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The Geneva-Copenhagen survey of the Solar neighbourhood. Ages, metallicities, and kinematic properties of 14 000 F and G dwarfs
We present and discuss new determinations of metallicity, rotation, age,kinematics, and Galactic orbits for a complete, magnitude-limited, andkinematically unbiased sample of 16 682 nearby F and G dwarf stars. Our63 000 new, accurate radial-velocity observations for nearly 13 500stars allow identification of most of the binary stars in the sampleand, together with published uvbyβ photometry, Hipparcosparallaxes, Tycho-2 proper motions, and a few earlier radial velocities,complete the kinematic information for 14 139 stars. These high-qualityvelocity data are supplemented by effective temperatures andmetallicities newly derived from recent and/or revised calibrations. Theremaining stars either lack Hipparcos data or have fast rotation. Amajor effort has been devoted to the determination of new isochrone agesfor all stars for which this is possible. Particular attention has beengiven to a realistic treatment of statistical biases and errorestimates, as standard techniques tend to underestimate these effectsand introduce spurious features in the age distributions. Our ages agreewell with those by Edvardsson et al. (\cite{edv93}), despite severalastrophysical and computational improvements since then. We demonstrate,however, how strong observational and theoretical biases cause thedistribution of the observed ages to be very different from that of thetrue age distribution of the sample. Among the many basic relations ofthe Galactic disk that can be reinvestigated from the data presentedhere, we revisit the metallicity distribution of the G dwarfs and theage-metallicity, age-velocity, and metallicity-velocity relations of theSolar neighbourhood. Our first results confirm the lack of metal-poor Gdwarfs relative to closed-box model predictions (the ``G dwarfproblem''), the existence of radial metallicity gradients in the disk,the small change in mean metallicity of the thin disk since itsformation and the substantial scatter in metallicity at all ages, andthe continuing kinematic heating of the thin disk with an efficiencyconsistent with that expected for a combination of spiral arms and giantmolecular clouds. Distinct features in the distribution of the Vcomponent of the space motion are extended in age and metallicity,corresponding to the effects of stochastic spiral waves rather thanclassical moving groups, and may complicate the identification ofthick-disk stars from kinematic criteria. More advanced analyses of thisrich material will require careful simulations of the selection criteriafor the sample and the distribution of observational errors.Based on observations made with the Danish 1.5-m telescope at ESO, LaSilla, Chile, and with the Swiss 1-m telescope at Observatoire deHaute-Provence, France.Complete Tables 1 and 2 are only available in electronic form at the CDSvia anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/418/989
| The local distribution of NA I interstellar gas
We present high-resolution absorption measurements (lambda/Delta lambdaapproximately 75,000) of the interstellar Na I D lines at 5890 A toward80 southern hemisphere early-type stars located in the localinterstellar medium (LISM). Combining these results with other sodiummeasurements taken from the literature, we produce galactic maps of thedistribution of neutral sodium column density for a total of 293 starsgenerally lying within approximately 250 pc of the Sun. These mapsreveal the approximate shape of the mid-plane contours of the rarefiedregion of interstellar space termed the Local Bubble. Its shape is seenas highly asymmetric, with a radius ranging from 30 to 300 pc, and withan average radius of 60 pc. Similar plots of the Galactic mid-planedistribution of sources emitting extreme ultraviolet radiation show thatthey also trace out similar contours of the Local Bubble derived from NaI absorption measurements. We conclude that the Local Bubble absorptioninterface can be represented by a hydrogen column density,NuETA = 2 x 1019 cm-2, which explainsboth the local distribution of Na I absorption and the observed galacticdistribution of extreme ultraviolet sources. The derived mid-planecontours of the Bubble generally reproduce the large-scale featurescarved out in the interstellar medium by several nearby galactic shellstructures.
| Further high-resolution NA I observations of the local interstellar medium
High-resolution absorption measurements of the interstellar Na I D linesat 5890 A observed toward 27 early-type stars in the local interstellarmedium (LISM) are presented. These results are combined with otherhigh-resolution sodium measurements to map the space distribution ofneutral sodium column density for some 118 stars out to less than 200pc. These measurements indicate an upper limit to the neutral sodiumcolumn density of log N(Na I) less than 10.0/sq cm can be inferred outto a distance of 50 pc in most directions in the LISM. Also, therarefield region of the Local Bubble may extend beyond 60 pc in at least35 percent of the directions sampled thus far. Evidence is shown for aubiquitous, comoving vector for neutral NaI gas clouds in the LISM whichis in a different direction to LISM vectors previously reported for moreionized local gas clouds. A comparison of the measured sodium columnswith those of interstellar Ca II for a sample of 12 stars within 95 pcresults in a ratio of Na I/Ca II less than 0.5 for most stars. Thisvalue implies that there could be warm, neutral gas with T of about12,500 K beyond 50 pc in the LISM.
| On the nearest molecular clouds. III - MBM 40, 53, 54, and 55
In an attempt to determine the distances to four high-latitude molecularclouds (HLCs), echelle spectra near the Na I D lines, accurate MKspectral types, and photoelectric photometry for 25 nearby stars havebeen obtained. Fairly firm distance limits may be placed on MBM 40 (dsmaller than or equal to 140 pc) and MBM 53 (d greater than or equal to110 pc and less than or equal to 155 pc), based on the presence orabsence of strong interstellar Na I absorption towards stars projectedon or near those HLCs. Weak interstellar absorption lines observedtoward many of the stars located near MBM 54 and 55 make the distancesto those clouds less certain (about 265 pc for both). Interstellar CHabsorption at 4300 A was detected in the spectrum of HD 218662, locatedbehind MBM 53 with a CH column density of 2.1 x 10 to the 13th per sqcm, thus implying a CH abundance comparable to that observed in othermolecular clouds. Morphological and velocity agreement among COemission, the Na I absorption, the 100 micron infrared cirrus emission,and the 21 cm H I emission near these HLCs suggest a close associationof the interstellar material responsible for those phenomena.
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Observation and Astrometry data
| Constellation: | Pegasus |
| Right ascension: | 23h16m19.99s |
| Declination: | +17°50'32.0" |
| Apparent magnitude: | 8.446 |
| Distance: | 85.106 parsecs |
| Proper motion RA: | 15.4 |
| Proper motion Dec: | -112.6 |
| B-T magnitude: | 9.094 |
| V-T magnitude: | 8.5 |
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INHABITED SKY
