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Estimating Distances from Parallaxes. V. Geometric and Photogeometric Distances to 1.47 Billion Stars in Gaia Early Data Release 3
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/abd806 Bibcode: 2021AJ....161..147B

Bailer-Jones, C. A. L.; Rybizki, J.; Fouesneau, M. +2 more

Stellar distances constitute a foundational pillar of astrophysics. The publication of 1.47 billion stellar parallaxes from Gaia is a major contribution to this. Despite Gaia's precision, the majority of these stars are so distant or faint that their fractional parallax uncertainties are large, thereby precluding a simple inversion of parallax to …

2021 The Astronomical Journal
Gaia 1501
New Determinations of the UV Luminosity Functions from z 9 to 2 Show a Remarkable Consistency with Halo Growth and a Constant Star Formation Efficiency
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/abf83e Bibcode: 2021AJ....162...47B

Oesch, P. A.; Bouwens, R. J.; Reddy, N. +9 more

Here we provide the most comprehensive determinations of the rest-frame UV luminosity function (LF) available to date with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) at z ~ 2-9. Essentially all of the noncluster extragalactic legacy fields are utilized, including the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, the Hubble Frontier Fields parallel fields, and all five CANDELS f…

2021 The Astronomical Journal
eHST 323
The JPL Planetary and Lunar Ephemerides DE440 and DE441
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/abd414 Bibcode: 2021AJ....161..105P

Park, Ryan S.; Folkner, William M.; Williams, James G. +1 more

The planetary and lunar ephemerides called DE440 and DE441 have been generated by fitting numerically integrated orbits to ground-based and space-based observations. Compared to the previous general-purpose ephemerides DE430, seven years of new data have been added to compute DE440 and DE441, with improved dynamical models and data calibration. Th…

2021 The Astronomical Journal
Gaia 291
The Automatic Learning for the Rapid Classification of Events (ALeRCE) Alert Broker
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/abe9bc Bibcode: 2021AJ....161..242F

Bauer, F. E.; Moya, A.; Catelan, M. +40 more

We introduce the Automatic Learning for the Rapid Classification of Events (ALeRCE) broker, an astronomical alert broker designed to provide a rapid and self-consistent classification of large etendue telescope alert streams, such as that provided by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and, in the future, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Surve…

2021 The Astronomical Journal
Gaia 173
The HETDEX Instrumentation: Hobby-Eberly Telescope Wide-field Upgrade and VIRUS
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac2c02 Bibcode: 2021AJ....162..298H

Schneider, Donald P.; Marshall, J. L.; Janowiecki, Steven +46 more

The Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) is undertaking a blind wide-field low-resolution spectroscopic survey of 540 deg2 of sky to identify and derive redshifts for a million Lyα-emitting galaxies in the redshift range 1.9 < z < 3.5. The ultimate goal is to measure the expansion rate of the universe at th…

2021 The Astronomical Journal
Gaia 107
Constraining the Nature of the PDS 70 Protoplanets with VLTI/GRAVITY
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/abdb2d Bibcode: 2021AJ....161..148W

Lutz, D.; Genzel, R.; Sturm, E. +101 more

We present K-band interferometric observations of the PDS 70 protoplanets along with their host star using VLTI/GRAVITY. We obtained K-band spectra and 100 µas precision astrometry of both PDS 70 b and c in two epochs, as well as spatially resolving the hot inner disk around the star. Rejecting unstable orbits, we found a nonzero eccentricit…

2021 The Astronomical Journal
Gaia 101
On the Diversity of Asymmetries in Gapped Protoplanetary Disks
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/abc3ba Bibcode: 2021AJ....161...33V

Dong, Ruobing; Garufi, Antonio; Sallum, Steph +7 more

Protoplanetary disks with large inner dust cavities are thought to host massive planetary or substellar companions. These disks show asymmetries and rings in the millimeter continuum caused by dust trapping in pressure bumps and potentially vortices or horseshoes. The origin of the asymmetries and their diversity remains unclear. We present a comp…

2021 The Astronomical Journal
Gaia 97
orvara: An Efficient Code to Fit Orbits Using Radial Velocity, Absolute, and/or Relative Astrometry
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac042e Bibcode: 2021AJ....162..186B

Dupuy, Trent J.; Bardalez Gagliuffi, Daniella C.; Brandt, Timothy D. +5 more

We present an open-source Python package, Orbits from Radial Velocity, Absolute, and/or Relative Astrometry (orvara), to fit Keplerian orbits to any combination of radial velocity, relative astrometry, and absolute astrometry data from the Hipparcos-Gaia Catalog of Accelerations. By combining these three data types, one can measure precise masses …

2021 The Astronomical Journal
Gaia Hipparcos 94
Where Is the Water? Jupiter-like C/H Ratio but Strong H2O Depletion Found on τ Boötis b Using SPIRou
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac0428 Bibcode: 2021AJ....162...73P

Vandal, Thomas; Doyon, René; Donati, Jean-François +18 more

The present-day envelope of gaseous planets is a relic of how these giant planets originated and evolved. Measuring their elemental composition therefore presents a powerful opportunity to answer long-standing questions regarding planet formation. Obtaining precise observational constraints on the elemental inventory of giant exoplanets has, howev…

2021 The Astronomical Journal
Gaia 82
Photometric Study and Absolute Parameter Estimation of Six Totally Eclipsing Contact Binaries
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/abfc53 Bibcode: 2021AJ....162...13L

Guo, Ya-Ni; Li, Kai; Xia, Qi-Qi +6 more

High precision CCD observations of six totally eclipsing contact binaries were presented and analyzed. It is found that only one target is an A-type contact binary (V429 Cam), while the others are W-type contact ones. By analyzing the times of light minima, we discovered that two of them exhibit secular period increase while three manifest long-te…

2021 The Astronomical Journal
Gaia 78