Contribution to the ground-based follow-up of the Gaia space mission

The Gaia Space Mission [Mignard, F., 2005. The three-dimensional universe with Gaia. ESA/SP-576; Perryman, M., 2005. The three-dimensional universe with Gaia. ESA/SP-576] will observe several transient events as supernovae, microlensing, gamma ray bursts and new Solar System objects. The satellite, due to its scanning law, will detect these events but will not be able to monitor them. So, to take these events into consideration and to perform further studies it is necessary to follow them with Earth-based observations. These observations could be efficiently done by a ground-based network of well-equipped telescopes scattered in both hemispheres.Here we focus our attention at the new Solar System objects to be discovered and observed by the Gaia satellite [Mignard, F., 2002. Observations of Solar System objects by Gaia I. Detection of NEOS. Astron. Astrophys. 393, 727] mainly asteroids, NEOs and comets. A dedicated ground-based network of telescopes as proposed by Thuillot [2005. The three-dimensional universe with Gaia. ESA/SP-576] will allow to monitor those events, to avoid losing them and to perform a quick characterization of some physical properties which will be important for the identification of these objects in further measurements by Gaia.We present in this paper, the beginning of the organization of a Latin-American ground-based network of telescopes and observers joining several institutions in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and other Latin-American countries aiming to contribute to the follow-up of Gaia science alerts for Solar System objects.     

Multi-star System Observations Based on the Direct-imaging Method

The direct-imaging exploration can obtain comprehensive physical information of exoplanets, which is a key technology to search for extraterrestrial life in the future. In this paper, based on our recent high-contrast imaging data of ground-based telescope, the newly discovered multi-star candidates are presented. In the early stage, combined with the ability of high-contrast imaging equipment for the exoplanets in the ground-based system, we select about 1000 targets from published works which are compiled using the catalogs released by Gaia. These targets are distributed in different young star clusters. Recently, we used Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory to carry out high-contrast imaging observation on 42 of the above targets in the K-band. Most of the observed targets are 7.5–14 in the V-band. In 2019, after two rounds of observation, we discover six multi-star system candidates. It is however difficult to find out whether these targets are single-star or multi-star systems in Gaia DR2 (Data Release 2) catalog and Gaia EDR3 (early Data Release 3) catalog.     

Standard candles from the Gaia perspective

The ESA Gaia mission will bring a new era to the domain of standard candles. Progresses in this domain will be achieved thanks to unprecedented astrometric precision, whole-sky coverage and the combination of photometric, spectrophotometric and spectroscopic measurements. The fundamental outcome of the mission will be the Gaia catalogue produced by the Gaia Data Analysis and Processing Consortium (DPAC), which will contain a variable source classification and specific properties for stars of specific variability types. We review what will be produced for Cepheids, RR Lyrae, Long Period Variable stars and eclipsing binaries.     

Three new late-type hypervelocity star candidates from Gaia DR2 with refined selection criteria

Several dozen hypervelocity star(HVS) candidates have been reported based on the second data release of Gaia(Gaia DR2). However, it has been proven that the radial velocities of some Gaia HVS candidates are not reliable. In this paper, we employ refined astrometric criteria to re-examine Gaia DR2,arriving at a more reliable sample of HVS and high velocity star candidates than those found by previous authors. We develop a method called Binary Escape Probability Analysis to identify some HVS candidates.This method allows us to work with stars having only two epochs of measured radial velocity. These stars were usually discarded in previous similar studies. A scrutiny of our final results sheds light on selection effects present in our studies, which we propose to be the focus of future studies. In total, we find three late-type(2 G-type and 1 K-type) HVS and 21 high velocity star candidates, 3 and 11 of which are new,respectively. Judging by their historical trajectories, which we calculate, all three HVS candidates could not have had Galactic center origins. Further monitoring is required to confirm their status.     

Using Java for distributed computing in the Gaia satellite data processing

In recent years Java has matured to a stable easy-to-use language with the flexibility of an interpreter (for reflection etc.) but the performance and type checking of a compiled language. When we started using Java for astronomical applications around 1999 they were the first of their kind in astronomy. Now a great deal of astronomy software is written in Java as are many business applications. We discuss the current environment and trends concerning the language and present an actual example of scientific use of Java for high-performance distributed computing: ESA’s mission Gaia. The Gaia scanning satellite will perform a galactic census of about 1,000 million objects in our galaxy. The Gaia community has chosen to write its processing software in Java. We explore the manifold reasons for choosing Java for this large science collaboration. Gaia processing is numerically complex but highly distributable, some parts being embarrassingly parallel. We describe the Gaia processing architecture and its realisation in Java. We delve into the astrometric solution which is the most advanced and most complex part of the processing. The Gaia simulator is also written in Java and is the most mature code in the system. This has been successfully running since about 2005 on the supercomputer “Marenostrum” in Barcelona. We relate experiences of using Java on a large shared machine. Finally we discuss Java, including some of its problems, for scientific computing.     

