A hard X-ray survey of the Galactic-Center region with the IBIS telescope of the INTEGRAL observatory: A catalog of sources

From August 23 through September 24, 2003, the INTEGRAL Observatory conducted a deep survey of the Galactic-Center region with a record-breaking sensitivity at energies above 20 keV. We have analyzed the images of the Galactic-Center region obtained with the ISGRI detector of the IBIS telescope (15–200 keV) and give a catalog of detected sources. We detected a total of 60 sources with fluxes above 1.5 mCrab, 44 and 3 of which were previously identified as binary systems of different classes in our Galaxy and as extragalactic objects, respectively. We discovered one new source.     

Radio continuum surveys

The Rhodes University radio astronomy group has been involved in radio continuum mapping of southern extended radio sources since 1976. We describe the various mapping projects undertaken with the HartRAO telescope, particularly the Rhodes/HartRAO 2300 MHz all-sky survey, and speculate on future projects.     

Formation of galactic subsystems in light of the magnesium abundance in field stars: The thick disk

The space velocities and Galactic orbital elements of stars calculated from the currently available high-accuracy observations in our compiled catalog of spectroscopic magnesium abundances in dwarfs and subgiants in the solar neighborhood are used to identify thick-disk objects. We analyze the relations between chemical, spatial, and kinematic parameters of F–G stars in the identified subsystem. The relative magnesium abundances in thick-disk stars are shown to lie within the range 0.0 < [Mg/Fe] < 0.5 and to decrease with increasingmetallicity starting from [Fe/H] ≈ ?1.0. This is interpreted as evidence for a longer duration of the star formation process in the thick disk. We have found vertical gradients in metallicity (grad_Z[Fe/H] = ?0.13 ± 0.04 kpc^?1) and relative magnesium abundance (grad_Z[Mg/Fe] = 0.06 ± 0.02 kpc^?1), which can be present in the subsystem only in the case of its formation in a slowly collapsing protogalaxy. However, the gradients in the thick disk disappear if the stars whose orbits lie in the Galactic plane, but have high eccentricities and low azimuthal space velocities atypical of the thin-disk stars are excluded from the sample. The large spread in relative magnesium abundance (?0.3 < [Mg/Fe] < 0.5) in the stars of the metal-poor “tail” of the thick disk, which constitute ≈8% of the subsystem, can be explained in terms of their formation inside isolated interstellar clouds that interacted weakly with the matter of a single protogalactic cloud. We have found a statistically significant negative radial gradient in relative magnesium abundance in the thick disk (grad_R[Mg/Fe] = ?0.03 ± 0.01 kpc^{? 1}) instead of the expected positive gradient. The smaller perigalactic orbital radii and the higher eccentricities for magnesium-richer stars, which, among other stars, are currently located in a small volume of the Galactic space near the Sun, are assumed to be responsible for the gradient inversion. A similar, but statistically less significant inversion is also observed in the subsystem for the radial metallicity gradient.     

The statistical effects of galactic tides on the Oort cloud

This report is a comment on two papers by Matese and Whitman (1989, 1992). We discuss here the applicability of uniform probability densities for the orbital parameters of the Oort cloud comets.     

Radio Emission from Galactic Disks

This paper gives a short overview of the observational results on galactic magnetic fields. Interstellar magnetic fields, as deduced from multi-frequency polarization observations, show a well-ordered structure largely following the spiral arms. In some galaxies an axisymmetric spiral pattern dominates (the field being directed inwards), while others exhibit a dominant bisymmetric spiral field or mixed modes, as predicted from non-linear dynamo theory. As long as star formation activity is low, the magnetic fields are rather regular. Strong star formation leads to turbulent cloud motions and supernova explosions, which tangle the field, so that the radio emission is only weakly polarized. As a consequence the highest fractional polarizations and polarized intensities at centimeter wavelengths are found in interarm regions. At decimeter wavelengths, galactic disks become optically thick for polarized emission. In NGC 6946 the regular field is concentrated in narrow magnetic arms located in between the optical spiral arms. The field cannot simply be frozen into the gas and oriented by a density-wave flow. A galactic dynamo may provide a stable spiral pattern of the field, but non-axisymmetric models are still being developed.     

