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The Metallicity of the Old Open Cluster NGC 6791
We have observed four red clump stars in the very old, metal-rich opencluster NGC 6791 to derive its metallicity using the high-resolutionspectrograph SARG mounted on the Galileo National Telescope (TNG). Usinga spectrum synthesis technique, we obtain an average value of[Fe/H]=+0.47 (+/-0.04, rms=0.08) dex. Our method was tested on μ Leo,a well-studied, metal-rich field giant. We also derive average oxygenand carbon abundances for NGC 6791 from synthesis of [O I] at 6300Å and C2 at 5086 Å, finding [O/Fe]~=-0.3 and[C/Fe]~=-0.2.Based on observations made with the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo(TNG) operated on the island of La Palma by the Fundación GalileoGalilei of the INAF (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica) at the SpanishObservatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisicade Canarias.
| Abundances of Baade's Window Giants from Keck HIRES Spectra. I. Stellar Parameters and [Fe/H] Values
We present the first results of a new abundance survey of the Milky Waybulge based on Keck HIRES spectra of 27 K giants in the Baade's Window(l=1deg, b=-4deg) field. The spectral data used inthis study are of much higher resolution and signal-to-noise ratio thanprevious optical studies of Galactic bulge stars. The [Fe/H] values ofour stars, which range between -1.29 and +0.51, were used to recalibratelarge low-resolution surveys of bulge stars. Our best value for the mean[Fe/H] of the bulge is -0.10+/-0.04. This mean value is similar to themean metallicity of the local disk and indicates that there cannot be astrong metallicity gradient inside the solar circle. The metallicitydistribution of stars confirms that the bulge does not suffer from theso-called G dwarf problem. This paper also details the new abundancetechniques necessary to analyze very metal-rich K giants, including anew Fe line list and regions of low blanketing for continuumidentification.Based on data obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operatedas a scientific partnership among the California Institute ofTechnology, the University of California, and NASA and was made possibleby the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.
| 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.
| Group, field and isolated early-type galaxies - I. Observations and nuclear data
This is the first paper of a series on the investigation of stellarpopulation properties and galaxy evolution of an observationallyhomogeneous sample of early-type galaxies in groups, field and isolatedgalaxies.Here we present high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) long-slit spectroscopyof 86 nearby elliptical and S0 galaxies. Eight of them are isolated,selected according to a rigorous criterion, which guarantees a genuinelow-density subsample. The present survey has the advantage of coveringa larger wavelength range than normally found in the literature, whichincludes [OIII]λ5007 and Hα, both lines important foremission correction. Among the 86 galaxies with S/N >= 15 (perresolution element, for re/8 central aperture), 57 have theirHβ-index corrected for emission (the average correction is 0.190Åin Hβ) and 42 galaxies reveal [OIII]λ5007 emission,of which 16 also show obvious Hα emission. Most of the galaxies inthe sample do not show obvious signs of disturbances nor tidal featuresin the morphologies, although 11 belong to the Arp catalogue of peculiargalaxies; only three of them (NGC 750, 751 and 3226) seem to be stronglyinteracting. We present the measurement of 25 central line-strengthindices calibrated to the Lick/IDS system. Kinematic information isobtained for the sample. We analyse the line-strength index versusvelocity dispersion relations for our sample of mainly low-densityenvironment galaxies, and compare the slope of the relations withcluster galaxies from the literature. Our main findings are that theindex-σ0 relations presented for low-density regionsare not significantly different from those of cluster E/S0s. The slopeof the index-σ0 relations does not seem to change forearly-type galaxies of different environmental densities, but thescatter of the relations seems larger for group, field and isolatedgalaxies than for cluster galaxies.