Dynamical attitude model for Gaia

The Dynamical Attitude Model (DAM) is a simulation package developed to achieve a detailed understanding of the Gaia spacecraft attitude. It takes into account external physical effects and considers internal hardware components controlling the satellite. The main goal of the Gaia mission is to obtain extremely accurate astrometry, and this necessitates a good knowledge of Gaia’s behaviour as a spinning rigid body under the influence of various perturbations. This paper describes these perturbations and how they are modelled in DAM.     

第二个天体测量卫星(Gaia)项目的进展

简述了第二个天体测量卫星Gaia(将于2013年3月发射)项目的科学意义,并给出了该项目的组织工作和最近的进展.描述了Gala观测资料处理的基本原理,以及与依巴谷观测资料处理的不同点.介绍了Gaia参考架构建的考虑,以及为了构建微角秒量级的参考架,应在自行中加入系统差改正,如长期光行差、引力波效应、宇宙膨胀各向异性的影响,弱的微引力透镜和微引力透镜噪声效应等.介绍了Gaia光学参考架与射电参考架ICRFL2之间建立联系过程中,选择河外射电源的准则,其中包括源的核漂移和光学长期变化监测等.最后,提出了我国现有设备参与支持Gaia的地基观测,以及正在研制的65 m射电天线在射电天体测量方面可以开展的若干课题.     

基于直接成像法的多星系统观测

系外行星直接成像探测能够获取系外行星更全面的物理信息,是未来搜寻系外生命的关键技术之一.针对近期地基望远镜高对比度成像观测数据,对新发现的多星候选体进行系统展示.前期,结合地基系外行星高对比度成像设备观测能力,从已发表文献整理的Gaia星表恒星数据中筛选,得到约1000个观测目标.这些目标分布于不同的年轻星团中.近期,使用Palomar天文台Hale望远镜对上述观测目标中的42个目标在K波段开展了高对比度成像观测.这些目标恒星在可见光波段为7.5-14.2019年经过两轮观测,发现了6个多星系统候选体,这些目标在Gaia Data Release 2星表和Gaia early Data Release 3星表中难以确认是单星还是多星系统.     

Simulating Gaia performances on white dwarfs

One of the most promising space missions of the European Space Agency is the astrometric satellite Gaia , which will provide very precise astrometry and multicolour photometry, for all 1.3 billion objects to   V ∼ 20  , and radial velocities with accuracies of a few km s⁻¹ for most stars brighter than   V ∼ 17  . Consequently, full homogeneous six-dimensional phase-space information for a huge number of stars will become available. Our Monte Carlo simulator has been used to estimate the number of white dwarfs potentially observable by Gaia . From this we assess the white dwarf luminosity functions that Gaia will obtain and discuss in depth the scientific returns of Gaia in the specific field of white dwarf populations. Scientifically attainable goals include, among others, a reliable determination of the age of the Galactic disc, a better knowledge of the halo of the Milky Way and the reconstruction of the star formation history of the Galactic disc. Our results also demonstrate the potential impact of a mission such as Gaia within the context of current understanding of white dwarf cooling theory.     

Building the cosmic distance scale: from Hipparcos to Gaia

Hipparcos, the first ever experiment of global astrometry, was launched by ESA (European Space Agency) in 1989 and its results published in 1997 (Perryman et al. in Astron. Astrophys. 323:L49, 1997; Perryman & ESA (eds.) in The Hipparcos and Tycho catalogues, ESA SP-1200, 1997). A new reduction was later performed using an improved satellite attitude reconstruction leading to an improved accuracy for stars brighter than 9th magnitude (van Leeuwen & Fantino in Astron. Astrophys. 439:791, 2005; van Leeuwen in Astron. Astrophys. 474:653, 2007a). The Hipparcos Catalogue provided an extended dataset of very accurate astrometric data (positions, trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions), enlarging by two orders of magnitude the quantity and quality of distance determinations and luminosity calibrations. The availability of more than 20 000 stars (22 000 for the original catalogue, 30 000 for the re-reduction) with a trigonometric parallax known to better than 10% opened the way to a drastic revision of our 3-D knowledge of the solar neighbourhood and to a renewal of the calibration of many distance indicators and age estimations. The prospects opened by Gaia, the next ESA cornerstone, planned for launch in 2013 (Perryman et al., in Astron. Astrophys. 369:339, 2001), are still much more dramatic: a billion objects with systematic and quasi simultaneous astrometric, spectrophotometric and spectroscopic observations, about 150 million stars with expected distances to better than 10%, all over the Galaxy. All stellar distance indicators, in very large numbers, will be directly measured, providing a direct calibration of their luminosity and making possible detailed studies of the impacts of various effects linked to chemical element abundances, age or cluster membership. With the help of simulations of the data expected from Gaia, obtained from the mission simulator developed by DPAC (Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium), we will illustrate what Gaia can provide with some selected examples.     

