Grooves on small saturnian satellites and other objects: Characteristics and significance

High-resolution images from the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) show parallel sets of grooves on Epimetheus and Pandora. Grooves have previously been observed on other satellites and asteroids, including Phobos, Gaspra, Ida, Eros, and minor occurrences on Phoebe. Sets of parallel grooves are so far observed only on satellites known or likely to be subject to significant tidal stresses, such as forced librations. Grooves on asteroids and on satellites not subject to significant forced librations occur in more globally disorganized patterns that may reflect impacts, varying internal structures, or even thermal stresses. The patterns and individual morphologies of grooves on the tidally-affected satellites suggest fracturing in weak materials due to tidal stresses and forced librations.     

Infrared–red cores in nearby elliptical galaxies

We present the Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Array Camera observations for a sample of local elliptical galaxies to study later stages of active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity. A sample of 36 elliptical galaxies is selected from the Palomar spectroscopic survey. We detect nuclear non-stellar infrared emission in nine of them. There is unambiguous evidence of circumnuclear dust in these nine galaxies in their optical images. We also find a remarkable correlation between the infrared excess emission and the nuclear radio/X-ray emission, suggesting that infrared excess emission is tightly related to nuclear activity. The possible origin of infrared excess emission from hot dust heated by the central AGN is supported by the spectral indices of the infrared excess emission.     

Absolute Magnitudes of Be Stars Based on Hipparcos Parallaxes

The absolute visual magnitudes of 457 Be stars are determined from Hipparcos parallaxes, subsequently the mean absolute visual magnitudes of Be stars for luminosity classes III, IV and V are obtained. The new Mv calibration is compared with existing calibrations. It is found that Be stars are generally brighter than B stars of the corresponding spectral types, and that there is no direct correlation between absolute magnitudes and the stellar rotational velocity, these results are in agreement with some earlier results. A new and interesting result is that there is no direct correlation between near infrared excess and absolute visual magnitudes for Be stars. Moreover, possible biases, such as the Malmquist bias and the Lutz–Kelker bias, are also discussed.     

Precise positions of Phoebe determined with CCD image-overlapping calibration

This paper presents 210 positions of Phoebe, the ninth satellite of Saturn, observed with the 1-m telescope at the Yunnan Observatory during the years 2003–2005, using a CCD image-overlapping calibration method proposed recently by Peng et al. After the observed positions of Phoebe are compared with its theoretical positions computed by the new JPL ephemerides DE405 and SAT199, the mean residuals (observed minus computed) are 0.21 and −0.05 arcsec in right ascension and declination, respectively, with a standard deviation of 0.06 arcsec.     

Lyman α radiative transfer in a multiphase medium

Hydrogen Lyman α (Lyα) is our primary emission-line window into high-redshift galaxies. Despite an extensive literature, Lyα radiative transfer in the most realistic case of a dusty, multiphase medium has received surprisingly little detailed theoretical attention. We investigate Lyα resonant scattering through an ensemble of dusty, moving, optically thick gas clumps. We treat each clump as a scattering particle and use Monte Carlo simulations of surface scattering to quantify continuum and Lyα surface scattering angles, absorption probabilities, and frequency redistribution, as a function of the gas dust content. This atomistic approach speeds up the simulations by many orders of magnitude, making possible calculations which are otherwise intractable. Our fitting formulae can be readily adapted for fast radiative transfer in numerical simulations. With these surface scattering results, we develop an analytic framework for estimating escape fractions and line widths as a function of gas geometry, motion, and dust content. Our simple analytic model shows good agreement with full Monte Carlo simulations. We show that the key geometric parameter is the average number of surface scatters for escape in the absence of absorption,     , and we provide fitting formulae for several geometries of astrophysical interest. We consider the following two interesting applications. (i) Equivalent widths ( EWs ). Lyα can preferentially escape from a dusty multiphase interstellar medium if most of the dust lies in cold neutral clouds, which Lyα photons cannot penetrate. This might explain the anomalously high EWs sometimes seen in high-redshift/submillimetre sources. (ii) Multiphase galactic outflows . We show the characteristic profile is asymmetric with a broad red tail, and relate the profile features to the outflow speed and gas geometry. Many future applications are envisaged.     

Spatial orientation of the spin vectors of the disk galaxies in the Virgo cluster I. A catalogue of the disk galaxies in the Virgo cluster

Based on four UK Schmidt Telescope (UKST) IIIa-j direct plates which had been digitized by the Automated Plate Measuring System (APM), a detailed identification of the disk galaxies in the Virgo cluster has been carried out. The certain and possible member galaxies are mainly selected from the updated Catalogue of 2096 Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster Area (VCC). The area of this identification covers a 85 square degree region centered on this cluster. As a result, we compiled a new catalogue of 340 certain and possible member disk galaxies, including 85 lenticulars (SO), 136 spirals (S) and 119 irregulars (Irr), where the APM-measured values of the position angle (P.A.) and diameters of 299 disk galaxies are provided. For at least 149 galaxies, the values of the P.A. and diameters are published for the first time.Comparison between the APM-measured P.A. and diameters of galaxies and those given by the Uppsala General Catalog of Galaxies (UGC) demonstrates the reliability of our data. The statistical properties and completeness of this database are also discussed. Compared with the UGC-given P.A. and diameters which were determined by eyes, our data has no selection effect owing to the instrument measurements. Within our searching region, this might be the largest and relatively complete photometric database published so far for investigating the spatial orientation of the spin vectors of galaxies in the Virgo cluster.     

Solar Stokes Spectrum Observation at Yunnan Astronomical Observatory

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A unique Galactic planetary nebula with a [WN] central star

We report the discovery of the first probable Galactic [WN] central star of a planetary nebula (CSPN). The planetary nebula candidate was found during our systematic scans of the AAO/UKST Hα Survey of the Milky Way. Subsequent confirmatory spectroscopy of the nebula and central star reveals the remarkable nature of this object. The nebular spectrum shows emission lines with large expansion velocities exceeding 150 km s⁻¹, suggesting that perhaps the object is not a conventional planetary nebula. The central star itself is very red and is identified as being of the [WN] class, which makes it unique in the Galaxy. A large body of supplementary observational data supports the hypothesis that this object is indeed a planetary nebula and not a Population I Wolf–Rayet star with a ring nebula.