Professional Documents
Culture Documents
66 - December i*i
Far fim d k i y w b w C~OI&I of mte dmmy in. Chileand e%bnw W a l tor new, wHkrg O ( ~ e r b
and In e lbnrrat amrrs man' a wdmm to the mem- of and mi Indlvlstble pact of wbm, He
W,the m m b m d the qoundl the Gotmdl W~~IIhe wisbd a ~ ~ -tD
~
h ~ j u a t p i d a y o ~ ~ w i s i t t o t h e :~Wp y ~ W s & y i n h t s ~ . ~t @ ~ ~ E ; ~ ~ I w ~ ~ W
Wlatfong h the first $hm t&d ~utbatM&mdastmhqnW# W m d he IooW toward ban y e n
3972. tlhdef pr deap nbluti "sky' they a Memos WMI ah a p p ~ m ~akbomttonin the future.
d h~ b d ~ b s w
flmm the dt0 offhe ~ V L T ~ O b w -
a p m w y a p p p m time8one y d r
*wtib*-mrs*
h m d far *the VLT, it begeyr dfkMly
M1~bw2witb~iFtartgy~nQf
m<Exhibm elU*
thB
~Mth~~C;entrerl'O€theU~
mld&d de Chlh h Wntown 6an-
Ww. A lag& mrnbw of Illu$Mpw
g w t s mqmcled to the @ht Invlwon
by We Rector of the UnkwsIW db:
OW,Prof, J B h m~i o s MQW amt
mysdf, The Chtleern Mini$& o? E d w
am, Dm R i c h @Qs EscobarI WIV-
sread the MkM apmlrtg s-h, and
many members gf the diplbmc mp
b antW, inoludfng#ie rnhsm&m
and chat@$ d 8 ~ ofh fie EM
member wuntries and nu-us rep
~ m € k e ds t h lac81 ' w t h o ~
hmww the c4w?Inny by w ma*
enm
m MM&@ of & t d b n ppalsd me
f h e actual Council rneetlng tmk place
on December 4 (In Antofagasta), 5 (atLa
Silla) and 6 (in the UN CEPAL building In
Santiago) and dealt with a nnurnb%rd
Important matters. Councli was pleased
to learn that the VLT project is proceed-
Ing aocwding to the for-n time
schedule and, in particular, wRhin the
greed budget frame. The recent suc-
cessful proddon of the first 8-metm
blank at Schott for the VLT {which stlll
hasto be ceramimd into the zero-wpm-
sion Zerodur material) was noted with
enthuslmrn. The planning of the VLT
instrumenhtion Is progmlng at a gwd
pace (cf, the overview article In
Messenger W, p.1Q September 1891).
Another important agenda Item was a
thorough dFscuaslon about the relations
with the host state of our observatories,
summing up morethan 25 years of ex&-
lent wllabotatlon betweon €SO and
Pacini, h i d e n t of the ESO CoundI 0; Prof Jaime Lavadm Mont8s, Rsctw of the Chile, and consiMng how in the future
Uniwmk4d de Chile (second Irom Mi);and M.U. van dw Leen, DIredw G e m 1 of ESO,ai these bonds can be made more effective
tha Ineugwah of the LiSO Exhiibltonat the Univmided da Chic /n Sentlago cn UacemW2. still to both partnew' benefit, now that
The display wit1 remain open to the public until fhe and of Jammy 1992, Whmafier It wlll be ESO is buildlng the VLT Observatory.
bans- to Lg Smna for &My drving the annual summer fair In that city. From there It On Monday, December 9, ths Pred-
ktw tmv& to Anto-a. dent of the Republlcof Chile, DonPaMcio
Aylwin Azocar, granted an audience to a
In my discourse 1 emphasized that the Silla by ESO bus. Hem the Council small ESO delegatton, headed by Prof.