Gaia, an unprecedented observatory for Solar System dynamics

The mission Gaia by European Space Agency (ESA) is expected to fly at the end of 2011 and to perform an all-sky, magnitude-limited survey for 5 years. The probe will not use an input catalogue, and will get high accuracy astrometry and photometry for all sources of magnitude V<20. Low-resolution spectra will also be available. Moving Solar System objects will be observed as well, and their observations will be processed by a specific pipeline in order to retrieve the physical and dynamical characteristics of each object. In this contribution we will mainly focus on the impact of Gaia observations on asteroid dynamics. A dramatic improvement of orbital elements is expected, as well as the measurement of subtle effects such as those related to general relativity (GR). Gaia observations will also be supported by a network of ground-based observation sites, capable of providing follow-up for newly discovered objects that will not receive an adequate coverage from space. Specific strategies for follow-up are being planned and tested. These will need to take into account the peculiar observing geometry (large parallax effect due to the orbit of Gaia around L2) and the time constraints dictated by data processing.     

On the Gaia Expected Harvest on Eclipsing Binaries

The space experiment Gaia, the approved cornerstone 6 ESA mission, will observe up to a billion stars in our Galaxy and obtain their astrometric positions on a micro-arcsec level, multi-band photometry as well as spectroscopic observations. It is expected that about one million Eclipsing Binaries (EBs) (with V ≤ 16 mag) will be discovered and the observing fashion will be quite similar to Hipparcos/Tycho mission operational mode. The combined astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic data will be used to compute the physical parameters of the observed EBs. From a study of a small sample of EBs, it is shown that the agreement between the fundamental stellar parameters, derived from ground-based and Hipparcos (Gaia-like) observations, is more than satisfactory and the Gaia data will be suitable to obtain accurate binary solutions.     

Heiles星光偏振源表的距离更正

星光偏振是研究星际介质磁场的有力工具之一.Heiles源表收集了9286颗恒星的偏振信息,是目前最大的光学波段星光偏振源表,被广泛使用.但该表中恒星的距离参数是以前的测光距离,很不确定.把Heiles源表和Gaia第2次数据释放(DR2)源表进行交叉证认,以位置和星等作为判据,匹配了7613颗恒星,并获得了这些恒星的三角视差距离和误差,超过90%的恒星距离相对误差小于20%.基于新的距离,展示了星光偏振在银河系内的分布并讨论了可能的应用.     

Tailored data compression using stream partitioning and prediction: application to Gaia

Gaia is the most ambitious space astrometry mission currently envisaged and it will be a technological challenge in all its aspects. Here we describe a proposal for the data compression system of Gaia, specifically designed for this mission but based on concepts that can be applied to other missions and systems as well. Realistic simulations have been performed with our Telemetry CODEC software, which performs a stream partitioning and pre-compression to the science data. In this way, standard compressors such as bzip2 or szip boost their performance and decrease their processing requirements when applied to such pre-processed data. These simulations have shown that a lossless compression factor of 3 can be achieved, whereas standard compression systems were unable to reach a factor of 2.      

The Pleiades apex and its kinematical structure

A study of cluster characteristics and internal kinematical structure of the middle-aged Pleiades open star cluster is presented. The individual star apexes and various cluster kinematical parameters including the velocity ellipsoid parameters are determined using both Hipparcos and Gaia data. Modern astrometric parameters were taken from the Gaia Data Release 1 (DR1) in combination with the Radial Velocity Experiment Fifth Data Release (DR5). The necessary set of parameters including parallaxes, proper motions and radial velocities are used for \(n=17\) stars from Gaia DR1+RAVE DR5 and for \(n=19\) stars from the Hipparcos catalog using SIMBAD data base. Single stars are used to improve accuracy by eliminating orbital movements. RAVE DR5 measurements were taken only for the stars with the radial velocity errors not exceeding \(2~\mbox{km}/\mbox{s}\). For the Pleiades stars taken from Gaia, we found mean heliocentric distance as \(136.8 \pm 6.4\) pc, and the apex position is calculated as: \(A_{CP}=92^{\circ }.52\pm 1^{\circ }.72\), \(D_{CP}=-42^{\circ }.28\pm 2^{\circ }.56\) by the convergent point method and \(A_{0}=95^{\circ }.59\pm 2^{\circ }.30\) and \(D_{0}=-50^{\circ }.90\pm 2^{\circ }.04\) using AD-diagram method (\(n=17\) in both cases). The results are compared with those obtained historically before the Gaia mission era.     

