Spectroscopic binaries near the north Galactic Pole

Orbits based principally on radial-velocity measurements made with the Haute-Provence Coravel spectrometer are presented for eight binary systems which include some of the faintest HD stars in the Galactic-Pole field. They are HD 103418 (which is double-lined), 105021, 108151, 113169, 113323, 113650, 113714, and 116514. Their periods range from 3.7 to 15.1 days. Very little else is known about any of them.     

Spectroscopy and orbit determination of the chromospherically active double-lined binary system HD 163621 = V835 Herculis

HD 163621 is a double-lined spectroscopic binary in a circular orbit whose period is 3.3 days. Spectral classification of the components has proved difficult, but current results of K0 V and late K V are reasonably consistent with our best model of the system, which has spectral types of G8V and K7V. The object shows photometric variability and chromospheric activity and is therefore a member of the BY Draconis class of variables. The minimum masses are quite small, 0.10 and 0.07 M⊙ for the primary and secondary, respectively, suggesting an orbital inclination of about 30°. The system is synchronously rotating. Its distance is estimated to be 31 pc, which makes it an excellent candidate for a trigonometric parallax determination. Kitt Peak National Observatory, [U.S.] National Optical Astronomy Observatories, operated by AURA Inc. under contract with the [U.S.] National Science Foundation.     

Comet Hale–Bopp: Velocity Field Of Ions From Fabry-Pérot Imaging

Fabry-Pérot interferograms of comet Hale-Bopp were obtained on several nights in March and April 1997. For this purpose we utilized the 2-channel focal reducer of the Max-Planck-Institute for Aeronomy at the 2-m telescope of the Pik Terskol Observatory. Solid Fabry-Pérot etalons of resolving power 30000 were used in both channels of the focal reducer. The main aim of this study is to measure the velocities and abundances of OH⁺ and H₂O⁺, both ions closely related to the same parent molecule, H₂O. In the blue channel interferograms we identified several individual OH⁺ rotational lines of the A³Π_i - X³Σ⁻ (0-0) transition and measured their Doppler shifts. The target emissions in the red channel were the H₂O⁺ lines of the A²A₁ − X²B₁ (10-0) band. We found that the line of sight velocities, obtained from the Doppler shifted wavelengths of emissions in the comet are higher in sunward direction than in the plasma tail and do not exceed 20 km s^–1. The corresponding values, deprojected in antisolar direction, are consistent with predictions by magnetohydrodynamical models of the solar-wind-comet interaction, when one accounts for the extremely high gas production rate of comet Hale-Bopp. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Time‐series high‐resolution spectroscopy and photometry of ε Aurigae from 2006–2013: Another brick in the wall

We present continuous and time‐resolved R = 55 000 optical échelle spectroscopy of ε Aurigae from 2006–2013. Data were taken with the STELLA Echelle Spectrograph of the robotic STELLA facility at the Observatorio del Teide in Tenerife. Contemporaneous photometry with the Automatic Photoelectric Telescopes at Fairborn Observatory in Arizona is presented for the years 1996–2013. Spectroscopic observations started three years prior to the photometric eclipse and are still ongoing. A total of 474 high‐resolution échelle spectra are analyzed and made available in this paper. We identify 368 absorption lines of which 161 lines show the characteristic sharp disk lines during eclipse. Another 207 spectral lines appeared nearly unaffected by the eclipse. From spectrum synthesis, we obtained the supergiant atmospheric parameters T_eff = 7395 ± 70 K, log g ≈ 1, and [Fe/H] = +0.02 ± 0.2 with ξ_t = 9 km s^–1, ζ_RT = 13 km s^–1, and v sin i = 28 ± 3 km s^–1. The residual average line broadening expressed in km s^–1 varies with a period of 62.6 ± 0.7 d, in particular at egress and after the eclipse. Two‐dimensional line‐profile periodograms show several periods, the strongest with ≈110 d evident in optically thin lines as well as in the Balmer lines. Center‐of‐intensity weighted radial velocities of individual spectral lines also show the 110‐d period but, again, additional shorter and longer periods are evident and are different in the Balmer lines. The two main spectroscopic Hα periods, ≈ 116 d from the line core and ≈ 150 d from the center‐of‐intensity radial velocities, appear at 102 d and 139 d in the photometry. The Hβ and Johnson V I photometry on the other hand shows two well‐defined and phase‐coherent periods of 77 d and 132 d. We conclude that Hα is contaminated by changes in the circumstellar environment while the Hβ and V I photometry stems predominantly from the non radial pulsations of the F0 supergiant. We isolate the disk‐rotation profile from 61 absorption lines and found that low disk eccentricity generally relates to low disk rotational velocity (but not always) while high disk eccentricity always relates to high velocity. There is also the general trend that the disk‐absorption in spectral lines with higher excitation potential comes from disk regions with higher eccentricity and thus also with higher rotational velocity. The dependency on transition probability is more complex and shows a bi‐modal trend. The outskirts of the disk is distributed asymmetrically around the disk and appears to have been built up mostly in a tail along the orbit behind the secondary. Our data show that this tail continues to eclipse the F0 Iab primary star even two years after the end of the photometric eclipse. High‐resolution spectra were also taken of the other, bona‐fide, visual‐binary components of ε Aur (ADS 3605BCDE). Only the C‐component, a K3‐4‐giant, appears at the same distance than ε Aur but its radial velocity is in disagreement with a bound orbit. The other components are a nearby (≈ 7 pc) cool DA white dwarf, a G8 dwarf, and a B9 supergiant, and not related to ε Aur. The cool white dwarf shows strong DIB lines that suggest the existence of a debris disk around this star. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The Subaru Telescope High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS)

