Search Publications
The Massive Progenitor of the Possible Type II-Linear Supernova 2009hd in Messier 66
Van Dyk, Schuyler D.; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Foley, Ryan J. +11 more
We present early- and late-time photometric and spectroscopic observations of supernova (SN) 2009hd in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 3627 (M66). This SN is one of the closest to us in recent years and provides an uncommon opportunity to observe and study the nature of SNe. However, the object was heavily obscured by dust, rendering it unusually fai…
PTF 10fqs: A Luminous Red Nova in the Spiral Galaxy Messier 99
Filippenko, Alexei V.; Cenko, S. Bradley; Law, Nicholas M. +39 more
The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) is systematically charting the optical transient and variable sky. A primary science driver of PTF is building a complete inventory of transients in the local universe (distance less than 200 Mpc). Here, we report the discovery of PTF 10fqs, a transient in the luminosity "gap" between novae and supernovae. Locat…
The Pan-Pacific Planet Search. I. A Giant Planet Orbiting 7 CMa
Endl, Michael; Wittenmyer, Robert A.; Wang, Liang +3 more
We introduce the Pan-Pacific Planet Search, a survey of 170 metal-rich Southern Hemisphere subgiants using the 3.9 m Anglo-Australian Telescope. We report the first discovery from this program, a giant planet orbiting 7 CMa (HD 47205) with a period of 763 ± 17 days, eccentricity e = 0.14 ± 0.06, and msin i = 2.6 ± 0.6 M Jup. The host st…
Insights on the Formation, Evolution, and Activity of Massive Galaxies from Ultracompact and Disky Galaxies at z = 2-3
Papovich, Casey; Dickinson, Mark; Lucas, Ray A. +9 more
We present our results on the structure and activity of massive galaxies at z = 1-3 using one of the largest (166 with M sstarf >= 5 × 1010 M ⊙) and most diverse samples of massive galaxies derived from the GOODS-NICMOS survey: (1) Sérsic fits to deep NIC3 F160W images indicate that the rest-frame optical struct…
Optical Polarization and Spectral Variability in the M87 Jet
Perlman, Eric S.; Cara, Mihai; Sparks, William B. +10 more
During the last decade, M87's jet has been the site of an extraordinary variability event, with one knot (HST-1) increasing by over a factor 100 in brightness. Variability has also been seen on timescales of months in the nuclear flux. Here we discuss the optical-UV polarization and spectral variability of these components, which show vastly diffe…
Statistical Study of Chromospheric Anemone Jets Observed with Hinode/SOT
Shibata, K.; Kawate, T.; Nakamura, T. +2 more
The Solar Optical Telescope on board Hinode has revealed numerous tiny jets in all regions of the chromosphere outside of sunspots. A typical chromospheric anemone jet has a cusp-shaped structure and bright footpoint, similar to the shape of an X-ray anemone jet observed previously with the Soft X-ray Telescope on board Yohkoh. The similarity in t…
Observational Constraints on Submillimeter Dust Opacity
Bieging, John H.; Wilner, David J.; Shirley, Yancy L. +4 more
Infrared extinction maps and submillimeter dust continuum maps are powerful probes of the density structure in the envelope of star-forming cores. We make a direct comparison between infrared and submillimeter dust continuum observations of the low-mass Class 0 core, B335, to constrain the ratio of submillimeter to infrared opacity (κsmm
A Submillimeter Mapping Survey of Herbig AeBe Stars
Sandell, Göran; Weintraub, David A.; Hamidouche, Murad
We have acquired submillimeter observations of 33 fields containing 37 Herbig Ae/Be (HAEBE) stars or potential HAEBE stars, including SCUBA maps of all but two of these stars. Nine target stars show extended dust emission. The other 18 are unresolved, suggesting that the dust envelopes or disks around these stars are less than a few arcseconds in …
The Edge of the Milky Way Stellar Disk Revealed Using Clump Giant Stars as Distance Indicators
Minniti, D.; Saito, R. K.; Alonso-García, J. +2 more
We use the clump giants of the disk as standard candles calibrated from Hipparcos parallaxes in order to map their distribution with two new near-infrared surveys of the Galactic plane: UKIDSS-GPS and VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV). We explore different selection cuts of clump giants. We conclude that there is an edge of the stellar disk …
Expanded Very Large Array Observations of a Proto-cluster of Molecular Gas-rich Galaxies at z = 4.05
Daddi, E.; Walter, F.; Dannerbauer, H. +4 more
We present observations of the molecular gas in the GN20 proto-cluster of galaxies at z = 4.05 using the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA). This group of galaxies is the ideal laboratory for studying the formation of massive galaxies via luminous, gas-rich starbursts within 1.6 Gyr of the big bang. We detect three galaxies in the proto-cluster in C…