Wty of any research enterprise d e members were met by the ta SHla staff Franco Pacini, President of the ESO
pends first and foremost on its human and spent the rest of the day informing Coundl. Pmldent Aylwin was infonnsd
resources. The most important condi- themselves about the state of affairs at about the state of development of our
tion for the successful elaboration of ESO's main tnstalIatlon, and also about Organlzatbn, in which he exprmed a
ESO's partnership wlth Chlle's as- the preparatkns for the move to Sari- keen, appreciative Interest. The ESO d e
fronomy cemrnunlty Is that community's tiago of part of the staff, In partl~u tar the legation expressed Rs gratitude for the
ability to attract more talents from the Adminlstrathn, to win in the course of hospitalNy and support from the Repub-
body of students wkh Interest in sci- 1992. Ilc's authorities during the past 28 years
ence,to astronomy. This point was also In the evening, vislts were arranged to and looks forward to continued collab-
discussed with care In two separate au- the various telescqm. The sky was oration In the decades to come.
diences with two of CMle's ministers, dear and there was a beautiful view of Most of the Council members re-
Don Ricardo Lagos and Don Edgardo the sunset over the Paclf~c,at the pres- turned to Europe at the end of the week.
Boenin~er,in the week before. ent time with a particularly strong red W o w departure, many of them ex-
The next day, Council travelled by air hue due to the dust In the h l ~ h&no- p d sathfactlon abwt the vlsh, b v -
ta Antofagasta and onwards to Paranal sphere from the eruptlon earlier this year lng found It very useful and contributing
by bus. The stark desert landscapa was of the Plnatuba volcano on the Philip- to the work of Council. They came away
admired by the delgates,some of whom pines (cf. the photo on page 68). Then with a better understanding of tho con-
vlsitad A t a m a for the first time. On the the marvellous southern &y came into dltiona at the remote sites and were
top of the mountah, they were received view, adding this grandest of all Insplra- vlslbly Impress& by the €SO opera-
by various members of the €SO staff, tions In astronomy to the delegates' tions. This working visit had oeminly
Including those who have been respon- many impresstons. fuMHed expectations.
sible for the long-term she ttesting that
finally led to the acceptance of Pamal
as the VLT she.There was ample oppor-
tunlty to lnsp& the progress of the
levelling of the top (Including a big blast
that day!) and to get a W l n g fw the
unusual worklng and living condlons at
this remote site. In the evening, CouncH
returned to Antofagasta and spent the
night there. A visR was m n g e d to the
slte in the outskirts of the town where
ESO Is acquiring a small property for Its
Mure installdons in that ctty.
Council left Antofagasta In the early
aflemoon of December 4, flew to La
%ens (Ladeco, the intmd Chllean air-
line, had been convinced to make an
unscheduled stop there) and on to La A rec@hn was heM at the EsO Guesthouse In Santiago, In the evening of m b e r 2.
1
VLT Contracts
Ad. TARENGHI and R.Ad. WEST,
3
engineering work Including buildings,
roads, site development and energy
systems, the main dements of intwbr-
ometry (a.g. auxiliary telescopes and
delay lines).By the end of 1992, 80 per
cent of the VLT capital budget is ex-
pected to be committed.
STAFF MOVEMENTS
Arrivals
Europe
MILEMANS, Irma (NU, Rpgramme
DocumontationAasktent/Ar&ivist
RUPPI,Qiorgio (0, Wtware System
Engineer
FREUDLING, Wolfram p),Fellow
STEFL, Stanislav (CS), P,ssociate
mu, Nenghang(RC), Assodate
Chile
MATHYS, GauEier (B), m a t e
STORM, &per (OQ,Fellow
VAN WINCKEL, Hans (B),Student
furape
BAUER, Harry (D), Uectroniml Engineer
BECKER, Joaehim ID),VLTProikt
Figure 2: Definition of let-w slructwa components and subsystems, Manager/ Head, VLT DiviJon
In the middle of September the first Drilling rigs, bulldozers and front load- The excavation material will almost all
VLT contractor to execute work on the ers moved to the mountain top and be used to make an artificial platform to
Paranal site, Interbeton from the Nether- started to make a first ptatfom, of a size the east side of the telescope area on
lands, started to move its earth-moving big enough to turn the trucks, to be used which the last part of the access road
equipment and basecamp to the site. for the transport of excavation material. wit1 be constructed.
