A Critical Examination of the Stock Velocity Survey

1984 ◽  
Vol 88 ◽  
pp. 231-239
Author(s):  
Wayne Osborn ◽  
D.J. MacConnell

The possibility of determining stellar radial velocities for large numbers of stars from objective-prism plates was recognized soon after objective-prism spectroscopy became a common observational technique ; (Pickering, 1887). However, the initial investigations quickly revealed a serious practical problem: how does one determine the rest wavelength position in slitless spectra? This difficulty caused the objective-prism method of obtaining radial velocities to be neglected for many years. It was not until the second half of this century that the method saw a large-scale application. This was the work of Fehrenbach who developed a technique based on a specially designed zero-deviation prism, and successfully used it to isolate members of the Large Magellanic Cloud from foreground field stars (Fehrenbach 1947a, 1947b, 1948; Fehrenbach and Duflot 1970). The Fehrenbach technique has since been applied in a number of other studies; one can mention, as examples, recent work on spectroscopie binaries (Gieseking and Karimie 1982), on cluster membership (Gieseking 1980), and on velocity dispersions at intermediate galactic latitudes (Fehrenbach and Burnage 1982).

1984 ◽  
Vol 78 ◽  
pp. 405-408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Q.A. Parker ◽  
H.T. MacGillivray ◽  
R.J. Dodd ◽  
J.A. Cooke ◽  
S.M. Beard ◽  
...  

AbstractMeasurements made with the COSMOS machine on deep objectiveprism photographs taken with the UK 1.2m Schmidt Telescope are being used to obtain approximate redshifts (accurate to ~ 0.01 in z) for large numbers of galaxies in fields near the South Galactic Pole. The data are suitable for investigations of the distribution of galaxies, such as the detection of large-scale density enhancements or voids.


1984 ◽  
Vol 78 ◽  
pp. 401-403
Author(s):  
J.A. Cooke ◽  
B.D. Kelly ◽  
S.M. Beard ◽  
D. Emerson

AbstractA large sample of spectra of faint galaxies has been obtained using COSMOS measurements of UKST objective-prism plates. Computer software has been developed to obtain the radial velocities of large numbers of these galaxies automatically over a magnitude range of about B = 16 to 19. Initial tests have been performed on a sample of about 1400 galaxies from an area of about 5 x 4 degrees square.


1964 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 41-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Perek

Planetary nebulae are convenient objects for studying the large-scale structure of the Galaxy. Firstly, they are easily recognized up to considerable distances on plates taken through an objective prism, and secondly, methods have been devised by various authors to determine their distances from two observable quantities: angular diameter and surface brightness. The importance of the subsystem of planetary nebulae has been accentuated especially by the discoveries by Minkowski and Haro of large numbers of planetaries in the direction of the galactic centre. The distribution of planetaries on the sphere suggests that they are connected with the galactic nucleus, but no direct determination of their distances, which would either confirm or contradict this statement, is available. The most serious obstacle in studying the subsystem of planetaries is the lack of observing data. The aim of the reported paper (Perek 1963) is to give a tentative outline of the distribution of planetaries in space based on extensive new observing material.


1988 ◽  
Vol 130 ◽  
pp. 525-525
Author(s):  
Q.A. Parker ◽  
H.T. Macgillivray ◽  
S.M. Beard

A new and promising use of galaxy objective-prism spectra as a means of highlighting features in the large scale galaxy distribution has been recently reported by Parker et al. (1987). The technique relies on the property that galaxies with identifiable 4000Å features in low dispersion objective-prism spectra are mostly ellipticals (Cooke, 1980), and that early type galaxies seem to delineate structure and clumpiness in the galaxy distribution (e.g. Giovanelli and Haynes, 1982). The effect is most striking when large numbers of objective-prism galaxy spectra are considered. Figure 1 gives the X-Y plot for 1539 galaxies with 4000Å features to Bj=18.7 in one UKST field out of a manually measured sample of 2903 galaxy prism spectra. Substantial clumpiness is evident. This technique can trace structure in the galaxy distribution across many UKST fields to depths of 400 h−1Mpc.


1984 ◽  
Vol 78 ◽  
pp. 107-120
Author(s):  
Roger G Clowes

AbstractThis paper reviews the methods and early results of work in progress at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh that involves the machine-processing of objective-prism plates. This work is in two categories: (i) semi-automated galaxy redshifts, and (ii) automated quasar detection. The galaxy redshifts are used, for example, to determine the radial velocities of clusters, to test cluster membership, to reveal superimposed clusters, and to reveal connecting bridges between clusters. Automated quasar detection uses selection criteria that are known, pre-defined and rigidly maintained to select complete samples of quasars. Unlike the earlier visual samples of optically-selected quasars these new samples are well suited to work in cosmology and the collective properties of quasars.


