Context. Microlensing is a unique method to probe low mass exoplanets beyond the snow line. However, the scientific potential of the new microlensing planet discovery is often unfulfilled due to lack ...of knowledge of the properties of the lens and source stars. The discovery light curve of the super Earth MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb suffers from significant degeneracies that limit what can be inferred about its physical properties. Aims. High resolution adaptive optics images allow us to solve this problem by resolving the microlensing target from all unrelated background stars, yielding the unique determination of magnified source and lens fluxes. This estimation permits the solution of our microlens model for the mass of the planet and its host and their physical projected separation. Methods. We observed the microlensing event MOA-2007-BLG-192 at high angular resolution in JHKs with the NACO adaptive optics system on the VLT while the object was still amplified by a factor 1.23 and then at baseline 18 months later. We analyzed and calibrated the NACO photometry in the standard 2MASS system in order to accurately constrain the source and the lens star fluxes. Results. We detect light from the host star of MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb, which significantly reduces the uncertainties in its characteristics as compared to earlier analyses. We find that MOA-2007-BLG-192L is most likely a very low mass late type M-dwarf (0.084-0.012+0.015 M⊙) at a distance of 660-70+100 pc orbited by a 3.2-1.8+5.2 M⊕ super-Earth at 0.66-0.22+0.51 AU. We then discuss the properties of this cold planetary system.
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The numerical kernel approach to difference imaging has been implemented and applied to gravitational microlensing events observed by the PLANET collaboration. The effect of an error in the ...source-star coordinates is explored and a new algorithm is presented for determining the precise coordinates of the microlens in blended events, essential for accurate photometry of difference images. It is shown how the photometric reference flux need not be measured directly from the reference image but can be obtained from measurements of the difference images combined with the knowledge of the statistical flux uncertainties. The improved performance of the new algorithm, relative to isis2, is demonstrated.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Context. HD 179949 is an F8V star, orbited by a close-in giant planet with a period of ~3 days. Previous studies suggested that the planet enhances the magnetic activity of the parent star, producing ...a chromospheric hot spot which rotates in phase with the planet orbit. However, this phenomenon is intermittent since it was observed in several but not all seasons. Aims. A long-term monitoring of the magnetic activity of HD 179949 is required to study the amplitude and time scales of star-planet interactions. Methods. In 2009 we performed a simultaneous optical and X-ray spectroscopic campaign to monitor the magnetic activity of HD 179949 during ~5 orbital periods and ~2 stellar rotations. We analyzed the Ca ii H&K lines as a proxy for chromospheric activity, and we studied the X-ray emission in search of flux modulations and to determine basic properties of the coronal plasma. Results. A detailed analysis of the flux in the cores of the Ca ii H&K lines and a similar study of the X-ray photometry shows evidence of source variability, including one flare. The analysis of the time series of chromospheric data indicates a modulation with a ~11 days period, compatible with the stellar rotation period at high latitudes. Instead, the X-ray light curve suggests a signal with a period of ~4 days, consistent with the presence of two active regions on opposite hemispheres. Conclusions. The observed variability can be explained, most likely, as due to rotational modulation and to intrinsic evolution of chromospheric and coronal activity. There is no clear signature related to the orbital motion of the planet, but the possibility that just a fraction of the chromospheric and coronal variability is modulated with the orbital period of the planet, or the stellar-planet beat period, cannot be excluded. We conclude that any effect due to the presence of the planet is difficult to disentangle.
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HD 179949 is an F8V star, orbited by a giant planet at ∼8 R
★ every 3.092 514 d. The system was reported to undergo episodes of stellar activity enhancement modulated by the orbital period, ...interpreted as caused by star-planet interactions (SPIs). One possible cause of SPIs is the large-scale magnetic field of the host star in which the close-in giant planet orbits.
In this paper we present spectropolarimetric observations of HD 179949 during two observing campaigns (2009 September and 2007 June). We detect a weak large-scale magnetic field of a few gauss at the surface of the star. The field configuration is mainly poloidal at both observing epochs. The star is found to rotate differentially, with a surface rotation shear of dΩ= 0.216 ± 0.061 rad d−1, corresponding to equatorial and polar rotation periods of 7.62 ± 0.07 and 10.3 ± 0.8 d, respectively. The coronal field estimated by extrapolating the surface maps resembles a dipole tilted at ∼70°. We also find that the chromospheric activity of HD 179949 is mainly modulated by the rotation of the star, with two clear maxima per rotation period as expected from a highly tilted magnetosphere. In 2009 September, we find that the activity of HD 179949 shows hints of low-amplitude fluctuations with a period close to the beat period of the system.
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We report the discovery of a several-Jupiter-mass planetary companion to the primary lens star in microlensing event OGLE-2005-BLG-071. Precise ( 1%) photometry at the peak of the event yields an ...extremely high signal-to-noise ratio detection of a deviation from the light curve expected from an isolated lens. The planetary character of this deviation is easily and unambiguously discernible from the gross features of the light curve. Detailed modeling yields a tightly constrained planet-star mass ratio of q = p sub(p)/M = 0.0071 c 0.0003. This is the second robust detection of a planet with microlensing, demonstrating that the technique itself is viable and that planets are not rare in the systems probed by microlensing, which typically lie several kiloparsecs toward the Galactic center.