The High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS) is the échelle spectrograph for an open‐use instrument of the Subaru Telescope. The current status of the instrument is reviewed. The new image slicers that significantly improve the efficiency of observations with very high resolving power have been installed in the past three years. Brief overview of recent science results is given on studies of early generations of stars and extra‐solar planets. An upgrade plan and future prospects of this instrument are discussed. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

FIES: The high‐resolution Fiber‐fed Echelle Spectrograph at the Nordic Optical Telescope

FIES is a cross‐dispersed high‐resolution echelle spectrograph at the 2.56 m Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), and was optimised for throughput and stability in 2006. The major 2006 upgrade involved the relocation of FIES to a stable environment and development of a fiber bundle that offers 3 different resolution modes, and made FIES an attractive tool for the user community of the NOT. Radial‐velocity stability is achieved through double‐chamber active temperature control. A dedicated data reduction tool, FIEStool, was developed. As a result of these upgrades, FIES is now one of the work‐horse instruments at the NOT. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Automatic Normalization and Equivalent-Width Measurement of High-Resolution Stellar Spectra

It is well known that normalization, radial velocity correction and equivalent-width measurement of high-resolution stellar spectra are time-consuming work. In order to improve the efficiency we present an automatic method for these routines. The continuum is determined by fitting the 'high points' in the spectrum. After continuum normalization, the program automatically searches for the position of the Ha line and obtains a rough radial velocity, then computes an accurate radial velocity by cross-correlation between the given spectrum and the solar spectrum. In this method, the equivalent-width is automatically measured using Gaussian fitting. A comparison between our results and those from traditional analysis shows that the typical error for equivalent width is around 3.8% in our method. Developing such automatic routines does not mean to replace the interactive reduction method: it is just for a quick extraction of information from the spectra, especially those obtained in large sky surveys.     

Spatial closeness of the white hypergiants HD 168607 and HD 168625

Our spectroscopic monitoring of the hypergiants HD 168607 (B9.5 Ia-0) and HD 168625 (B5.5 Ia-0) with resolutions from 15000 to 70000 confirms that both stars belong to the Ser OB1 association, proves their spatial closeness, and increases the probability that they constitute a physical pair.     

BHαBAR: big Hα kinematical sample of barred spiral galaxies – I. Fabry–Perot observations of 21 galaxies

We present the Hα gas kinematics of 21 representative barred spiral galaxies belonging to the BHαBAR sample. The galaxies were observed with FaNTOmM, a Fabry–Perot integral-field spectrometer, on three different telescopes. The three-dimensional data cubes were processed through a robust pipeline with the aim of providing the most homogeneous and accurate data set possible useful for further analysis. The data cubes were spatially binned to a constant signal-to-noise ratio, typically around 7. Maps of the monochromatic Hα emission line and of the velocity field were generated and the kinematical parameters were derived for the whole sample using tilted-ring models. The photometrical and kinematical parameters (position angle of the major axis, inclination, systemic velocity and kinematical centre) are in relative good agreement, except perhaps for the later-type spirals.