ABSTRACT
Our main aim is to test the non-variability of the radial velocity (RV) of a sample of 2351 standard stars used for wavelength calibration of the Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) ...instrument onboard Gaia. In this paper, we present the spectroscopic analysis of these stars with the determination of their physical parameters by matching observed and synthetic spectra. We estimate the offset between different instruments after determining the shift between measured and archived RVs since the instrument pipelines use various numerical masks. Through the confirmation of the stability of the target RVs, we find 68 stars with a long-term variation having an acceleration that exceeds $10 \, \rm {m\, s^{-1}\,yr^{-1}}$. This suggests a barycentric reflex motion caused by a companion. As activity phenomena may be the source of periodic and trend-like RV variations in stars with putative planetary companions, we analysed various activity indicators in order to check their correlations to the RV changes. Among the trend stars, 18 have a trend model scatter greater than $100 \, \rm {m\, s^{-1}}$ over a time span from 10 to 12 yr. We also confirm that six stars with known substellar companions have a total model scatter, 3σ, exceeding the threshold set by Gaia, that is, $300 \, \rm {m\, s^{-1}}$. In addition, TYC8963-01543-1, an SB2 star, has data scatter $\sigma = 176.6\, \rm {m\, s^{-1}}$. Four more other stars are revealed to be variable after combining data from different instruments. Despite the presence of low-amplitude changes, a very large fraction of our sample (98.8 per cent) appears suitable as RV calibrators for Gaia RVS.
Gaia Data Release 3 de Laverny, P.; Spagna, A.; Vallenari, A. ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
06/2023, Letnik:
674
Journal Article, Web Resource
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Context.
The motion of stars has been used to reveal details of the complex history of the Milky Way, in constant interaction with its environment. Nevertheless, to reconstruct the Galactic history ...puzzle in its entirety, the chemo-physical characterisation of stars is essential. Previous
Gaia
data releases were supported by a smaller, heterogeneous, and spatially biased mixture of chemical data from ground-based observations.
Aims.
Gaia
Data Release 3 opens a new era of all-sky spectral analysis of stellar populations thanks to the nearly 5.6 million stars observed by the Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) and parametrised by the GSP-Spec module. In this work, we aim to demonstrate the scientific quality of
Gaia
’s Milky Way chemical cartography through a chemo-dynamical analysis of disc and halo populations.
Methods.
Stellar atmospheric parameters and chemical abundances provided by
Gaia
DR3 spectroscopy are combined with DR3 radial velocities and EDR3 astrometry to analyse the relationships between chemistry and Milky Way structure, stellar kinematics, and orbital parameters.
Results.
The all-sky
Gaia
chemical cartography allows a powerful and precise chemo-dynamical view of the Milky Way with unprecedented spatial coverage and statistical robustness. First, it reveals the strong vertical symmetry of the Galaxy and the flared structure of the disc. Second, the observed kinematic disturbances of the disc – seen as phase space correlations – and kinematic or orbital substructures are associated with chemical patterns that favour stars with enhanced metallicities and lower
α
/Fe abundance ratios compared to the median values in the radial distributions. This is detected both for young objects that trace the spiral arms and older populations. Several
α
, iron-peak elements and at least one heavy element trace the thin and thick disc properties in the solar cylinder. Third, young disc stars show a recent chemical impoverishment in several elements. Fourth, the largest chemo-dynamical sample of open clusters analysed so far shows a steepening of the radial metallicity gradient with age, which is also observed in the young field population. Finally, the
Gaia
chemical data have the required coverage and precision to unveil galaxy accretion debris and heated disc stars on halo orbits through their
α
/Fe ratio, and to allow the study of the chemo-dynamical properties of globular clusters.
Conclusions.
Gaia
DR3 chemo-dynamical diagnostics open new horizons before the era of ground-based wide-field spectroscopic surveys. They unveil a complex Milky Way that is the outcome of an eventful evolution, shaping it to the present day.
Aims. HD 166734 is an eccentric eclipsing binary system composed of two supergiant O-type stars, orbiting with a 34.5-day period. In this rare configuration for such stars, the two objects mainly ...evolve independently, following single-star evolution so far. This system provides a chance to study the individual parameters of two supergiant massive stars and to derive their real masses. Methods. An intensive monitoring was dedicated to HD 166734. We analyzed mid- and high-resolution optical spectra to constrain the orbital parameters of this system. We also studied its light curve for the first time, obtained in the VRI filters. Finally, we disentangled the spectra of the two stars and modeled them with the CMFGEN atmosphere code in order to determine the individual physical parameters. Results. HD 166734 is a O7.5If+O9I(f) binary. We confirm its orbital period but we revise the other orbital parameters. In comparison to what we found in the literature, the system is more eccentric and, now, the hottest and the most luminous component is also the most massive one. The light curve exhibits only one eclipse and its analysis indicates an inclination of 63.0° ± 2.7°. The photometric analysis provides us with a good estimation of the luminosities of the stars, and therefore their exact positions in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. The evolutionary and the spectroscopic masses show good agreement with the dynamical masses of 39.5 M⊙ for the primary and 33.5 M⊙ for the secondary, within the uncertainties. The two components are both enriched in helium and in nitrogen and depleted in carbon. In addition, the primary also shows a depletion in oxygen. Their surface abundances are however not different from those derived from single supergiant stars, yielding, for both components, an evolution similar to that of single stars.