| UVBLUE: A New High-Resolution Theoretical Library of Ultraviolet Stellar Spectra
We present an extended ultraviolet-blue (850-4700 Å) library oftheoretical stellar spectral energy distributions computed at highresolution, λ/Δλ=50,000. The UVBLUE grid, as wenamed the library, is based on LTE calculations carried out with ATLAS9and SYNTHE codes developed by R. L. Kurucz and consists of nearly 1800entries that cover a large volume of the parameter space. It spans arange in Teff from 3000 to 50,000 K, the surface gravityranges from logg=0.0 to 5.0 with Δlogg=0.5 dex, while sevenchemical compositions are considered:[M/H]=-2.0,-1.5,-1.0,-0.5,+0.0,+0.3, and +0.5 dex. For its coverageacross the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, this library is the mostcomprehensive one ever computed at high resolution in theshort-wavelength spectral range, and useful application can be foreseenfor both the study of single stars and in population synthesis models ofgalaxies and other stellar systems. We briefly discuss some relevantissues for a safe application of the theoretical output to ultravioletobservations, and a comparison of our LTE models with the non-LTE (NLTE)ones from the TLUSTY code is also carried out. NLTE spectra are found,on average, to be slightly ``redder'' compared to the LTE ones for thesame value of Teff, while a larger difference could bedetected for weak lines, which are nearly wiped out by the enhanced coreemission component in case of NLTE atmospheres. These effects seem to bemagnified at low metallicity (typically [M/H]<~-1). A match with aworking sample of 111 stars from the IUE atlas, with availableatmosphere parameters from the literature, shows that UVBLUE modelsprovide an accurate description of the main mid- and low-resolutionspectral features for stars along the whole sequence from the B to ~G5type. The comparison sensibly degrades for later spectral types, withsupergiant stars that are in general more poorly reproduced than dwarfs.As a possible explanation of this overall trend, we partly invoke theuncertainty in the input atmosphere parameters to compute thetheoretical spectra. In addition, one should also consider the importantcontamination of the IUE stellar sample, where the presence of binaryand variable stars certainly works in the sense of artificiallyworsening the match between theory and observations.
| 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.
| Empirically Constrained Color-Temperature Relations. II. uvby
A new grid of theoretical color indices for the Strömgren uvbyphotometric system has been derived from MARCS model atmospheres and SSGsynthetic spectra for cool dwarf and giant stars having-3.0<=[Fe/H]<=+0.5 and 3000<=Teff<=8000 K. Atwarmer temperatures (i.e., 8000-2.0. To overcome thisproblem, the theoretical indices at intermediate and high metallicitieshave been corrected using a set of color calibrations based on fieldstars having well-determined distances from Hipparcos, accurateTeff estimates from the infrared flux method, andspectroscopic [Fe/H] values. In contrast with Paper I, star clustersplayed only a minor role in this analysis in that they provided asupplementary constraint on the color corrections for cool dwarf starswith Teff<=5500 K. They were mainly used to test thecolor-Teff relations and, encouragingly, isochrones thatemploy the transformations derived in this study are able to reproducethe observed CMDs (involving u-v, v-b, and b-y colors) for a number ofopen and globular clusters (including M67, the Hyades, and 47 Tuc)rather well. Moreover, our interpretations of such data are verysimilar, if not identical, with those given in Paper I from aconsideration of BV(RI)C observations for the sameclusters-which provides a compelling argument in support of thecolor-Teff relations that are reported in both studies. Inthe present investigation, we have also analyzed the observedStrömgren photometry for the classic Population II subdwarfs,compared our ``final'' (b-y)-Teff relationship with thosederived empirically in a number of recent studies and examined in somedetail the dependence of the m1 index on [Fe/H].Based, in part, on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope,operated jointly on the island of La Palma by Denmark, Finland, Iceland,Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de losMuchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.Based, in part, on observations obtained with the Danish 1.54 mtelescope at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile.
