Engineering topics

Zacharias, Norbert

Publications and source records attributed to Zacharias, Norbert.

10 records

DOE OSTI2018

URAT South Parallax Results

We present 916 trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of newly discovered nearby stars from the United States Naval Observatory Robotic Astrometric Telescope (URAT). Observations were taken at the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory over a 2-year period from 2015 to 2017 October covering the entire sky south of about +25° decl. SPM4 and UCAC4 early epoch catalog data were added to extend the temporal coverage for the parallax and proper motion fit up to 48 years. Using these new URAT parallaxes, optical and near-IR photometry from the AAVSO Photometric All-Sky Survey and Two Micron All-Sky Survey catalogs, we identify possible new nearby dwarfs, young stars, low-metallicity subdwarfs and white dwarfs. Comparison to known trigonometric parallaxes shows a high quality of the URAT-based results confirming the error in parallax of the URAT south parallaxes reported here to be between 2 and 13 mas. We also include additional 729 trigonometric parallaxes from the URAT north 25 pc sample published in Finch and Zacharias here after applying the same criterion as for the southern sample to have a complete URAT 25 pc sample presented in this paper.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2016

PARALLAX RESULTS FROM URAT EPOCH DATA

We present 1103 trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions from the United States Naval Observatory Robotic Astrometric Telescope (URAT) observations taken at the Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station (NOFS) over a three-year period from 2012 April to 2015 June covering the entire sky north of about −10{sup ∘} decl. We selected two samples: previously suspected nearby stars from known photometric distances and stars showing a large, significant parallax signature in URAT epoch data without any prior selection criteria. All systems presented in this paper have an observed parallax ≥40 mas with no previous published trigonometric parallax. The formal errors on these weighted parallax solutions are mostly between 4 and 10 mas. This sample gives a significant (of the order of 50%) increase to the number of known systems having a trigonometric parallax to be within 25 pc of the Sun (without applying Lutz–Kelker bias corrections). A few of these are found to be within 10 pc. Many of these new nearby stars display a total proper motion of less than 200 mas yr{sup −1}. URAT parallax results have been verified against Hipparcos and Yale data for stars in common. The publication of all signifigant parallax observations from URAT data is in preparation for CDS.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

UCAC4 nearby star survey: A search for our stellar neighbors

We use data from the U.S. Naval Observatory fourth CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC4) in combination with photometry from the AAVSO Photometric All-Sky Survey and Two Micron All-Sky Survey to identify stars within 25 pc of the Sun. A sample of nearby stars with accurate trigonometric parallaxes from the Research Consortium On Nearby Stars is used to generate a set of 16 new photometric color–M{sub K{sub s}} relations that provide distance estimates with uncertainties of 15%. This work expands the available suites of well-calibrated photometric distance relations that can be used to identify nearby stellar systems. The distance relations are used with quality cuts to extract an initial sample of stars from the UCAC4 estimated to be within 25 pc. Color, proper motion, and existing literature sources are then used to obtain a clean sample of red dwarfs, while limiting the amount of contamination from background giants, resulting in a sample of 1761 candidate nearby stars within 25 pc. Of these, 339 are new discoveries with no previously known published parallax or distance estimate, primarily with proper motions less than 0.2 arcsec yr{sup −1}. Five stars are estimated to be within 10 pc, with the nearest, TYC 3980 1081 1, with V=10.50 estimated to be at 5.9 pc. That several hundred new stars have been revealed so close to the Sun illustrates once again that there is considerable work yet to be done to map the solar neighborhood and that additional nearby stars are likely still to be discovered.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2013

DOUBLE STARS IN THE USNO CCD ASTROGRAPHIC CATALOG

The newly completed Fourth USNO CCD Astrographic Catalog (UCAC4) has proven to be a rich source of double star astrometry and photometry. Following initial comparisons of UCAC4 results against those obtained by speckle interferometry, the UCAC4 catalog was matched against known double stars in the Washington Double Star Catalog in order to provide additional differential astrometry and photometry for these pairs. Matches to 58,131 pairs yielded 61,895 astrometric and 68,935 photometric measurements. Finally, a search for possible new common proper motion (CPM) pairs was made using new UCAC4 proper motion data; this resulted in 4755 new potential CPM doubles (and an additional 27,718 astrometric and photometric measures from UCAC and other sources)

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2012

UCAC3 PROPER MOTION SURVEY. II. DISCOVERY OF NEW PROPER MOTION STARS IN UCAC3 WITH 0.''40 yr{sup -1} > {mu} {>=} 0.''18 yr{sup -1} BETWEEN DECLINATIONS -47 Degree-Sign and 00 Degree-Sign

We present 474 new proper motion stellar systems in the southern sky having no previously known components, with 0.''40 yr{sup -1} >{mu} {>=} 0.''18 yr{sup -1} between declinations -47 Degree-Sign and 0 Degree-Sign . In this second paper utilizing the U.S. Naval Observatory third CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC3) we complete our sweep of the southern sky for objects in the proper motion range targeted by this survey with R magnitudes ranging from 9.80 to 19.61. The new systems contribute a {approx}16% increase in the number of new stellar systems for the same region of sky reported in previous SuperCOSMOS Research Consortium On Nearby Stars (RECONS) surveys. Among the newly discovered stellar systems are 16 multiples, plus an additional ten components that are new common proper motion companions to previously known objects. A comparison of UCAC3 proper motions to those from Hipparcos, Tycho-2, Southern Proper Motion, and SuperCOSMOS indicates that all proper motions are consistent to {approx}10 mas yr{sup -1}, with the exception of SuperCOSMOS. Distance estimates are derived for all stellar systems having SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey B{sub J} , R{sub 59F}, and I{sub IVN} plate magnitudes and Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) infrared photometry. We find five new red dwarf systems estimated to be within 25 pc. These discoveries support results from previous proper motion surveys suggesting that more nearby stellar systems are to be found, particularly in the fainter, slower moving samples. In this second paper utilizing the UCAC3 we complete our sweep of the southern sky for objects in the proper motion range targeted by this survey with R magnitudes ranging from 9.80 to 19.61.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2010

