Search Publications
The distribution of stars around the Milky Way's central black hole. I. Deep star counts
Nogueras-Lara, F.; Gallego-Calvente, A. T.; Dong, H. +4 more
Context. The existence of dynamically relaxed stellar density cusps in dense clusters around massive black holes is a long-standing prediction of stellar dynamics, but it has so far escaped unambiguous observational confirmation.
Aims: In this paper we aim to revisit the problem of inferring the innermost structure of the Milky Way's nuclear …
SMASHing the LMC: A Tidally Induced Warp in the Outer LMC and a Large-scale Reddening Map
Bell, Eric F.; Monachesi, Antonela; Choi, Yumi +18 more
We present a study of the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using ∼2.2 million red clump (RC) stars selected from the Survey of the MAgellanic Stellar History. To correct for line-of-sight dust extinction, the intrinsic RC color and magnitude and their radial dependence are carefully measured by using internal ne…
The unexpectedly large dust and gas content of quiescent galaxies at z > 1.4
Finoguenov, A.; Daddi, E.; Béthermin, M. +13 more
Early-type galaxies (ETGs) contain most of the stars present in the local Universe and, above a stellar mass content of 5 × 1010 solar masses, vastly outnumber spiral galaxies such as the Milky Way. These massive spheroidal galaxies have, in the present day, very little gas or dust in proportion to their mass1, and their stel…
Retired A Stars Revisited: An Updated Giant Planet Occurrence Rate as a Function of Stellar Metallicity and Mass
Montet, Benjamin T.; Johnson, John Asher; Ghezzi, Luan
Exoplanet surveys of evolved stars have provided increasing evidence that the formation of giant planets depends not only on stellar metallicity ([Fe/H]) but also on the mass ({M}\star ). However, measuring accurate masses for subgiants and giants is far more challenging than it is for their main-sequence counterparts, which has led to …
NGTS-1b: a hot Jupiter transiting an M-dwarf
Wheatley, Peter J.; Bayliss, Daniel; Raddi, Roberto +40 more
We present the discovery of NGTS-1b, a hot Jupiter transiting an early M-dwarf host (Teff,* = 3916 ^{+71}_{-63} K) in a P = 2.647 d orbit discovered as part of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). The planet has a mass of 0.812 ^{+0.066}_{-0.075} MJ, making it the most massive planet ever discovered transiting an M-dwar…
The Cepheid period-luminosity-metallicity relation based on Gaia DR2 data
Groenewegen, M. A. T.
Aims: We use parallax data from the Gaia second data release (GDR2), combined with parallax data based on HIPPARCOS and HST data, to derive the period-luminosity-metallicity (PLZ) relation for Galactic classical cepheids (CCs) in the V, K, and Wesenheit WVK bands.
Methods: An initial sample of 452 CCs are extracted from the literature wi…
The Near-infrared Transmission Spectra of TRAPPIST-1 Planets b, c, d, e, f, and g and Stellar Contamination in Multi-epoch Transit Spectra
Apai, Dániel; Zhou, Yifan; Rackham, Benjamin V. +1 more
The seven approximately Earth-sized transiting planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system provide a unique opportunity to explore habitable- and nonhabitable-zone small planets within the same system. Its habitable-zone exoplanets—due to their favorable transit depths—are also worlds for which atmospheric transmission spectroscopy is within reach with the H…
The Dragonfly Nearby Galaxies Survey. V. HST/ACS Observations of 23 Low Surface Brightness Objects in the Fields of NGC 1052, NGC 1084, M96, and NGC 4258
Mowla, Lamiya; van Dokkum, Pieter; Romanowsky, Aaron J. +8 more
We present Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) imaging of 23 very low surface brightness (µ e,V ∼ 25-27.5) galaxies detected in the fields of four nearby galaxy groups. These objects were selected from deep optical imaging obtained with the Dragonfly Telephoto Array. Seven are newly identified, while most of…
A surge of light at the birth of a supernova
Cenko, S. B.; Zheng, W.; Smith, N. +18 more
It is difficult to establish the properties of massive stars that explode as supernovae. The electromagnetic emission during the first minutes to hours after the emergence of the shock from the stellar surface conveys important information about the final evolution and structure of the exploding star. However, the unpredictable nature of supernova…
Revisiting the Phase Curves of WASP-43b: Confronting Re-analyzed Spitzer Data with Cloudy Atmospheres
Mendonça, João M.; Demory, Brice-Olivier; Heng, Kevin +1 more
Recently acquired Hubble and Spitzer phase curves of the short-period hot Jupiter WASP-43b make it an ideal target for confronting theory with data. On the observational front, we re-analyze the 3.6 and 4.5 µm Spitzer phase curves and demonstrate that our improved analysis better removes residual red noise due to intra-pixel sensitivity, whi…