1973 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 293-294
Author(s):  
A. Ardeberg ◽  
J. P. Brunet ◽  
E. Maurice ◽  
L. Prévot

The stars observed are mainly from the Catalogue by Fehrenbach and Duflot. Some other stars – overexposed on the objective-prism plates, faint blue stars in H ii regions, stars with overlapping objective-prism spectra – have been added.The photoelectric UBV photometry was done with the 1-m telescope at La Silla. The UBV filters have always been those recommended by Johnson. Normally 3 measurements or more on different nights have been made for each star. For a single observation of a program star the internal standard deviations are The spectra have been taken with a Cassegrain spectrograph mounted on the 1.52-m telescope at La Silla. The dispersion is 73 Å mm−1, the spectral range 3250-5000 Å, and the limiting resolution 1.3 Å.As a result of our observations, we present 409 stars as members of the LMC, 42 as possible members and 132 as galactic foreground stars (19 of these having high radial velocity). Remarkable features regarding velocities, spectra, magnitudes and colors are noted and commented.All stars down to B = 11.5 have been observed spectrographically as well as photometrically. This is also the case for the majority of the high-velocity stars down to B = 12.0. For fainter objects the photometry is quite representative, whereas the spectroscopy is more scarce. The limiting magnitude is B = 14.0.As radial velocities were used as membership criterion, our data do not suffer from any spectral type selection effects.It was easy to apply the MK criteria to our dispersion using the Yerkes atlas and the Bidelman list of supergiants. A continuous series of supergiant standards in the LMC has been established from 06 to G2. Comparison with Radcliffe data and with recent results of Divan gives a dispersion in spectral type of less than one tenth of a spectral class. Also the luminosity classification shows good agreement.In the classification several difficulties were met:(1) The LMC stars are very luminous objects. In the Galaxy we do not have many corresponding stars. This is especially so for later spectral types.(2) With the dispersion used, the differences between IaO and la are not very pronounced, especially not for F-G type stars.(3) Many of the LMC supergiants are P Cygni stars. They show very sharp, often asymmetric line profiles with a sharp rise to the long wavelength side. This might cause erroneous classification, and also affect radial velocities.(4) The presence of an extended atmosphere, causing dilution effects, can give spurious spectral classification.We have found 8 A type high-velocity stars. The UBV results confirm their classification. 11 G-K type stars have been found to be high-velocity stars, among which are two subdwarfs earlier discussed by Fehrenbach and Thackeray. The number of late type high-velocity stars is quite high.Full accounts have been given in Astron. Astrophys. Suppl.6 (1972), 249.


1979 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 96-101
Author(s):  
J.A. Graham

During the past several years, a systematic search for novae in the Magellanic Clouds has been carried out at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. The Curtis Schmidt telescope, on loan to CTIO from the University of Michigan is used to obtain plates every two weeks during the observing season. An objective prism is used on the telescope. This provides additional low-dispersion spectroscopic information when a nova is discovered. The plates cover an area of 5°x5°. One plate is sufficient to cover the Small Magellanic Cloud and four are taken of the Large Magellanic Cloud with an overlap so that the central bar is included on each plate. The methods used in the search have been described by Graham and Araya (1971). In the CTIO survey, 8 novae have been discovered in the Large Cloud but none in the Small Cloud. The survey was not carried out in 1974 or 1976. During 1974, one nova was discovered in the Small Cloud by MacConnell and Sanduleak (1974).


1967 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 8-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. F. Collen

The utilization of an automated multitest laboratory as a data acquisition center and of a computer for trie data processing and analysis permits large scale preventive medical research previously not feasible. Normal test values are easily generated for the particular population studied. Long-term epidemiological research on large numbers of persons becomes practical. It is our belief that the advent of automation and computers has introduced a new era of preventive medicine.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1883
Author(s):  
Yuma Morisaki ◽  
Makoto Fujiu ◽  
Ryoichi Furuta ◽  
Junichi Takayama

In Japan, older adults account for the highest proportion of the population of any country in the world. When large-scale earthquake disasters strike, large numbers of casualties are known to particularly occur among seniors. Many are physically or mentally vulnerable and require assistance during the different phases of disaster response, including rescue, evacuation, and living in an evacuation center. However, the growing number of older adults has made it difficult, after a disaster, to quickly gather information on their locations and assess their needs. The authors are developing a proposal to enable vulnerable people to signal their location and needs in the aftermath of a disaster to response teams by deploying radar reflectors that can be detected in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite imagery. The purpose of this study was to develop a radar reflector kit that seniors could easily assemble in order to make this proposal feasible in practice. Three versions of the reflector were tested for detectability, and a sample of older adults was asked to assemble the kits and provide feedback regarding problems they encountered and regarding their interest in using the reflectors in the event of a large-scale disaster.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haron M. Abdel-Raziq ◽  
Daniel M. Palmer ◽  
Phoebe A. Koenig ◽  
Alyosha C. Molnar ◽  
Kirstin H. Petersen

AbstractIn digital agriculture, large-scale data acquisition and analysis can improve farm management by allowing growers to constantly monitor the state of a field. Deploying large autonomous robot teams to navigate and monitor cluttered environments, however, is difficult and costly. Here, we present methods that would allow us to leverage managed colonies of honey bees equipped with miniature flight recorders to monitor orchard pollination activity. Tracking honey bee flights can inform estimates of crop pollination, allowing growers to improve yield and resource allocation. Honey bees are adept at maneuvering complex environments and collectively pool information about nectar and pollen sources through thousands of daily flights. Additionally, colonies are present in orchards before and during bloom for many crops, as growers often rent hives to ensure successful pollination. We characterize existing Angle-Sensitive Pixels (ASPs) for use in flight recorders and calculate memory and resolution trade-offs. We further integrate ASP data into a colony foraging simulator and show how large numbers of flights refine system accuracy, using methods from robotic mapping literature. Our results indicate promising potential for such agricultural monitoring, where we leverage the superiority of social insects to sense the physical world, while providing data acquisition on par with explicitly engineered systems.


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