Search Publications

The cosmic microwave background Cold Spot anomaly: the impact of sky masking and the expected contribution from the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect
DOI: 10.1093/mnrasl/slx140 Bibcode: 2017MNRAS.472L..65N

Lahav, Ofer; Benoit-Lévy, Aurélien; Naidoo, Krishna

We re-analyse the cosmic microwave background (CMB) Cold Spot (CS) anomaly with particular focus on understanding the bias a mask (contaminated by Galactic and point sources) may introduce. We measure the coldest spot, found by applying the Spherical Mexican Hat Wavelet transform on 100 000 cut-sky (masked) and full-sky CMB simulated maps. The CS …

2017 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Planck 11
A mechanism for comet surface collapse as observed by Rosetta on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stx1577 Bibcode: 2017MNRAS.469S.217P

Sierks, H.; Prialnik, D.

We explore a possible mechanism that may explain sudden depressions of surface areas on a comet nucleus, as suggested by observations of the Rosetta mission on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (hereafter, 67P/C-G). Assuming the area is covered by a thin, compact dust layer of low permeability to gas flow compared to deeper, porous layers, gas can a…

2017 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rosetta 11
Energy-dependent variability of the bare Seyfert 1 galaxy Ark 120
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stx1960 Bibcode: 2017MNRAS.472..174M

Dewangan, Gulab C.; McHardy, I. M.; Mallick, Labani +1 more

We present results from a detailed spectral-timing analysis of a long ∼486 ks XMM-Newton observation of the bare Seyfert 1 galaxy Ark 120 which showed alternating diminution and increment in the 0.3-10 keV X-ray flux over four consecutive orbits in 2014. We study the energy-dependent variability of Ark 120 through broad-band X-ray spectroscopy, fr…

2017 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
XMM-Newton 11
SOFIA-EXES Mid-IR Observations of [Fe II] Emission from the Extended Atmosphere of Betelgeuse
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/836/1/22 Bibcode: 2017ApJ...836...22H

Ryde, N.; Greathouse, T. K.; Guinan, E. F. +5 more

We present a NASA-DLR SOFIA-Echelon Cross Echelle Spectrograph (EXES) and NASA Infrared Telescope Facility-Texas Echelon Cross Echelle Spectrograph (TEXES) mid-IR R≃ {{50,000}} spectral study of forbidden Fe II transitions in the early-type M supergiants, Betelgeuse (α Ori: M2 Iab) and Antares (α Sco: M1 Iab + B3 V). With EXES, we spectrally resol…

2017 The Astrophysical Journal
eHST 11
X-rays from Green Pea analogues
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stx1286 Bibcode: 2017MNRAS.470..606B

Kaaret, P.; Brorby, M.

X-ray observations of two metal-deficient luminous compact galaxies (LCG; SHOC 486 and SDSS J084220.94+115000.2) with properties similar to the so-called Green Pea galaxies were obtained using the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Green Pea galaxies are relatively small, compact (a few kpc across) galaxies that get their green colour from strong [O III] …

2017 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
eHST 11
Stability of the interstellar hydrogen inflow longitude from 20 years of SOHO/SWAN observations
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201629840 Bibcode: 2017A&A...598A..12K

Schmidt, W.; Bertaux, J. -L.; Lallement, R. +3 more


Aims: A recent debate on the decade-long stability of the interstellar He flow vector, and in particular the flow longitude, has prompted us to check for any variability in the interstellar H flow vector as observed by the SWAN instrument on board SOHO.
Methods: We used a simple model-independent method to determine the interstellar H fl…

2017 Astronomy and Astrophysics
SOHO 11
Quantification of the total ion transport in the near-Earth plasma sheet
DOI: 10.5194/angeo-35-869-2017 Bibcode: 2017AnGeo..35..869S

Karlsson, Tomas; Nilsson, Hans; Slapak, Rikard +4 more

Recent studies strongly suggest that a majority of the observed O+ cusp outflows will eventually escape into the solar wind, rather than be transported to the plasma sheet. Therefore, an investigation of plasma sheet flows will add to these studies and give a more complete picture of magnetospheric ion dynamics. Specifically, it will pr…

2017 Annales Geophysicae
Cluster 11
Optimal Stellar Photometry for Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics Systems Using Science-based Metrics
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/aa63ed Bibcode: 2017AJ....153..199T

Massari, D.; Stetson, P. B.; Bono, G. +5 more

We present a detailed discussion of how to obtain precise stellar photometry in crowded fields using images from multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) systems, with the intent of informing the scientific development of this key technology for the Extremely Large Telescopes. We use deep J and K s exposures of NGC 1851 taken with the Gem…

2017 The Astronomical Journal
eHST 11
XMM-Newton observation of the supernova remnant Kes 78 (G32.8-0.1): Evidence of shock-cloud interaction
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201629842 Bibcode: 2017A&A...599A..45M

Chen, Y.; Miceli, M.; Bocchino, F. +4 more

Context. The Galactic supernova remnant Kes 78 is surrounded by dense molecular clouds, whose projected position overlaps with the extended HESS γ-ray source HESS J1852-000. The X-ray emission from the remnant has recently been revealed by Suzaku observations, which have shown indications for a hard X-ray component in the spectra that might be ass…

2017 Astronomy and Astrophysics
XMM-Newton 11
Search for active lava flows with VIRTIS on Venus Express
DOI: 10.1002/2016JE005211 Bibcode: 2017JGRE..122.1021M

Drossart, P.; Piccioni, G.; Smrekar, S. +3 more

The Visible Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) instrument on Venus Express observed thermal emission from the surface of Venus at 1 µm wavelength and thus would have detected sufficiently bright incandescent lava flows. No eruptions were detected in the observations between April 2006 and October 2008, covering an area equivalent…

2017 Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets)
VenusExpress 11