Interbeton, contracted for the levelling The levelling work, consisting of re- This platform needs to be rather large
and landscaping of the mountain top, moving approximately 250000 m3 from since the road requires a 12-rn clear-
had prior to beginning the actual earth- the mountain top to create a 20000 m2 ance width in order to allow the trans-
moving work, to reestablish new topo- flat area on which the telescopes, the port of large telescope parts and the
graphical references, The only topo- optical laboratories and the Interferome- main mirrors.
graphical reference in the Paranal area ter tracks will be located, had really As from the moment the Contractor
is namely on the peak of the mountain begun. moved to the site, also ESO staff be-
and would disappear with the start of The first drillings led to the first earth longing to the VLT Division's Staff and
ths levelling work, removal by exp!osives and on Sep- Building Group installed themselves on
While the survey work was going on, tember 23 the silence of the Paranal the site in order to ensure permanent
the base camp was finished and the area was broken, which initiatedthe VLT supervision of the levelling work. In par-
contractor's staff moved into their tem- construction activity which will last till ticular the compacting of the road plat-
porary homes. the end of the century. form requires intensive follow-up and
Figure 3: DuiIIing rig in -
, preparing the next w t h rem~val. rmtadal W n g .
Qure 4: ~cmation
compaction density tests are owltinu- work of the road leading to tfw Paranal the installatfon of the construction base
ously made to verify that the specifid area In view of improving the mad, camp which pmvldes offices, dor-
loading capacity of the road, needed for which is of paramount importance for mitories and living quarters in which
the heavy transports, is obtained. both the construetlon and future opera- they will work and live for a number of
h ESO staff furthermore initiated tion of the VlT ObsenratW, years, until the new Observatory Build-
sub-mil investigations at the location of Last but not least,the ESO staff was ings, under design with COW1 Consult in
the telescopes and started with survey involved in designing, contracting and In Denmark, are available.
Over 200 scientists and engineem length compensation. Sixty of these USA, the USSR, and of come many
participated in the October 15 to 18, contributions were given orally, the rest European countries.
1991 ESO Conference on "High Resolu- by means of poster presentations. To
tion Imaging by Interferometry", a con- keep the size of the conference within
reasonable limits and to avoid parallel
tutorials
ference devoted to g r o u n d - b d opti-
cal intwferometrjc imaging In as- sessions, the scope of the meeting ex- As was the case in the first confer-
tronomy. This was the second confer- cluded related topics like astrometry by ence, R was preceded by a day d tuto-
ence on this topic, the first one having interferometric means and contributd rials intended for newcomers to the
been held also in Garching in March papers on astronomical adaptive optics. field. It is becoming very clear, however,
1988. In addition to four Introductory The Wer topic wlll be a major topic at that these tutorials have a much broader
and review talks, the conference in- the Aprl t I 992 €SO meeting in Garching functlon. They are aIso attended by
cluded 150 conttibutlons on single- and on "Progress In Telescope and In- "oldtimers" (old in this field means more
multiple-aperture interfmmetric imag- strumentation Techniques". Attendees than half a dozen years!), including a
ing and three working sessions on included parblcipants from Australla, Nobel Laureate, who wanted to catch
adaptive optics, detectors and path- Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, the up on recent developments in the more
We here summarlre the parts of the
conference on speckle imaging, masked
aperture imaging and multi-aperture im-
aging. The outline of the conference is
M n g followed. Using a number of real-
time experiments in his magnificent
opening lecture, Prof. W. Martiensen of
the University of FrankfurVMain demon-
strated the dual nature of light, waves
and particles. It was a fascinating ex-
perience, even to the conference parti-
dipants most of whom are experts in this
field but who, llke us; forget about the
beauty of light In their quest to manlpu-
late it.