GIS能平安度过2000年吗

本文论述了2000年的问题对GIS产业发展的不利影响,分析了它所产生的根源,阐述了解决这一问题的方案。     

“人·县·年”快速更新技术应用研究

为适应河南经济发展对基础测绘成果的需求,实现测绘服务模式的转变,河南省对1∶10 000基础地理信息数据更新,采取了“人·县·年”的快速更新模式,较好地满足了经济快速发展对基础测绘成果的需求,取得了良好的社会效益和经济效益.     

The massive black hole at the galactic center

At the dynamic center of the Milky Way high spatial resolution, near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy have made it possible in the last few years to measure stellar velocities down to separations of less than five light days from the compact radio source SgrA* (in the constellation Sagittarius). These measurements make a compelling case for the presence of a compact, central dark mass of 2.6 × 10⁶ solar masses. Simple physical considerations show that this dark mass cannot consist of a stable cluster of stars, stellar remnants, substellar condensations or a degenerate gas of elementary particles. Energy equipartition requires that at least 105 solar masses must be associated with SgrA* itself and is enclosed within less than 8 light minutes (equivalent to 15 Schwarzschild radii of a million solar mass black hole). If one accepts these arguments it is hard to escape the conclusions that there must be a massive black hole at the core of the Milky Way.     

Statistical Investigation on Galactic Cosmic Rays and Solar Wind Variation Based on ACE Observations

Based on the Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) and plasma observations from ACE spacecraft, the relation between GCR counts and solar wind parameters during the two periods of solar minimums (the years of 2007.0-2009.0 and 2016.5-2019.0) was analyzed by means of the Superposed Epoch Analysis (SEA) method. The results indicate that GCRs are strongly modulated by Co-rotating Interaction Regions (CIRs) in solar wind, the Stream Interfaces (SIs) sandwiched between fast and slow solar wind are closely related with the depression of GCR counts. The mechanism of the GCR variation was investigated through the empirical diffusion coefficients. The so-called “snow-plough” effect of GCR variation prior to the SI crossing appears during the first period, then the GCR counts decrease after the crossing, which corresponds to the sudden drop of diffusion coefficient at the SI. However, this effect is not observed for the second period, the decrease of GCR counts may be caused by the enhancement of the diffusion coefficient after the SI crossing. Moreover, Heliospheric Current Sheet (HCS) correlates with GCR counts well, the GCRs drift along the current sheet, and then accumulate to a pileup structure. The interplay between drift and diffusion determines the GCR distribution and variation at a heliocentric distance of 1 AU.     

Programme of the Galactic meridian: Star counts and galactic models. 1. Distributions of stellar magnitudes and colours

A comparison of observed stellar distributions with a three-component model of the Galaxy is presented. The analysis is based on photometric and photoelectric data obtained along the main Galactic meridian and in two fields near the North Galactic pole (programme MEGA). The assumed model considers the Galaxy as composed of the disk (main sequence and disk red giants), the thick disk and spheroid populations. To model the observed colour distribution, we distinguish main sequence stars and disk red giants as the disk subsystem; white dwarfs, subdwarfs and intermediate giants as the thick disk subsystem; extreme subdwarfs, spheroid giants and horizontal branch stars as the spheroid subsystem. A statistical relation between the apparent and absolute magnitudes of stars which make the maximum contribution to the star counts for a given disk subsystem is derived. In order to achieve the best agreement between the model and observations, we fit the values of the ‘dip’ (aw) of the disk luminosity function, the correction to the absolute magnitude of disk red giants (ΔM_V^RG) and the expression for interstellar extinction. As the main result, we obtained aw = 0.6 (logarithmic scale) and ΔM_V^RG = 0.5 mag; the interstellar extinction has to be taken into account by the modified Sandage law.