Planetary Nebulae

This review summarizes spectroscopic and imaging results obtained on board the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) on well-known planetary nebulae: the young nebula NGC 7027, and two fully evolved nearby nebulae, the Dumbbell and the Helix. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

HST/NICMOS Observations of M82

The irregular galaxy M82 is known as the archetypal starburst galaxy. Its proximity (3.5 Mpc) makes this galaxy an ideal laboratory for studying the properties of its starburst. The detailed morphology of the [FeII] 1.644 μm and emission Pa_α (at 1.87 μm) is revealed by the NICMOS images. The peak of the 2.2 μm continuum brightness(evolved population) lies very close to the dynamical centre. Most of the Pa_α emission (which traces the young population) is distributed in a ring of star formation (with a `hole' lacking line emission at the centre of the galaxy). These observations support the scenario in which the starburst in M82 is propagating outwards. It has long been suggested that the [FeII] emission in starburst galaxies can be used as a measure of supernova (SN) activity. M82 shows a large number of radio supernova remnants (SNRs), approximately 50, lying in the plane of the galaxy. The comparison of the positions of the bright compact [FeII] emitting regions with the location of the radio SNRs shows that there is no one-to-one spatial correspondence between the two emissions, suggesting that the radio and [FeII] emissions trace two populations of SNRs with different ages. Young (a few hundred years) SNRs are best traced by their radio emission, whereas the [FeII] stage lasts for at least a few 10⁴ yr. The compact [FeII] sources contribute only some 20 % of the total [FeII] emission observed in M82. However, much of the remaining unresolved [FeII] emission in the plane of the galaxy may arise from SNRs that expanded and merged into a general interstellar medium within a few 10⁴ yr. Presumably, as much as 70% of the total extinction-corrected [FeII]1.644 μm in M82 is associated with SNRs. The extended and diffuse [FeII] component in M82 seems to be related with the superwind above and below the disc of the galaxy. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Kinematics of Gas and Stars in 20 Disc Galaxies

In this paper we present the kinematics of the gas and/or the stars of a sample of 20 disc galaxies. We investigate whether there is any relation between the kinematics of the gas and stars and the classical morphological type of the galaxies in the sample. We deduce that, in most of the late-type spirals we have studied, the stars and the ionized gas are moving with virtually circular velocity, except when the spectroscopic slit crosses a bar region. On the other hand, we found in the central parts of early-type disc galaxies a wider variety of different behaviour of stars and gas. We find many possible factors that complicate the classification of the kinematical properties of the galaxies by their morphological type: the presence of counter-rotations (star vs. stars or star vs. gas), misalignment between the different kinematic components present in the galaxy, the presence of a bar structure and its orientation with respect to the line of nodes of the galaxy, and interactions and mergers or external accretion processes are some of the problems we find in the study of the kinematics of a galaxy.     

Brightness Variation and Proper Motions of Three Objects in the Cygnus Region

The results of an investigation of three peculiar objects in the Cygnus region are given. One of them was already known to be a Herbig-Haro object. In accordance with its observational characteristics, the second object is, in all probability, a T Tauri star. The physical character of the last object is not yet entirely clear, but from the properties of its emission in the near infrared range it is probably also a T Tauri star. The proper motions of the objects have been measured. It is shown that all three objects are members of a tight system of the Trapezium type and evidently are the results of the successive fragmentation of an original protostellar body.     

CCD Polarimetric Imaging Of Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1)

Polarimetric observations of the light scattered by dust have been carried out at Pic-du-Midi Observatory with the 2 m telescope in June and September–October 1996, and at Haute-Provence Observatory with the 0.80 m telescope in April 1997. They cover a total number of 11 nights and a large (6.9°–47.7°) phase angle range. The spatial resolution allows to underline structures in the coma, as well in the brightness images as in the polarization maps, with a correlation between the regions of bright structures and the regions of higher polarization. A clear difference appears between the sunward and antisunward side, with higher polarization on the antisunward side. The phase angle coverage allows us to obtain a polarimetric phase curve for the whole coma and to compare it with other cometary phase curves. The degree of polarization is higher for Hale-Bopp than for the comets previously observed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey – III. Astrometry

In this, the third in a series of three papers concerning the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey, we describe the astrometric properties of the data base. We describe the algorithms employed in the derivation of the astrometric parameters of the data, and demonstrate their accuracies by comparison with external data sets using the first release of data, the South Galactic Cap survey. We show that the celestial coordinates, which are tied to the International Celestial Reference Frame via the Tycho–2 reference catalogue, are accurate to better than ±0.2 arcsec at J , R ∼19,18 , rising to ±0.3 arcsec at J , R ∼22,21 , with positional-dependent systematic effects from bright to faint magnitudes at the ∼0.1-arcsec level. The proper motion measurements are shown to be accurate to typically ±10 mas yr⁻¹ at J , R ∼19,18 , rising to ±50 mas yr⁻¹ at J , R ∼22,21 , and are tied to zero using the extragalactic reference frame. We show that the zero-point errors in the proper motions are ≤1 mas yr⁻¹ for R >17 , and are no larger than ∼10 mas yr⁻¹ for R <17 mas yr⁻¹ .     

The Geminid Meteor Stream Activity Profile

The existence of two maxima of the activity of the Geminid meteor stream and the general shape of the stream activity (rate curve) are discussed. The data of visual and radar observations are compared to the results of mathematical simulation. The distribution of the orbits of meteoroids, which are observed on the Earth, is determined from the mathematical model. This distribution cannot as yet be confirmed or disproved because of the absence of appropriate experimental data.     

Starburst activity in a ROSAT narrow emission-line galaxy

We present multiwaveband photometric and optical spectropolarimetric observations of the R =15.9 narrow emission-line galaxy R117_A which lies on the edge of the error circle of the ROSAT X-ray source R117. The overall spectral energy distribution of the galaxy is well modelled by a combination of a normal spiral galaxy and a moderate-strength burst of star formation. The far-infrared and radio emission is extended along the major axis of the galaxy, indicating an extended starburst.
On positional grounds, the galaxy is a good candidate for the identification of R117, and the observed X-ray flux is very close to what would be expected from a starburst of the observed far-infrared and radio fluxes. Although an obscured high-redshift QSO cannot be entirely ruled out as contributing some fraction of the X-ray flux, we find no candidates to K =20.8 within the X-ray error box, and so conclude that R117_A is responsible for a large fraction, if not all, of the X-ray emission from R117.
Searches for indicators of an obscured AGN in R117_A have so far proven negative; deep spectropolarimetric observations show no signs of broad lines to a limit of 1 per cent and, for the observed far-infrared and radio emission, we would expect 10 times greater X-ray flux if the overall emission were powered by an AGN. We therefore conclude that the X-ray emission from R117 is dominated by starburst emission from the galaxy R117_A.