Ion Irradiation of Asphaltite: Optical Effects and Implications for Trans-Neptunian Objects and Centaurs

Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) and Centaurs show remarkable colour variationsin the visual and near-infrared spectral regions. Surface alteration processes such asspace weathering (e.g., bombardment with ions) and impact resurfacingmay play an important role in the colour diversity of such bodies. Ion irradiation ofhydrocarbon ices and their mixtures with water ice transforms neutral (grey) surfacecolours of ices to red and further to grey. Along with the ices, TNOs and Centaursprobably contain complex carbonaceous compounds, in particular, complexhydrocarbons. Unlike ices, such refractory organic materials have originally lowvisual albedos and red colours in the visible and near-infrared ranges. Here wepresent the first results of ion irradiation experiments on asphaltite. Asphaltite isa natural complex hydrocarbon material. The reflectance spectra of asphaltite inthe 0.4–0.8 μm range have been recorded before irradiation and after eachirradiation step. We demonstrate that irradiation of this red dark material with30 keV H⁺ and 15 keV N⁺ ions gradually transforms its colour from redto grey as a result of carbonization. A moderate increase in the visual albedo hasbeen observed. These results may imply that the surfaces of primitive red objectsoptically dominated by complex refractory organics may show a similar spaceweathering trend. Our laboratory results were compared with published coloursof TNOs and Centaurs. A broad variety of spectral colours observed for TNOs andCentaurs may be reproduced by various spectra of irradiated organics correspondingto different ion fluences. However, such objects probably also contain ices and silicatecomponents which show different space weathering trends. This fact, together with alack of information about albedos, may explain difficulties to reveal correlations between surface colours within TNO and Centaur populations and their other properties, such as absolute magnitudes and orbital parameters.     

Morphology and Luminosity Segregations in Galaxy Groups

We study morphology and luminosity segregation of galaxies in groups. We analyze the two catalogs of (∼2×400) groups which have been identified in the Nearby Optical Galaxy sample, by means of hierarchical and percolation `friends-of-friends' methods. We find that earlier-type (brighter) galaxies are more clustered and lie closer to the group centers, both in position and in velocity, than later-type (fainter) galaxies. Spatial segregations are stronger than kinematical segregations. These effects are generally detected at the ≳3-sigma level, with the exception of morphological segregation in velocity, which is the weakest effect. Our main results are confirmed by the analysis of statistically more reliable groups (with at least five members), and are strengthened by the detection of segregation in both hierarchical and percolation catalogs. Luminosity segregation is shown to be independent of morphology segregation. Our conclusions agree with a continuum of segregation properties of galaxies in systems, from low-mass groups to massive clusters. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Speckle interferometry observations of asteroids at tng

The Speckle camera of the 3.5 m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) has been used to measure apparent sizes and shapes of a number of main belt asteroids. The average size measurements are in a generally good agreement with the results of indirect IRAS-based radiometric techniques. The measured shapes are compared with predictions based on previously derived spin axis directions and lightcurve photometry of some of the observed objects. Also in this case the agreement is reasonable and the speckle observations allow us to discriminate in some cases between the two pole solutions usually found for each object. No clear evidence of binaries was found. The results show that the TNG speckle camera can be a powerful tool to resolve relatively large main belt asteroids and to calibrate the results of the IRAS survey.     

Large-scale structure in the NIR-selected MUNICS survey

The Munich Near-IR Cluster Survey (MUNICS) is a wide-area, medium-deep, photometric survey selected in the K' band. The project's main scientific aims are the identification of galaxy clusters up to redshifts of unity and the selection of a large sample of field early-type galaxies up to z < 1.5 for evolutionary studies. We created a Large Scale Structure catalog, using a new structure finding technique specialized for photometric datasets, that we developed on the basis of a friends-of-friends algorithm. We tested the plausibility of the resulting galaxy group and cluster catalog with the help of Color-Magnitude Diagrams (CMD), as well as a likelihood- and Voronoi-approach. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Contribution to the search for binaries among Am stars – V. Orbital elements of eight short-period spectroscopic binaries

We present the results of a radial-velocity study of eight Am stars (HD 341, 55822, 61250, 67317, 93991, 162950, 224890 and 225137) observed at Observatoire de Haute-Provence with the CORAVEL instrument. We find that these systems are single-line spectroscopic binaries whose orbital elements are determined for the first time.     

Search for groups of extragalactic radio sources

We explore the possibility of searching for groups of radio sources from the FIRST catalog on angular scales 1′–5′. We developed an efficient method of searching for such groups that takes into account the need for combining the components of extended sources represented in the catalog by separate objects. We found 31 groups of radio sources with angular sizes <5′ that contain no fewer than five sources with flux densities ≥3 mJy. This number is at least triple the expected number of such groups for a random Poisson distribution of radio sources in the sky. The prospects for using groups of radio sources to detect and study distant systems of galaxies are discussed.     

The shape of the rotation curves of edge-on galaxies

We consider the effects of projection, internal absorption, and gas-or stellar-velocity dispersion on the measured rotation curves of galaxies with edge-on disks. Axisymmetric disk models clearly show that the rotational velocity in the inner galaxy is highly underestimated. As a result, an extended portion that imitates nearly rigid rotation appears. At galactocentric distances where the absorption is low (i.e., it does not exceed 0.3–0.5^m kpc^?1), the line profiles can have two peaks, and a rotation curve with minimum distortions can be obtained by estimating the position of the peak that corresponds to a higher rotational velocity. However, the high-velocity peak disappears in high-absorption regions and the actual shape of the rotation curve cannot be reproduced from line-of-sight velocity estimates. In general, the optical rotation curves for edge-on galaxies are of little use in reconstructing the mass distribution in the inner regions, particularly for galaxies with a steep velocity gradient in the central region. In this case, estimating the rotation velocities for outer (transparent) disk regions yields correct results.