Speckte Interferometry:
Flgurs 1: i r n v or the objmt R I M b the Masellank Clouds obtained with tbe Hobble Space
Telssoqpe MR,after image r e s t w e t h ) and by means of -Ie intertwometry with the La NBarine
Silla 2.2-rn tel- (right). (Courtesy G. Weigelt et al.) In contrast to previous conferences
and workshops on speckle interferome-
try, there was relatively little discussion
relaxed atmosphere associated with the obtained on relatively faint, complex ob- of the many different techniques avall-
tutorials and precedingthe main confer- jects. Recently full aperture, speckle in- able for the analysis of speckle obsenra-
once. Over two thirds of the conference terferometry with single telescopes has tions. In the past a wide variety of al-
patticipantsattended the tutorials which been complemented with single-tele gorithms was always discussed and
were given by Fmnpis Rcddler on Op- scope Interferometry using masks on compared. The present discussions and
tics of the Atmosphere, Gerd Weigelt on the telescope aperture. Several results results focussed, however, mostly on'
Speckle Interferometry, John Davis on of the masked aperture observations blspectrum analysis (or their analogues:
tong Baseline Optical Interferometry, were presented at the conference. speckle masking and Mple m l a t i o n )
and by one of us (FM) on Adaptive Op- In terms of the development of imag- for the analysis of speckle images, with
tics. ing algorithms the latter provides an im- a somewhat lesser attention given to the
portant step towards multi-aperture in- Knox &Thompson algorithms. The latter
terfemrnetric imaging in which the sub- requires fewer numerical resources for
The Conference Itself apertures of the single telescope are data analysis, otherwise the blspectrum
Four full days were devoted to discus- replaced by an array of telescopes. In technique appears to be preferred.
sions on the rapid progress in the tech- the resulting interference signal at the Judging from the presentation of many
n i q u of
~ astronomical imaging by inter- combined focus the ampludes and clo- astronomical resub one has to con-
ferometric means and in the presents- sure phases are measured as is done in clude that this type of observation is
tion of recent astronomical results. the single masked aperture experiments reaching a state of substantial maturity.
Broadly, the teohnlquea and their results and also in radio astronomy o b m a - Also the excellent agreement between
can be dlvided by single-aperture imag- tions. The algorithms for making images the images of R136 obtained with the La
ing and multi-aperture imaging. Single are virtually the same for all three types Silla 2.2-m telescope with those ob-
telescope intwferometric imaging of observations. The trick in multi-aper- tained with the HubbleSpace Telescope
started In 1959 with Antoine Labeyrie's ture interferometry is the combinationof (Fig, 1) provides convincing evidence
pioneering work in speckle interferome- the radiation in such a way as to obtain that speckle lmaglng has come of age.
try. Since then these techniques have the highest possible sensitivity by mdn- At the conference results were pre-
come a long way, reaching the stage tainhg the interferencesignal, w fringe, sented of other objects, including ob-
where diffraction-limited imaging can be contrast. sewations of such diverse objects as
Figure 2: Images of the variations d the red supergiant a ORI taken with the 4-m Herschel relescope at three epochs using aperture masking.
The width of the Airy disk far this tekmpe is about 30 rnilli-mm resuIting in mly 3 b 4 pixels In this 5U miIlikam8c star. (Courtesy Baldwin el
d.)
a vldble speckle camera (see also %p-
fsmber 1991, The Messenger)I Both oi
these camem will make use of the
unique high imaging qualities of the VLT
telescopes. In thelr performance m y
will be aided by the VLT adaptive optics
which can be viewed as a way of im-
proving the astronomical seeing hence
enhancing the sensitlvh and limiting
magnitude of the cameras.
In contributions by Roddier and one
of us (JMB) the point-spread functlon of
so-calted partid a&ptlve optics was
discussed. The VLT adaptive optics will
be design6d to work fully at 2 pm under
median -ng mnditioas. At shorter
wavelengths it wHI wwk partidly. It Is
bmming vary clear through numerid
madelling that in such a partially func-
tioning adaptive optics system the
point-spread function conslsts of a
spike with the chamcterlstics of an Airy
disk supwposed on a broad halo with
the width approximating the seeing
disk. The shape of this function Is not
unlike that of the aberratgd Hobble
Space Telescope. The fraction of the
total energy h the spike characterizes
the point-spread function wdl. It
amwnts to 10% M more at visible
wavelengths depending on the seeing.