We present the results of a detailed study of the high-mass X-ray binary 2S 0114+650 made with the pointed instruments onboard the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. The spectral and temporal behaviour of ...this source was examined over the pulse, orbital and superorbital time-scales, covering ∼2 cycles of the 30.7 d superorbital modulation. Marginal evidence for variability of the power-law photon index over the pulse period was identified, similar to that observed from other X-ray pulsars. If this variability is real it can be attributed to a varying viewing geometry of the accretion region with the spin of the neutron star. Variability of the neutral hydrogen column density over the orbital period was observed, which we attribute to the line-of-sight motion of the neutron star through the dense circumstellar environment. A reduction in the power-law photon index was observed during the orbital maximum, which we speculate is due to the absorption effects as the neutron star passes behind a heavily absorbing region near the base of the supergiant companion's wind. No significant variability of the column density was observed over the superorbital period, indicating that variable obscuration by a precessing warp in an accretion disc is not the mechanism behind the superorbital modulation. In contrast, a significant increase in the power-law photon index was observed during the superorbital minimum. We conclude that the observed superorbital modulation is tied to variability in the mass accretion rate due to some as yet unidentified mechanism.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Soft γ-ray repeaters (SGRs) emit multiple, brief (∼0.1-s), intense outbursts of low-energy γ-rays. They are extremely rare-three are known in our Galaxy and one in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Two ...SGRs are associated with young supernova remnants (SNRs), and therefore most probably with neutron stars, but it remains a puzzle why SGRs are so different from 'normal' radio pulsars. Here we report the discovery of pulsations in the persistent X-ray flux of SGR1806 − 20, with a period of 7.47 s and a spindown rate of 2.6 × 10−3 s yr−1. We argue that the spindown is due to magnetic dipole emission and find that the pulsar age and (dipolar) magnetic field strength are ∼1,500 years and 8× 1014 gauss, respectively. Our observations demonstrate the existence of 'magnetars', neutron stars with magnetic fields about 100 times stronger than those of radio pulsars, and support earlier suggestions, that SGR bursts are caused by neutron-star 'crustquakes' produced by magnetic stresses. The 'magnetar' birth rate is about one per millennium-a substantial fraction of that of radio pulsars. Thus our results may explain why some SNRs have no radio pulsars.
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DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
8.
Changes in Pluto's Atmosphere: 1988-2006 Elliot, J. L; Person, M. J; Gulbis, A. A. S ...
The Astronomical journal,
07/2007, Volume:
134, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The 2006 June 12 occultation of the star P384.2 (2UCAC 26039859) by Pluto was observed from five sites in southeastern Australia with high-speed imaging photometers that produced time-series CCD ...images. Light curves were constructed from the image time series and fit by least-squares methods with model light curves. A new modeling procedure is presented that allows a simultaneous fit of the atmospheric parameters for Pluto and the astrometric parameters for the occultation to all of the light curves. Under the assumption of a clear atmosphere and using this modeling procedure to establish the upper atmosphere boundary condition, immersion and emersion temperature profiles were derived by inversion of the Siding Spring light curve, which had our best signal-to-noise ratio. Above ~1230 km radius, atmospheric temperatures are ~100 K and decrease slightly with altitude-the same as observed in 1988 and 2002. Below 1210 km, the temperature abruptly decreases with altitude (gradients ~2.2 K km-1), which would reach the expected N2 surface-ice temperature of ~40 K in the 1158-1184 km radius range. This structure is similar to that observed in 2002, but a much stronger thermal gradient (or stronger extinction) is implied by the 1988 light curve (which shows a 'kink' or 'knee' at 1210 km). The temperature profiles derived from inversion of the present data show good agreement with a physical model for Pluto's atmosphere selected from those presented by Strobel et al. (1996). Constraints derived from the temperature profiles (and considering the possibility of a deep troposphere) yield a value of 1152 ± 32 km for Pluto's surface radius. This value is compared with surface-radius values derived from the series of mutual occultations and eclipses that occurred in 1985-1989, and the limitations of both types of measurements for determining Pluto's surface radius are discussed. The radius of Pluto's atmospheric shadow at the half-intensity point is 1207.9 ± 8.5 km, the same as obtained in 2002 within measurement error. Values of the shadow radius cast by Pluto's atmosphere in 1988, 2002, and 2006 favor frost migration models in which Pluto's surface has low thermal inertia. Those models imply a substantial atmosphere when New Horizons flies by Pluto in 2015. Comparison of the shape of the stellar occultation light curves in 1988, 2002, and 2006 suggests that atmospheric extinction, which was strong in 1988 (15 months before perihelion), has been dissipating.
The effects of live weight on carcass characteristics and meat quality of Australian Rangeland goats were determined. Fifty-two intact-male kid goats were fed Mitchell grass hay and finisher pellets ...ad libitum for 42 days. Prior to slaughter, kids were categorised into live weight groups: ‘Heavy’ (≈33.1 kg) or ‘Light’ ≈ 24.3 kg). Fifteen kids per group were randomly selected, slaughtered and carcass characteristics measured. The longissimus lumborum (LL) and the biceps femoris (BF) muscles were removed for quality measurements. The Heavy group had higher dressing, hindquarters, non-carcass component and offal percentages (P < 0.05). Live weight had no effect on proportion of carcass cuts, muscle meat colour, cooking loss, Warner-Bratzler shear force, total fat or ash (P > 0.05), but influenced the moisture and protein content in the LL and the moisture content in the BF (P < 0.05). The findings suggest that live weight of entire male Rangeland goats had no effect on meat quality characteristics.
•Live weight at slaughter had no effect on % yield of commercial cuts.•Live weight influenced the proximate chemical composition.•Bloomed muscle colour differed between the Biceps femoris and the Longissimus lumborum muscles.•The Longissimus lumborum muscle was tougher than the Biceps femoris muscle.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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