Gaia Early Data Release 3 Ramos-Lerate, M.; de Torres, A.; Raiteri, C. M. ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
2022, Letnik:
667
Journal Article, Web Resource
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Context.
Gaia
-CRF3 is the celestial reference frame for positions and proper motions in the third release of data from the
Gaia
mission,
Gaia
DR3 (and for the early third release,
Gaia
EDR3, which ...contains identical astrometric results). The reference frame is defined by the positions and proper motions at epoch 2016.0 for a specific set of extragalactic sources in the (E)DR3 catalogue.
Aims.
We describe the construction of
Gaia
-CRF3 and its properties in terms of the distributions in magnitude, colour, and astrometric quality.
Methods.
Compact extragalactic sources in
Gaia
DR3 were identified by positional cross-matching with 17 external catalogues of quasi-stellar objects (QSO) and active galactic nuclei (AGN), followed by astrometric filtering designed to remove stellar contaminants. Selecting a clean sample was favoured over including a higher number of extragalactic sources. For the final sample, the random and systematic errors in the proper motions are analysed, as well as the radio-optical offsets in position for sources in the third realisation of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF3).
Results.
Gaia
-CRF3 comprises about 1.6 million QSO-like sources, of which 1.2 million have five-parameter astrometric solutions in
Gaia
DR3 and 0.4 million have six-parameter solutions. The sources span the magnitude range
G
= 13–21 with a peak density at 20.6 mag, at which the typical positional uncertainty is about 1 mas. The proper motions show systematic errors on the level of 12 µas yr
–1
on angular scales greater than 15 deg. For the 3142 optical counterparts of ICRF3 sources in the S/X frequency bands, the median offset from the radio positions is about 0.5 mas, but it exceeds 4 mas in either coordinate for 127 sources. We outline the future of
Gaia
-CRF in the next
Gaia
data releases. Appendices give further details on the external catalogues used, how to extract information about the
Gaia
-CRF3 sources, potential (Galactic) confusion sources, and the estimation of the spin and orientation of an astrometric solution.
Gaia Data Release 3 Bailer-Jones, C. A. L.; Rimoldini, L.; Krone-Martins, A. ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
06/2023, Letnik:
674
Journal Article, Web Resource
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The
Gaia
Galactic survey mission is designed and optimized to obtain astrometry, photometry, and spectroscopy of nearly two billion stars in our Galaxy. Yet as an all-sky multi-epoch survey,
Gaia
...also observes several million extragalactic objects down to a magnitude of
G
∼ 21 mag. Due to the nature of the
Gaia
onboard-selection algorithms, these are mostly point-source-like objects. Using data provided by the satellite, we have identified quasar and galaxy candidates via supervised machine learning methods, and estimate their redshifts using the low resolution
BP
/
RP
spectra. We further characterise the surface brightness profiles of host galaxies of quasars and of galaxies from pre-defined input lists. Here we give an overview of the processing of extragalactic objects, describe the data products in
Gaia
DR3, and analyse their properties. Two integrated tables contain the main results for a high completeness, but low purity (50−70%), set of 6.6 million candidate quasars and 4.8 million candidate galaxies. We provide queries that select purer sub-samples of these containing 1.9 million probable quasars and 2.9 million probable galaxies (both ∼95% purity). We also use high quality BP/RP spectra of 43 thousand high probability quasars over the redshift range 0.05−4.36 to construct a composite quasar spectrum spanning restframe wavelengths from 72−1000 nm.
The Gaia satellite will survey the entire celestial sphere down to 20th magnitude, obtaining astrometry, photometry, and low resolution specfrophotometry on one billion astronomical sources, plus ...radial velocities for over one hundred million stars. Its main objective is to take a census of the stellar content of our Galaxy, with the goal of revealing its formation and evolution. Gaia's unique feature is the measurement of parallaxes and proper motions with hitherto unparalleled accuracy for many objects. Here we describe the data analysis system put together by the Gaia consortium to classify these objects and to infer their astrophysical properties using the satellite's data. After its launch in December 2013, Gaia will nominally observe for five years, during which the system we describe will continue to evolve in light of experience with the real data.
We present time series photometric observations of 13 transits in the planetary systems WASP-24, WASP-25 and WASP-26. All three systems have orbital obliquity measurements, WASP-24 and WASP-26 have ...been observed with Spitzer, and WASP-25 was previously comparatively neglected. Our light curves were obtained using the telescope-defocussing method and have scatters of 0.5–1.2 mmag relative to their best-fitting geometric models. We use these data to measure the physical properties and orbital ephemerides of the systems to high precision, finding that our improved measurements are in good agreement with previous studies. High-resolution Lucky Imaging observations of all three targets show no evidence for faint stars close enough to contaminate our photometry. We confirm the eclipsing nature of the star closest to WASP-24 and present the detection of a detached eclipsing binary within 4.25 arcmin of WASP-26.
