Diffuse interstellar bands — an observational review (Review)

Es wird eine Übersicht über Beobachtungsergebnisse hinsichtlich der unidentifizierten diffusen interstellaren Banden (DIB) gegeben. Mit hohem S/A-Verhältnis aufgenommene Spektren erlaubten die Einteilung der DIB in mindestens drei Familien. Ferner konnten Profile der in einer einzelnen interstellaren Wolke entstehenden Linien abgeleitet werden. Die bei weit entfernten Sternen auftretenden DIB lassen eindeutige Doppler-Strukturen erkennen. Die DIB könnten in Wolken geringer Opazität entstehen, wobei der (die) Absorber in dem Fall widerstandsfähig gegen UV-Strahlung sein müßte(n). Der (die) Absorber scheint (scheinen) nicht mit dem die visuelle Extinktion verursachenden Staub identisch zu sein. Beziehungen zwischen den DIB und anderen Größen, die die interstellare Extinktion charakterisieren, werden zusammengestellt.     

Empirical transformations from U.T. to E.T. for the period 1800–1988 (Astronomisches Rechen-Institut — Mitteilungen Serie B)

Approximation formulae describing the long-term changes in the rotation of the Earth are evaluated. The time scale reduction from Universal to Ephemeris Time can be accomplished by a 12th degree polynomial with a mean error of less than one second for the entire time span 1800–1988. The maximum residuals of least squares fits of the 19th and 20th century data, respectively, can be limited to this accuracy by even simpler expressions.     

Interacting Galaxies — the X-ray View

We have selected a complete, flux-limited sample of bright point-like sources with absorbed X-ray spectra from the ROSAT All-Sky survey, the ROSAT Hard Survey (RHS). The sample is drawn from the high-galactic latitude sky, |b^II| > ±30°, and avoids the general direction of the Magellanic Clouds and the Virgo Cluster. It comprises a total of 182 objects of which 118 were previosly catalogued objects and 64 were new AGN candidates. Through optical follow-up studies at La Silla, Calar Alto and the 6m Zelentchuk telescope we could identify 56 of the new objects, thus achieving a spectrscopic completeness of 96% of the sample. The selection strategy turned out to be extremely useful. Out of the new identifications, 84% are indeed active galaxies or emission line galaxies. While 14 objects are new BL Lac candidates 33 of the new AGN are Seyfert galaxies with a redshift distribution in the range 0.021–0.63, peaking at around 0.06, i.e. relatively local. Surprisingly, about 40% of the X-ray selected Seyfert galaxies seem to reside in interacting systems. With smaller selection uncertainties this fraction exceeds the number of paired galaxies in optically selected samples and therefore gives strong support to the idea that AGN activity is triggered by interaction.