| Improved Astrometry and Photometry for the Luyten Catalog. II. Faint Stars and the Revised Catalog
We complete construction of a catalog containing improved astrometry andnew optical/infrared photometry for the vast majority of NLTT starslying in the overlap of regions covered by POSS I and by the secondincremental Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) release, approximately 44%of the sky. The epoch 2000 positions are typically accurate to 130 mas,the proper motions to 5.5 mas yr-1, and the V-J colors to0.25 mag. Relative proper motions of binary components are measured to 3mas yr-1. The false-identification rate is ~1% for11<~V<~18 and substantially less at brighter magnitudes. Theseimprovements permit the construction of a reduced proper-motion diagramthat, for the first time, allows one to classify NLTT stars intomain-sequence (MS) stars, subdwarfs (SDs), and white dwarfs (WDs). We inturn use this diagram to analyze the properties of both our catalog andthe NLTT catalog on which it is based. In sharp contrast to popularbelief, we find that NLTT incompleteness in the plane is almostcompletely concentrated in MS stars, and that SDs and WDs are detectedalmost uniformly over the sky δ>-33deg. Our catalogwill therefore provide a powerful tool to probe these populationsstatistically, as well as to reliably identify individual SDs and WDs.
| Keck Spectroscopy of Globular Clusters in the Elliptical Galaxy NGC 3610
We present low-resolution Keck spectra of nine candidate globularclusters in the possible merger-remnant elliptical galaxy NGC 3610.Eight of the objects appear to be bona fide globular clusters of NGC3610. We find that two of the clusters belong to an old metal-poorpopulation, five to an old metal-rich population, and only one to anintermediate-age metal-rich population. The estimated age of theintermediate-age cluster is 1-5 Gyr, which is in agreement with earlierestimates of the merger age and suggests that this cluster was formedduring the merger. However, the presence of five old metal-rich clustersindicates that a substantial number of the metal-rich clusters in NGC3610 likely came from the progenitor galaxies, although the global ratioof old to intermediate-age metal-rich clusters remains very uncertain.
| High resolution spectroscopy over lambda lambda 8500-8750 Å for GAIA. IV. Extending the cool MK stars sample
A library of high resolution spectra of MK standard and reference stars,observed in support to the GAIA mission, is presented. The aim of thispaper is to integrate the MK mapping of Paper I of this series as wellas to consider stars over a wider range of metallicities. Radialvelocities are measured for all the target stars.The spectra are available in electronic form (ASCII format) at CDS viaanonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/406/995 and from the webpage http://ulisse.pd.astro.it/MoreMK/, where further bibliographicalinformation for the target stars is given.
| The photospheric abundances of active binaries. I. Detailed analysis of HD 113816 (IS Vir) and HD 119285 (V851 Cen)
The high-resolution optical spectra of the two X-ray active binaries RSCVn stars HD 113816 (IS Vir) and HD 119285 (V851 Cen) are analysed andtheir Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, Co and Ni contents determined, in theframework of a larger program of chemical analysis of RS CVn stellaratmosphere. The analysis of IS Vir and V851 Cen is performed with threedifferent LTE methods. In the first one, abundances are derived for alarge set of transitions (among which 28 Fe I lines, spanning a broadinterval in excitation potential and equivalent width, and 6 Fe IItransitions) using measured equivalent widths and Kurucz LTE modelatmospheres as input for the MOOG software package. The inputatmospheric parameters and abundances are iteratively modified until (i)the Fe I abundances exhibit no trend with excitation potential orequivalent width, (ii) Fe I and Fe II average abundances are the sameand (iii) Fe and Alpha elements average abundances are consistent withthe input values. The second method follows a similar approach, but usesa restricted line list (without the Fe I ``low excitation potential''transitions) and relies on the B-V and V-I colour indices to determinethe temperature. The third method uses the same restricted line list asthe second method and relies on fitting the 6162 Å Ca I line wingprofiles to derive the surface gravity. The reliability of these methodsis investigated in the context of single line RS CVn stars. It is shownthat the V-I photometric index gives, on a broader sample of