Gaia Data Release 3 Schultheis, M.; Andrae, R.; Brown, A. G. A. ...
Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin),
06/2023, Letnik:
674
Journal Article, Web Resource
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Context.
Diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are common interstellar absorption features in spectroscopic observations but their origins remain unclear. DIBs play an important role in the life cycle of ...the interstellar medium (ISM) and can also be used to trace Galactic structure.
Aims.
Here, we demonstrate the capacity of the
Gaia
-Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) in
Gaia
DR3 to reveal the spatial distribution of the unknown molecular species responsible for the most prominent DIB at 862 nm in the RVS passband, exploring the Galactic ISM within a few kiloparsecs from the Sun.
Methods.
The DIBs are measured within the GSP-Spec module using a Gaussian profile fit for cool stars and a Gaussian process for hot stars. In addition to the equivalent widths and their uncertainties,
Gaia
DR3 provides their characteristic central wavelength, width, and quality flags.
Results.
We present an extensive sample of 476 117 individual DIB measurements obtained in a homogeneous way covering the entire sky. We compare spatial distributions of the DIB carrier with interstellar reddening and find evidence that DIB carriers are present in a local bubble around the Sun which contains nearly no dust. We characterised the DIB equivalent width with a local density of 0.19 ± 0.04 Å kpc
−1
and a scale height of 98.60
−8.46
+11.10
pc. The latter is smaller than the dust scale height, indicating that DIBs are more concentrated towards the Galactic plane. We determine the rest-frame wavelength with unprecedented precision (
λ
0
= 8620.86 ± 0.019 Å in air) and reveal a remarkable correspondence between the DIB velocities and the CO gas velocities, suggesting that the 862 nm DIB carrier is related to macro-molecules.
Conclusions.
We demonstrate the unique capacity of
Gaia
to trace the spatial structure of the Galactic ISM using the 862 nm DIB.
Context. Nonthermal radio emission in massive stars is expected to arise in wind-wind collisions occurring inside a binary system. One such case, the O-type star Cyg OB2 #9, was proven to be a binary ...only four years ago, but the orbital parameters remained uncertain. The periastron passage of 2011 was the first one to be observable under good conditions since the discovery of binarity. Aims: In this context, we have organized a large monitoring campaign to refine the orbital solution and to study the wind-wind collision. Methods: This paper presents the analysis of optical spectroscopic data, as well as of a dedicated X-ray monitoring performed with Swift and XMM-Newton. Results: In light of our refined orbital solution, Cyg OB2 #9 appears as a massive O+O binary with a long period and high eccentricity; its components (O5-5.5I for the primary and O3-4III for the secondary) have similar masses and similar luminosities. The new data also provide the first evidence that a wind-wind collision is present in the system. In the optical domain, the broad Hα line varies, displaying enhanced absorption and emission components at periastron. X-ray observations yield the unambiguous signature of an adiabatic collision, because as the stars approach periastron, the X-ray luminosity closely follows the 1/D variation expected in that case. The X-ray spectrum appears, however, slightly softer at periastron, which is probably related to winds colliding at slightly lower speeds at that time. Conclusions: It is the first time that such a variation has been detected in O+O systems, and the first case where the wind-wind collision is found to remain adiabatic even at periastron passage.
Context. Asteroid modeling efforts in the last decade resulted in a comprehensive dataset of almost 400 convex shape models and their rotation states. These efforts already provided deep insight into ...physical properties of main-belt asteroids or large collisional families. Going into finer detail (e.g., smaller collisional families, asteroids with sizes ≲20 km) requires knowledge of physical parameters of more objects. Aims. We aim to increase the number of asteroid shape models and rotation states. Such results provide important input for further studies, such as analysis of asteroid physical properties in different populations, including smaller collisional families, thermophysical modeling, and scaling shape models by disk-resolved images, or stellar occultation data. This provides bulk density estimates in combination with known masses, but also constrains theoretical collisional and evolutional models of the solar system. Methods. We use all available disk-integrated optical data (i.e., classical dense-in-time photometry obtained from public databases and through a large collaboration network as well as sparse-in-time individual measurements from a few sky surveys) as input for the convex inversion method, and derive 3D shape models of asteroids together with their rotation periods and orientations of rotation axes. The key ingredient is the support of more that 100 observers who submit their optical data to publicly available databases. Results. We present updated shape models for 36 asteroids, for which mass estimates are currently available in the literature, or for which masses will most likely be determined from their gravitational influence on smaller bodies whose orbital deflections will be observed by the ESA Gaia astrometric mission. Moreover, we also present new shape model determinations for 250 asteroids, including 13 Hungarias and three near-Earth asteroids. The shape model revisions and determinations were enabled by using additional optical data from recent apparitions for shape optimization.
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