A Revisit to the Optical Starlight Polarization Catalogue by Heiles: Distance Update

Starlight polarization serves one of the powerful tools to study magnetic fields in the Galactic interstellar medium. Heiles catalogue contains polarization information for 9286 stars, and is by far the biggest. This catalogue has been extensively used to study the magnetic fields. However, the distance parameters of the stars in this catalogue are from photometric observations, and very uncertain. We cross match Heiles catalogue with Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2), and identify 7613 stars using both angular separation and magnitude as constraints. We then obtain precise distances from Gaia DR2 for these stars. For more than 90% of the stars, the relative errors of the new distances are within 20%. Based on the new catalogue, we demonstrate how starlight polarization can probe Galactic magnetic fields.     

Revisiting pulsar velocities using Gaia Data Release 2

Precise measurements of neutron star(NS) velocities provide critical clues in regard to the supernova physics and evolution of binary systems. Based on Gaia Data Release 2(DR2), we selected a sample of 24 young( 3 Myr) pulsars with precise parallax measurements and measured the velocity of their local standard of rest(LSR) and the velocity dispersion among their respective local stellar groups. The median velocity difference between thus calculated LSRs and the Galactic rotation model is ～ 7.6 km s~(-1),small compared to the typical velocity dispersion of ～ 27.5 km s~(-1). For pulsars off the Galactic plane,such differences grow significantly to as large as ～ 40 km s~(-1). More importantly, the velocity dispersion of stars in the local group of low-velocity pulsars can be comparable to their transverse velocities, suggesting that the intrinsic velocities of NS progenitors should be taken into account when we consider their natal kicks and binary evolution. We also examined the double NS system J0737-3039 A/B, and measured its transverse velocity to be 26_(-13)~(+18) km s~(-1) assuming nearby Gaia sources are representative of their birth environment. This work demonstrated the feasibility and importance of using Gaia data to study the velocity of individual systems and velocity distribution of NSs.     

Investigating variable stars in the open cluster NGC 1912 and its surrounding field

In this work,we studied the variable stars in the open cluster NGC 1912 based on the photometric observations and Gaia DR2 data.More than 3600 CCD frames in B,V,R filters were reduced,and we obtained the light curves that span about 63 hours.By analyzing these light curves,we detected 24 variable stars,including 16 periodic variable stars,seven eclipsing binaries and one star whose type is unclear.Among these 24 variable stars,11 are newly discovered,which are classified as sixγDoradus stars,oneδScuti star,three detached binaries and one contact binary.We also confirmed 13 previously known variable stars.Based on cluster members identified by Cantat-Gaudin et al.(2018),we inferred cluster memberships for these detected variable stars.Using Gaia DR2 data,we plotted a new color-magnitude diagram for NGC1912,and showed the nature of variable cluster members in kinematical properties and heliocentric distance.Among the 24 variable stars,seven variables are probable cluster members,which show homogeneity in kinematic characters and space position with the established cluster members.Four of the seven variable cluster members are the previously discovered stars,consisting of twoγDor stars and twoδSct stars.The remaining three variable cluster members,which are allγDor stars,are firstly detected in this work.The main physical parameters of these variable cluster members estimated from the color-magnitude diagram are log(age/yr)=8.75,[Fe/H]=-0.1,m-M=10.03 mag,and E(B-V)=0.307.     

A catalogue of 74 new open clusters found in Gaia Data-Release 2

Based on astrometric data from Gaia Data-Release 2(DR2),we employ an unsupervised machine learning method to blindly search for open star clusters in the Milky Way within the Galactic latitude range of |b|20°.In addition to 2080 known clusters,74 new open cluster candidates are found.In this work,we present the positions,apparent radii,parallaxes,proper motions and member stars of these candidates.Meanwhile,to obtain the physical parameters of each candidate cluster,stellar isochrones are fit to the photometric data.The results show that the apparent radii and the observed proper motion dispersions of these new candidates are consistent with those of open clusters previously identified in Gaia DR2.