stars,significantly cooler estimates of the effective temperature than the B-Vindex. All approaches give results in good agreement with each other,except the V-I based method. The analysis of IS Vir and V851 Cen resultsin both cases in their primaries being giant stars of near-solarmetallicity. Their parameters as derived with the first method arerespectively T_eff = 4720 K, log g = 2.65, [Fe/H] = +0.04 and T_eff =4700 K, log g = 3.0 and [Fe/H] = -0.13. In the case of V851 Cen thederived iron content is significantly higher than a previousdetermination in the literature. Both stars exhibit relativeoverabundances of several elements (e.g. Ca) with respect to the solarmix. Table 2 is only available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org
| A statistical search for supermetallicity in F, G and K stars
High-dispersion and low-resolution data are combined to search forsuper-metal-rich (SMR) FGK stars in the solar neighbourhood and Baade'sWindow. The data are assessed by using statistical analysis, with theirrms errors playing a key role. A star is considered to be SMR if itsvalue of [Fe/H]>+0.2dex, while `borderline' SMR status may beassigned if +0.1<[Fe/H]<=+0.2dex. Borderline SMR status isassigned to μ Leo and three other giants, but no full-fledged SMRgiants are found in either Baade's Window or the solar neighbourhood. Bycontrast, the existence of SMR class IV-V stars turns out to be wellestablished, with values found for [Fe/H] that are as large as ~+0.4dex.It is concluded that this apparent contrast between class IV-V stars andgiants should not be interpreted in astrophysical terms at presentbecause of marked shortcomings in the available data base for giants.Recommendations are made about future research that may cure thisproblem and extend present knowledge about SMR dwarfs.
| Keck Spectroscopy of Young and Old Star Clusters in NGC 1023
We present Keck/LRIS spectra for 11 old globular clusters in the S0-typegalaxy NGC 1023 and two young blue clusters in the nearby companion NGC1023A. Analysis of the spectra of seven old clusters with sufficientsignal-to-noise ratio shows generally good agreement betweenspectroscopic and previous photometric metallicity estimates, but theintegrated colors of two clusters are too blue for their spectroscopicmetallicities. Although the cluster ages are not well constrained, theyare most likely similar to those of Milky Way globular clusters andcertainly older than ~5 Gyr. The brightest globular cluster in thesample shows enhanced cyanogen, possibly indicating an abundance anomalysimilar to that observed in some M31 globular clusters. For the two blueclusters in NGC 1023A we estimate ages between 125 and 500 Myr on thebasis of their strong Balmer lines. The total masses are about8×104 Msolar and 6×104Msolar for a Miller-Scalo initial mass function and Z=0.004,making these objects similar to the young populous clusters in the LargeMagellanic Cloud. It is suggested that the two young clusters might haveformed during a period of enhanced star formation activity in NGC 1023A,stimulated by a close encounter with NGC 1023. Based on data obtained atthe W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientificpartnership among the California Institute of Technology, the Universityof California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
| A catalogue of calibrator stars for long baseline stellar interferometry
Long baseline stellar interferometry shares with other techniques theneed for calibrator stars in order to correct for instrumental andatmospheric effects. We present a catalogue of 374 stars carefullyselected to be used for that purpose in the near infrared. Owing toseveral convergent criteria with the work of Cohen et al.(\cite{cohen99}), this catalogue is in essence a subset of theirself-consistent all-sky network of spectro-photometric calibrator stars.For every star, we provide the angular limb-darkened diameter, uniformdisc angular diameters in the J, H and K bands, the Johnson photometryand other useful parameters. Most stars are type III giants withspectral types K or M0, magnitudes V=3-7 and K=0-3. Their angularlimb-darkened diameters range from 1 to 3 mas with a median uncertaintyas low as 1.2%. The median distance from a given point on the sky to theclosest reference is 5.2degr , whereas this distance never exceeds16.4degr for any celestial location. The catalogue is only available inelectronic form at the 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/393/183
| 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).
| Absolute spectrophotometry of late-type stars.
