratedMg2 index is derived from synthesis models of stellaraggregates. A two-index plot, such as Mg2 versus Fe5270, isfound to provide a simple and powerful tool for probing distinctiveproperties of single stars and stellar aggregates as a whole. The majoradvantage, over a classical CM diagram, is that it is both reddeningfree and distance independent. Based on observations collected at theInstituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Optica y Electrónica(INAOE) ``G. Haro'' Observatory, Cananea (Mexico).
| Line-Depth Ratios: Temperature Indices for Giant Stars
Ratios of the depths of appropriately chosen spectral lines are shown tobe excellent indicators of stellar temperatures for giant stars in theG3 to K3 spectral type range. We calibrate five line-depth ratiosagainst B-V and R-I color indices and then translate these intotemperatures. Our goal is to set up line-depth ratios to (1) accuratelymonitor any temperature variations of a few degrees or less that mayoccur during magnetic cycles or oscillations and (2) rank giantsprecisely on a temperature coordinate. This is not an absolutecalibration of stellar temperatures. We show how giant spectra can bemisleading because of the complex dependences of spectral lines onmetallicity and absolute magnitude as well as temperature, and it isessential to make corrections to accommodate these complications. Thefive line-depth ratios we use yield precision for monitoring, i.e.,detecting temperature variations, of 4 K from a single exposure. Rankinggiants by temperature can be done with errors of ~25 K but could beimproved with better determinations of the metallicity andabsolute-magnitude corrections.
| Empirical calibration of the near-infrared Ca ii triplet - I. The stellar library and index definition
A new stellar library at the near-IR spectral region developed for theempirical calibration of the Caii triplet and stellar populationsynthesis modelling is presented. The library covers the rangeλλ8348-9020 at 1.5-Å (FWHM) spectral resolution, andconsists of 706 stars spanning a wide range in atmospheric parameters.We have defined a new set of near-IR indices, CaT*, CaT and PaT, whichmostly overcome the limitations of previous definitions, the formerbeing specially suited for the measurement of the Caii triplet strengthcorrected for the contamination from Paschen lines. We also present acomparative study of the new and the previous Ca indices, as well as thecorresponding transformations between the different systems. A thoroughanalysis of the sources of index errors and the procedure to calculatethem is given. Finally, index and error measurements for the wholestellar library are provided together with the final spectra.
| Absolute spectrophotometry of late-type stars.
Not Available
| High-Resolution Spectroscopic Observations of Hipparcos Red Clump Giants: Metallicity and Mass Determinations
We obtain high-resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio spectra of 39red clump giants selected from the Hipparcos Catalogue. We determinetheir atmospheric parameters, iron abundances, α-elementenhancements, and masses. We find that the sample can be divided into ametal-poor group and a metal-rich group. The majority of the stars aremetal-rich (Z>0.3 Zsolar) with mass around 2Msolar, while the metal-poor group has lower surface gravityand lower mass. The variation of α-element abundances with [Fe/H]agrees with that of local G and K disk dwarfs. We also show that themetallicity is weakly correlated with the I-band absolute magnitude andthe V-I color, in agreement with Udalski's recent findings. We make thehigh-resolution spectra available over the internet for interestedreaders.
| On the Wilson-Bappu relationship in the Mg II k line
An investigation is carried out on the Wilson-Bappu effect in the Mg Iik line at 2796.34 Å. The work is based on a selection of 230 starsobserved by both the IUE and HIPPARCOS satellites, covering a wide rangeof spectral types (F to M) and absolute visual magnitudes (-5.4<=MV <=9.0). A semi-automatic procedure is used to measurethe line widths, which applies also in the presence of strong centralabsorption reversal. The Wilson-Bappu relationship here provided isconsidered to represent an improvement over previous recent results forthe considerably larger data sample used, as well as for a properconsideration of the measurement errors. No evidence has been found fora possible dependence of the WB effect on stellar metallicity andeffective temperature.