Because of the narrowness of the splke
p.0125 a m e c at 500 nm) and the rela-
tively large width of the halo (0.5 arcsec)
the relative centmi intensity of the spike
is large. Rocidler therefore suggested
that long-exposure Images may be usecl
to good advantage over speckle images
to give n h r IimIted semitlvity than
I I
I speckle cameras, of course after Imag~
0 50 loom restorationfor the background halo (61 la
Figure 3: Layout of the VLT Intwfemmek h g e divlr clrclm Indicate the loeiltiana the 8-13 Hubbte)m The VLT v'sib'e Spekle Cam-
~ c o p s sSmaII
. dark ~ I Eam theS
I~ locations of the staths kthe 180-mdiameter M I e era pmmly be dalgnd to
auxMiary telasebpes. The large mhngle Is the Iocetbn of the tnMemmetrie tunnel. A mailed acc~mrnodateh i s p d ~ adwtive d op
dmcn'ptim of the VLTl laywt will appeev in a fuhKe &sub of the Messenger. ticq l ~ n g - ~ p wimaging
~ r ~ l mode.
Impact on the
VLT InstrumentationProgramme
With the 8- to 10-117 diameter tele-
scopes corning on the scene, the tech-
nique of speckle interferome@ will re-
sutt in images with a linear resolution 4
times larger than shown in Figure 1 (or
16 times the number of pixels per reso-
lution element).The VLT instrumentation
programme includes two instruments
for diactian-limited imaging with the
individual VLT telescopes: a near-in-
frared camera for the 1 to 5 pm region to
be built by a consortium headed by the Figure 4: Artist's view of the planned Keck Intedemmefric Amy consisting of two la-m
Max-Ptanck-lnstitut fiir Astronomb and telescopes and 4 movable 15U-cm tel~scupes.(Courtesy R Mdnel et 61.1
. .- .
I 14
I
> .
I . , - -
i l
r8b
r
i c
t l
-a -+ -la I
l i
ts SD s a -a-iu-~&
Aperture Masking: fact that the construction of optical in- tlonat properties is well within the state
a Step Towards Multi-Aperture tarferorneters and delay lines with the ofthe art.
Interferometry requird opto-mechanical and opera- In addition to the operational inter-
Many large-aperture telescopes (e.g.
Hale telescope, Herschel telescope and
Anglo-Australian telescope) are now be-
ing successfully used for high angular
resolution lmaglng using aperture
masks to mimic multl-aperture interfer-
ometry. Figure 2 shows a fine result of
these experiments far the variable red
supergiant star Betelgeuse.
These experimental observations are
of great importance not only because of
their astrophysical impact but also as a
precursor to the imaging with multiple
aperture interferometem. By using aper-
ture masking the valldity of imaging al-
gorithms can be evaluated under realis-
tic observing conditions, including vari-
ous levels of photon noise.
Multi-Aperture Interferometry
A great deal of time was devoted to
discussing the progress In multi-aper-
ture Interferometry. In contrast to speck-
le interferometry this is a field which Is -
exphncing apid advances in the de- nwre 6: mistb view ol/lnto/nem r i e b propos~~ for a brier 4p~calvery age m y ,
wlopment Of techniques foreground me d t h 27 teleswpes on its fransporter. To the right In the background the
but with the ability to do full two-dimen- hm--bining swtion. (mufimy A, ~ ~ b ~ ~ j ~
sional imaging still to be realized. Inter-
ferometeiinixistence are now used to
do astrome@(not the topic of the Table 1: Optical lfiterfemmetm now In Operation
conference) and to determine a limited
number of parameters on stellar objects Locatton Maximum Number of Telescope
like diameters and binary orbits and BaseUne Telescopesn Aperture
separation. Table 1 lists the interfemme ----
ters presently routinely in operation. CERGPJ12T 140 m 2 26 cm
The last two Interferometers in CERWGITT 70 m 2 150 cm
CERMoirdwe 15 m 2 lOOcm
Table 1 (SUSl and COAST) have only MMT 5m 8 I80 cm
recently come into operation and first Mt. WllsonlMark III 32 m 3 5 m
results were reported at the conference. Mt. WllsonllSl 13 m 2 165 cm
What is especially impressive in these NarrabrVSUSl B40m 2 14 cm
new InterferometersIs that "first fringesm Cambridge UK/COAST 100m 2 40 crn
are obtained soon after the installation
of h e interferometer testifying to the
-
' Number of tdmcopes In we at tMs time. Mben rrwre telescopesam p h u d .
