Examinando por Autor "Irwin, M."

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    A new near-IR window of low extinction in the Galactic plane
    (EDP Sciences, 2018-08) Minniti, D.; Saito, R.K.; Gonzalez, O.A.; Alonso-García, J.; Rejkuba, M.; Barbá, R.; Irwin, M.; Kammers, R.; Lucas, P.W.; Majaess, D.; Valenti, E.
    Aims. The windows of low extinction in the Milky Way (MW) plane are rare but important because they enable us to place structural constraints on the opposite side of the Galaxy, which has hither to been done rarely. Methods. We use the near-infrared (near-IR) images of the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) Survey to build extinction maps and to identify low extinction windows towards the Southern Galactic plane. Here we report the discovery of VVV WIN 1713-3939, a very interesting window with relatively uniform and low extinction conveniently placed very close to the Galactic plane. Results. The new window of roughly 30 arcmin diameter is located at Galactic coordinates (l, b) = (347.4, -0.4) deg. We analyse the VVV near-IR colour-magnitude diagrams in this window. The mean total near-IR extinction and reddening values measured for this window are A Ks = 0.46 and E(J - K s ) = 0.95. The red clump giants within the window show a bimodal magnitude distribution in the K s band, with peaks at K s = 14.1 and 14.8 mag, corresponding to mean distances of D = 11.0 ± 2.4 and 14.8 ± 3.6 kpc, respectively. We discuss the origin of these red clump overdensities within the context of the MW disk structure. © ESO 2018.
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    Ítem
    The Gaia -ESO Survey: Empirical determination of the precision of stellar radial velocities and projected rotation velocities
    (EDP Sciences, 2015-08) Jackson, R.J.; Jeffries, R.D.; Lewis, J.; Koposov, S.E.; Sacco, G.G.; Randich, S.; Asplund, M.; Binney, J.; Bonifacio, P.; Drew, J.E.; Feltzing, S.; Ferguson, A.M.N.; Micela, G.; Neguerela, I.; Prusti, T.; Rix, H.-W.; Vallenari, A.; Alfaro, E.J.; Allende Prieto, C.; Babusiaux, C.; Bensby, T.; Blomme, R.; Bragaglia, A.; Flaccomio, E.; Francois, P.; Hambly, N.; Irwin, M.; Korn, A.J.; Lanzafame, A.C.; Pancino, E.; Recio-Blanco, A.; Smiljanic, R.; Van Eck, S.; Walton, N.; Bayo, A.; Bergemann, M.; Carraro, G.; Costado, M.T.; Damiani, Edvardsson B.; Franciosini, E.; Frasca, A.; Heiter, U.; Hill, V.; Hourihane, A.; Jofré, P.; Lardo, C.; De Laverny, P.; Lind, K.; Magrini, L.; Marconi, G.; Martayan, C.; Masseron, T.; Monaco, L.; Prisinzano, L.; Sbordone, L.; Sousa, S.G.; Worley, C.C.; Zaggia, S.
    Context. The Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) is a large public spectroscopic survey at the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope. Aims. A key aim is to provide precise radial velocities (RVs) and projected equatorial velocities (v sin i) for representative samples of Galactic stars, which will complement information obtained by the Gaia astrometry satellite. Methods. We present an analysis to empirically quantify the size and distribution of uncertainties in RV and v sin i using spectra from repeated exposures of the same stars. Results. We show that the uncertainties vary as simple scaling functions of signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and v sin i, that the uncertainties become larger with increasing photospheric temperature, but that the dependence on stellar gravity, metallicity and age is weak. The underlying uncertainty distributions have extended tails that are better represented by Student's t-distributions than by normal distributions. Conclusions. Parametrised results are provided, which enable estimates of the RV precision for almost all GES measurements, and estimates of the v sin i precision for stars in young clusters, as a function of S/N, v sin i and stellar temperature. The precision of individual high S/N GES RV measurements is 0.22-0.26 kms-1, dependent on instrumental configuration. © ESO, 2015.