| Kinematic properties of gas and stars in 20 disc galaxies
Ionized gas and stellar kinematical parameters have been measured alongthe major axis of 20 nearby disc galaxies. We discuss the properties ofeach sample galaxy, distinguishing between those characterized byregular or peculiar kinematics. In early-type disc galaxies, ionized gastends to rotate faster than stars and to have a lower velocitydispersion (Vg > Vstar and sigmag< sigmastar), whereas in late-type spirals, gas andstars show almost the same rotation velocities and velocity dispersions(Vg =~ Vstar and sigmag =~sigmastar ). Incorporating the early-type disc galaxiesstudied by Bertola et al. (1995), Fisher (1997) and Corsini et al.(1999), we have compiled a sample of some 40 galaxies for which themajor-axis radial profiles of both the stellar and gaseous componentshave been measured. The value of sigmastar measured atRe/4 turns out to be strongly correlated with the galaxymorphological type, while sigmag is not and sometimes takesvalues above the range expected from thermal motions or small-scaleturbulence. Based on observations carried out at the European SouthernObservatory, at the Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory, at theObservatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, at the Observatorio del Teide,and at the Mount Graham International Observatory. Tables 5 and 6 areonly available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/374/394
| Catalogue of Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (CADARS) - Third edition - Comments and statistics
The Catalogue, available at the Centre de Données Stellaires deStrasbourg, consists of 13 573 records concerning the results obtainedfrom different methods for 7778 stars, reported in the literature. Thefollowing data are listed for each star: identifications, apparentmagnitude, spectral type, apparent diameter in arcsec, absolute radiusin solar units, method of determination, reference, remarks. Commentsand statistics obtained from CADARS are given. The Catalogue isavailable in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcar?J/A+A/367/521
| The proper motions of fundamental stars. I. 1535 stars from the Basic FK5
A direct combination of the positions given in the HIPPARCOS cataloguewith astrometric ground-based catalogues having epochs later than 1939allows us to obtain new proper motions for the 1535 stars of the BasicFK5. The results are presented as the catalogue Proper Motions ofFundamental Stars (PMFS), Part I. The median precision of the propermotions is 0.5 mas/year for mu alpha cos delta and 0.7mas/year for mu delta . The non-linear motions of thephotocentres of a few hundred astrometric binaries are separated intotheir linear and elliptic motions. Since the PMFS proper motions do notinclude the information given by the proper motions from othercatalogues (HIPPARCOS, FK5, FK6, etc.) this catalogue can be used as anindependent source of the proper motions of the fundamental stars.Catalogue (Table 3) is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strastg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/365/222
| Observations and Atmospheric Parameters of Super-Metal-rich Candidates
The spectroscopic properties of a sample of 92 Population I bright stars(V<8) with literature values of [Fe/H]>=+0.1 are reviewed in orderto study the metallicity scale at supersolar regimes. For 73 of thesecandidate super-metal-rich (SMR) stars we identified the photosphericfiducial parameters (Teff, logg, [M/H]) from among publishedparameter sets via a comparison of new observations in the wavelengthrange 5034-5398 Å with synthetic spectra derived from the 1997database of Chavez et al. As a main issue in our analysis, we find thata ``genuine'' SMR stellar component in the Galactic disk exists withmore than one-fourth of the stars in our sample fulfilling the criterion[Fe/H]>=0.2 dex, and three of them as rich as [Fe/H]>+0.4 dex.Based on observations collected at the INAOE ``G. Haro'' Observatory,Cananea (Mexico).
| K-Band Calibration of the Red Clump Luminosity
The average near-infrared (K-band) luminosity of 238 Hipparcos red clumpgiants is derived and then used to measure the distance to the Galacticcenter. These Hipparcos red clump giants have been previously employedas I-band standard candles. The advantage of the K-band is a decreasedsensitivity to reddening and perhaps a reduced systematic dependence onmetallicity. In order to investigate the latter, and also to refer ourcalibration to a known metallicity zero point, we restrict our sample ofred clump calibrators to those with abundances derived fromhigh-resolution spectroscopic data. The mean metallicity of the sampleis [Fe/H]=-0.18 dex (σ=0.17 dex). The data are consistent with nocorrelation between MK and [Fe/H] and only weakly constrainthe slope of this relation. The luminosity function of the sample peaksat MK=-1.61+/-0.03 mag. Next, we assemble published opticaland near-infrared photometry for ~20 red clump giants in a Baade'swindow field with a mean metallicity of [Fe/H]=-0.17+/-0.09 dex, whichis nearly identical to that of the Hipparcos red clump. Assuming thatthe average (V-I)0 and (V-K)0 colors of these twored clumps are the same, the extinctions in the Baade's window field arefound to be AV=1.56, AI=0.87, andAK=0.15, in agreement with previous estimates. We derive thedistance to the Galactic center: (m-M)0=14.58+/-0.11 mag, orR=8.24+/-0.42 kpc. The uncertainty in this distance measurement isdominated by the small number of Baade's window red clump giantsexamined here.
| 2 Micron Spectroscopy within 0.3" of Sagittarius A*
We present moderate- (R~2700) and high-resolution (R~22,400) 2.0-2.4μm spectroscopy of the central 0.1 arcsec2 of the Galaxyobtained with the facility near-infrared spectrometer (NIRSPEC) for theKeck II telescope. The composite spectra do not have any featuresattributable to the brightest stars in the central cluster; i.e., afterbackground subtraction, W12CO(2-0)<2 Å.This stringent limit leads us to conclude that the majority, if not all,of the stars are hotter than typical red giants. Coupled with previouslyreported photometry, we conclude that the sources are likely OBmain-sequence stars. In addition, the continuum slope in the compositespectrum is bluer than that of a red giant and is similar to that of thenearby hot star IRS 16NW. It is unlikely that they are late-type giantsstripped of their outer envelopes because such sources would be muchfainter than those observed. Given their inferred youth(τage<20 Myr), we suggest the possibility that thestars have formed within 0.1 pc of the supermassive black hole. We finda newly identified broad-line component (VFWHM~1000 kms-1) toward the 2.2178 μm [Fe III] line located within afew arcseconds of Sagittarius A*. A similar component is not seen in theBrγ emission. Data presented herein were obtained at the W. M.Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership amongthe California Institute of Technology, the University of California.and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatorywas made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. KeckFoundation.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Cepheus |
| Right ascension: | 22h49m40.80s |
| Declination: | +66°12'02.0" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 3.52 |
| Distance: | 35.373 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | -65.9 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -124.4 |
| B-T magnitude: | 4.837 |
| V-T magnitude: | 3.611 |
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