Most of these arrays are Intended to
produce imagw in ways similar to the
way this is done in radio Interferometers
using image synthesis techniques rely-
ing on tracking the object while It moves
across the sky,thus causing the genera-
tion of a number of tracks in the (up)
Fourier transform plane. The relatively
large sizes of some of the telescopee
involved causes these tracks to be rela-
tively 'YaV and to give a good (u,v) plane
filling nearthe low frequency origin. The
latter is very impoftant in giving high
quality Images (seeFlg. 5).
At a minimum one night is needed to
generate an image as shown in Figure 5.
Often more than one night might be
naeded If a good signal-to-noise ratio is
required. An lmpwtant advantage of the
VLT Paranal site b the large periods of
clear skies alIowing unintenupted (u,v)
plane track. Time synthesis techniques
Figure 7: IJbrneters of stars twrrndkd to the same magnAud8 as a fumtim of @fRl &P are, however, obviously inadequate for
observed wHh fhe Mark 111 int-ter, (Courtesy R Ouimbach et a/.) obsewatlons of full images of objects
which change on a rapid time scale (less
than one day). For that type of interfero-
metric imaging 'snapshots" are desired
p Pegasi which can only be obtained by arrays of
many telescopes or by the capability to
~1.0 rapidly reconfigure an array with fewer
telescopes. Antoine Labeyrie described
his plans to construct such an Optical
V e y lage Array, or OVIA, co*iniw
27, or perhaps even 130, telescopes on
Earth and eventually on the Moon. Fig-
ure 6 shows an artist's view of the lunar
version of OVLA. A price to pay for m a -
ing snapshot images by the sirnuha-
neous use of so many telescopes at
once, over an array of a few telescopes,
is the loss in signal-to-noise. This results
from the need to mix in optical interfer-
+ 754 nm (cont.) 16.1 mas ometry all radlatton directly, so that th.e
0 712 nm (TiO) 17.6 mas signal for each two-telescope baseline
contains the photon noise of the light
collected by all telescopes. This Is a
major difference between optical and
radio intMerometers where such a lass
does not m u r .
Projected Baseline [a rcsee-' ]
bMs
Some Regutts of MUM-Aperture
figure 8: The Mnge vl8ibUlify # a funchn of i n t e r f m t e r basdine for two Interferometry
centred m p e c w y on a 7 70moIecuIar band and the &y cunthruum far the giant star
B PEG. me Wved dkrnefwlsof r e ~ 0.01 m76 and 0.0161 a r m have an of* As already mentioned, full imaging
O.OMH a m m so that the dmfences are real, The d i m are an important diagmfie for with multi-aperture arrays has not been
the extended ahasphere. (Coumy A Quirrenbachet at.) achieved yet. The results of aperture
masking expMments (see Fig. 2) gives
confidence that the imaging a m p now
being Implemented will result In as-
tronomical Images within the not too
ferometers listed In Table 1, a number of Obsarvatory (USSR), and the IRMA dlstant future. Impmsive results were,
interferometers are in the constructi~n array by the Univmity of Wyoming. In however, presented at the conference
and planning phase. The former include the planning phase are the Optical Very on the orbii of spectroscopic bharies
the Big Optical A m y (BOA) by the US Large A m y {OVLA)by Antohe Labeyrie, and on stellar diameters, Including
Naval Research Laboratory, the US the Kmk Interferometric Array (KIA) asymmgtrbs In the shape of stars like
Naval Observatory Astromdric Inter- shown in Figured, the CHARA inter- Mira. As an example we show in Fig-
ferometer, the ESO VLT Interferometer ferometer of Georgia State University, ures 7 and 8 some of the diameter ob-
(see Fig. 31, the IOTA array by the Center and extensions of some of the arrays servations made with the Mt. Wilson
for Astrophysics, an array at the Khazan tlsted in Tabte 1. Mark Ill lrttaferorneter.
