Search Publications
The changing rotation period of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko controlled by its activity
Jorda, L.; Keller, H. U.; Mottola, S. +1 more
Context. The ESA Rosetta spacecraft has been orbiting the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko since August 2014. The rotation axis of the irregularly shaped nucleus has a large obliquity (52°) and is oriented such that the southern hemisphere is insolated during perihelion.
Aims: We calculate the change in the rotation period as a func…
Planck intermediate results. XXVIII. Interstellar gas and dust in the Chamaeleon clouds as seen by Fermi LAT and Planck
Kneissl, R.; Miville-Deschênes, M. -A.; Boulanger, F. +198 more
The nearby Chamaeleon clouds have been observed in γ rays by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and in thermal dust emission by Planck and IRAS. Cosmic rays and large dust grains, if smoothly mixed with gas, can jointly serve with the H i and 12CO radio data to (i) map the hydrogen column densities, NH, in the different gas…
Radiative braking in the extended exosphere of GJ 436 b
Ehrenreich, D.; Lecavelier des Etangs, A.; Bourrier, V.
The recent detection of a giant exosphere surrounding the warm Neptune GJ 436 b has shed new light on the evaporation of close-in planets, revealing that moderately irradiated, low-mass exoplanets could make exceptional targets for studying this mechanism and its impact on the exoplanet population. Three HST/STIS observations were performed in the…
Mixed aliphatic and aromatic composition of evaporating very small grains in NGC 7023 revealed by the 3.4/3.3 µm ratio
Boulanger, F.; Joblin, C.; Onaka, T. +1 more
Context. A chemical scenario was proposed for photon-dominated regions (PDRs) according to which UV photons from nearby stars lead to the evaporation of very small grains (VSGs) and the production of gas-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
Aims: Our goal is to achieve better insight into the composition and evolution of evaporating…
Scientific assessment of the quality of OSIRIS images
Jorda, L.; Lamy, P. L.; Bertaux, J. -L. +51 more
Context. OSIRIS, the scientific imaging system onboard the ESA Rosetta spacecraft, has been imaging the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and its dust and gas environment since March 2014. The images serve different scientific goals, from morphology and composition studies of the nucleus surface, to the motion and trajectories of dust gra…
SN2014J gamma rays from the 56Ni decay chain
Wang, Wei; Diehl, Roland; Greiner, Jochen +7 more
Context. The detection and measurement of gamma-ray lines from the decay chain of 56Ni provides unique information about the explosion in supernovae. SN2014J at 3.3 Mpc is a sufficiently-nearby supernova of type Ia so that such measurements have been feasible with the gamma-ray spectrometer SPI on ESA's INTEGRAL gamma-ray observatory. <…
A near-infrared spectroscopic survey of massive jets towards extended green objects
Sanna, A.; Stecklum, B.; Linz, H. +2 more
Context. Protostellar jets and outflows are the main outcome of the star formation process, and their analysis can provide us with major clues about the ejection and accretion history of young stellar objects (YSOs).
Aims: We aim at deriving the main physical properties of massive jets from near-infrared (NIR) observations, comparing them to …
MUSE tells the story of NGC 4371: The dawning of secular evolution
Falcón-Barroso, Jesus; Sánchez-Blázquez, Patricia; Gadotti, Dimitri A. +4 more
We use data from the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE), recently commissioned at the Very Large Telescope (VLT), to study the kinematics and stellar population content of NGC 4371, an early-type massive barred galaxy in the core of the Virgo cluster. We integrate this study with a detailed structural analysis using imaging data from the Hub…
E-BOSS: An Extensive stellar BOw Shock Survey. II. Catalogue second release
Peri, C. S.; Benaglia, P.; Isequilla, N. L.
Context. Stellar bow shocks have been studied not only observationally, but also theoretically since the late 1980s. Only a few catalogues of them exist. The bow shocks show emission along all the electromagnetic spectrum, but they are detected more easily in infrared wavelengths. The release of new and high-quality infrared data eases the discove…
Chemical tracers of episodic accretion in low-mass protostars
Bergin, Edwin A.; Visser, Ruud; Jørgensen, Jes K.
Aims: Accretion rates in low-mass protostars can be highly variable in time. Each accretion burst is accompanied by a temporary increase in luminosity, heating up the circumstellar envelope and altering the chemical composition of the gas and dust. This paper aims to study such chemical effects and discusses the feasibility of using molecular…