UCAC3 PROPER MOTION SURVEY. I. DISCOVERY OF NEW PROPER MOTION STARS IN UCAC3 WITH 0.''40 yr{sup -1} > {mu} {>=} 0.''18 yr{sup -1} BETWEEN DECLINATIONS -90{sup 0} AND -47{sup 0}

This paper presents 442 new proper motion stellar systems in the southern sky between declinations -90{sup 0} and -47{sup 0} with 0.''40 yr{sup -1} > {mu} {>=} 0.''18 yr{sup -1}. These systems constitute a 25.3% increase in new systems for the same region of the sky covered by previous SuperCOSMOS RECONS (SCR) searches that used Schmidt plates as the primary source of discovery. Among the new systems are 25 multiples, plus an additional 7 new common proper motion (CPM) companions to previously known primaries. All stars have been discovered using the third U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC3). A comparison of the UCAC3 proper motions to those from the Hipparcos, Tycho-2, Southern Proper Motion (SPM4), and SuperCOSMOS efforts is presented and shows that UCAC3 provides similar values and precision to the first three surveys. The comparison between UCAC3 and SuperCOSMOS indicates that proper motions in R.A. are systematically shifted in the SuperCOSMOS data but are consistent in decl. data, while overall showing a significantly higher scatter. Distance estimates are derived for stars having SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey B{sub J} , R{sub 59F}, and I{sub IVN} plate magnitudes and Two-Micron All Sky Survey infrared photometry. We find 15 systems estimated to be within 25 pc, including UPM 1710-5300 our closest new discovery estimated at 13.5 pc. Such new discoveries suggest that more nearby stars are yet to be found in these slower proper motion regimes, indicating that more work is needed to develop a complete map of the solar neighborhood.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2010

UCAC3: ASTROMETRIC REDUCTIONS

Presented here are the details of the astrometric reductions from the x, y data to mean right ascension (R.A.), declination (decl.) coordinates of the third U.S. Naval Observatory CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC3). For these new reductions we used over 216,000 CCD exposures. The Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) data are used extensively to probe for coordinate and coma-like systematic errors in UCAC data mainly caused by the poor charge transfer efficiency of the 4K CCD. Errors up to about 200 mas have been corrected using complex look-up tables handling multiple dependences derived from the residuals. Similarly, field distortions and sub-pixel phase errors have also been evaluated using the residuals with respect to 2MASS. The overall magnitude equation is derived from UCAC calibration field observations alone, independent of external catalogs. Systematic errors of positions at the UCAC observing epoch as presented in UCAC3 are better corrected than in the previous catalogs for most stars. The Tycho-2 catalog is used to obtain final positions on the International Celestial Reference Frame. Residuals of the Tycho-2 reference stars show a small magnitude equation (depending on declination zone) that might be inherent in the Tycho-2 catalog.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2010

UCAC3 PIXEL PROCESSING

The third US Naval Observatory CCD Astrograph Catalog, UCAC3, was released at the IAU General Assembly on 2009 August 10. It is a highly accurate, all-sky astrometric catalog of about 100 million stars in the R = 8-16 mag range. Recent epoch observations are based on over 270,000 CCD exposures, which have been re-processed for the UCAC3 release applying traditional and new techniques. Challenges in the data have been high dark current and asymmetric image profiles due to the poor charge transfer efficiency of the detector. Non-Gaussian image profile functions were explored and correlations are found for profile fit parameters with properties of the CCD frames. These were utilized to constrain the image profile fit models and adequately describe the observed point-spread function of stellar images with a minimum number of free parameters. Using an appropriate model function, blended images of double stars could be fit successfully. UCAC3 positions are derived from two-dimensional image profile fits with a five-parameter, symmetric Lorentz profile model. Internal precisions of about 5 mas per coordinate and single exposure are found, which are degraded by the atmosphere to about 10 mas. However, systematic errors exceeding 100 mas are present in the x, y data which have been corrected in the astrometric reductions following the x, y data reduction step described here.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

NASA NTRS2004

Astrophysics of Reference Frame Tie Objects

The Astrophysics of Reference Frame Tie Objects Key Science program will investigate the underlying physics of SIM grid objects. Extragalactic objects in the SIM grid will be used to tie the SIM reference frame to the quasi-inertial reference frame defined by extragalactic objects and to remove any residual frame rotation with respect to the extragalactic frame. The current realization of the extragalactic frame is the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF). The ICRF is defined by the radio positions of 212 extragalactic objects and is the IAU sanctioned fundamental astronomical reference frame. This key project will advance our knowledge of the physics of the objects which will make up the SIM grid, such as quasars and chromospherically active stars, and relates directly to the stability of the SIM reference frame. The following questions concerning the physics of reference frame tie objects will be investigated.

Johnston, Kenneth J.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Extending the ICRF into the Infrared: 2MASS - UCAC Astrometry

An external comparison between the infrared 2MASS and the optical UCAC positions was performed, both being on the same system, the ICRS. About 48 million sources in common were identified. Random errors of the 2MASS catalog positions are about 60 to 70 mas per coordinate for the Ks = 4 to 14 range, increasing to about 100 to 150 mas for saturated and very faint stars. Systematic position differences between the 2 catalogs are very small, about 5 to 10 mas as a function of magnitude and color, with somewhat larger errors as a function of right ascension and declination. The extension of the ICRF into the infrared has become a reality.

USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC)↗