Not Available
| A Photometric and Spectroscopic Study of Dwarf and Giant Galaxies in the Coma Cluster. III. Spectral Ages and Metallicities
We present a detailed analysis of the spectroscopic catalog of galaxiesin the Coma Cluster from Mobasher et al. (Paper II of the series). Thiscatalog comprises ~300 spectra of cluster members with absolutemagnitudes in the range MB=-20.5 to -14 in two areas of~1×1.5 Mpc toward the center and the southwest region of thecluster. In order to study the star formation and metallicity propertiesof the Coma galaxies as a function of their luminosity and environment,spectral indices of the Lick/IDS system and equivalent widths of theemission lines were measured in the range λ=3600-6600 Å. Inthis paper, the analysis is restricted to the 257 galaxies with noemission lines in their spectra. The strength of the age-sensitiveindices (such as Hβ, HγF, andHδF) is found to correlate with galaxy magnitude overthe whole magnitude range explored in this study. Similarly, themetallicity-sensitive indices (such as Mg2, , andC24668) anticorrelate with magnitude. By comparing theobserved indices with model grids based on the Padova isochrones, wederive luminosity-weighted ages and metallicities. We present thedistributions of ages and metallicities for galaxies in variousmagnitude bins. The mean metallicity decreases with galaxy magnitudeand, at a given luminosity, appears to be generally lower for galaxiesin the southwest region of Coma as compared to the center of thecluster. A broad range of ages, from younger than 3 Gyr to older than 9Gyr, is found in galaxies of any magnitude. However, systematic trendsof age with luminosity are present among galaxies in the central field,including a slight decrease of the mean age for fainter galaxies.Furthermore, in the central Mpc of Coma, a large fraction of galaxies atany luminosity (50%-60% of the giants, more than 30% of the dwarfs) showno evidence in their central regions of star formation occurred atredshift z<2, while the proportion of galaxies with significant starformation occurring at intermediate (0.35
| NGC 3521: Stellar Counter-Rotation Induced by a Bar Component
The spiral galaxy NGC 3521 exhibits apparently normal kinematicproperties of gas and stars along its major axis. However, the analysisof the LOSVD reveals strong asymmetries. A decomposition of the LOSVDdata with a two-Gaussian component model shows two counter-rotatingstellar components. The observed kinematic decoupling is interpreted asa projection effect induced by the presence of a bar component seenalmost end on. The bar produces locally a greater concentration ofretrograde stellar orbits but this does not relate to a specificcounter-rotating population. The signatures of the bar are identified inthe velocity field derived from long-slit spectra obtained along themajor, minor and 45° intermediate axes and from R-band surfacephotometry.
| Statistics and supermetallicity: The metallicity of Mu Leonis
For the often-studied ``SMR'' giant mu Leo, Smith & Ruck(\cite{sr00}) have recently found that [Fe/H] ~ +0.3 dex. Theirconclusion is tested here in a ``statistical'' paradigm, in whichstatistical principles are used to select published high-dispersion muLeo data and assign error bars to them. When data from Smith & Ruckand from Takeda et al. (\cite{tks98}) are added to a data base compiledin 1999, it is found that conclusions from an earlier analysis (Taylor\cite{t99c}) are essentially unchanged: the mean value of [Fe/H] ~ +0.23+/- 0.025 dex, and values <=+0.2 dex are not clearly ruled out at 95%confidence. In addition, the hypothesis that [Fe/H] >= +0.3 dex whichemerges from the Smith-Ruck analysis is formally rejected at 98%confidence. The ``default paradigm'' which is commonly used to assess muLeo data is also considered. The basic characteristics of that paradigmcontinue to be a) unexplained exclusion of statistical analysis, b)inadequately explained deletions from an [Fe/H] data base containingaccordant data, and c) an undefended convention that mu Leo is to have ametallicity of about +0.3 dex or higher. As a result, it seems fair todescribe the Smith-Ruck application and other applications of thedefault paradigm as invalid methods of inference from the data.
| 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
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Lion |
| Right ascension: | 09h52m45.80s |
| Declination: | +26°00'25.0" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 3.88 |
| Distance: | 40.783 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | -216.4 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -54.6 |
| B-T magnitude: | 5.489 |
| V-T magnitude: | 4.013 |
Catalogs and designations:
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INHABITED SKY