Major Uncertaintiesabout the
Atmospheric Wavefront Structure
Function
SClENTlST (DATA ARCHIVIST) - ref. ESD7A6
A position as Sclentlst (Data Archlvlst) wlll shortly be avalhble In the Science Archlve
The spatial frequency distribution of Software Group ofthe Space Telescope European Cmrdlnatlng Faclllty (ST-ECfl at the
the wavefront distortions introduced by ESO Headquarters In Garchlng mar Munich, Germany, for a Sclsntist WIUIa unlverslty
the earth atmosphere is of great impor- degree in astronomy, physics, or rdeted field,
tance for the behaviour of interferome-
ters and for the wavelength dependence huimrnenW
of the seeing disk size, Frequently it is - $evefa!years of mearch experlenee, Includingpublicatbns In lnternatlonalrefereed
assumed to correspond to a Kot- journals. The rmewch should be based on data obtalned with state-of-the-art
mogoroff distribution whlch resub in Inatrumerttatlon, preferably also with spaoe-based telescopes.
the RMS wavefront differences to grow
- strong computer sclmence background, acquired either through formal education Or
through participation In major computer system develoment work.
as the baseline to the power 5/6. Seri-
ous concerns were expressed at the
- famllhrity wfth the principlesof computer system management, networking and data
base management.
conference about the validity of the Kol- - experience w h UNUC and C; knowledge of VMS and Fortran an advantage.
mogwoff distribution. Obsewations with - a high d m of familiarity with the principles of softwaredevelopment rrsethdology,
the two Mt. Wilson interferometers software system design and modern storage devices.
(Mark Ill and the ISt, see Table I)give - exceltern English language communication skills.
very different results. Whereas the Mark Mnnment:
Ill interferometer indeed gives results
The ST-ECF operates tha European Sclence Data Archive for the Hubble Space
consistent with a Kolmogoroff distribu- Telescope, whlch archhe has b w n developed In eollabwatlon with the Space Tele
tion, the IS1 researchers find the expo- soope Sclenca Indtute. It Is alao used by ESO to store data obtalned at the telescopes
nent to decrease from = 5/6 to = In for on La SHla. The Archlve uses magnetic tape end optical disk storage, operated through
good seeing mnditlons. This Is a vety a dedicated m s o r and data base hardware, The system is networked to the €SO
hrge difference which will have a major computing faclllty and can also be am&s& through wide-area networks.
influenoe on the predicted performance The task ol the Scientist (DataArchivist) Is the continued maintenance and the further
of interferometers and large telescopes. development and upgrading of the systm. He Is expected to develop cost-effective
technical solutions, to negotiate WW and S N acqulsktons, and to supervise staff and
subcontmctors. Iwues of Importam are: system and data compatlbllity wlth the
Future Meetings STScl, system reliability and security, flexlbllity ta incorporate user mquirements.
This pmitlon will beawarded Inkidly for a p ew of 3 yews, renewableto a maxlrnurn
€SO plans to hold its next rneetlng in of 6 years (Auxlllary contract).
this conference series (High Resolution Application forms can be obtained from [Indhtlng the reLno.):
Imaging by Interferometry HI) in the European Southern Observatory
spring of 1994. The topic of adaptive Personnel Admlnlstratlon and General Services
optics, of major Interest for interferome- Karl-Schwamchlld-Str.2
try, will be dealt with extensively in the 8046 Garehlng near Munich, Germany.
April 27-30, 1992 ESO conference on
'Progress in Telescope and Instrumen-
tation Techniques". From January No, 158 in Sydney, Australia, on "Very focus on interferometric imaging at both
11-15, 1993 the IAU Symposium High Angular Resolution Imaging" will opttcal and radio wavelengths.
The problem of the optical identifica- X-rays and y rays the problem Is compli- ly positioned high-energy source, one
tion of high energy (X-andy-ray) sources ~atedby the swrce locatfon accuracy, tries to exploit the soff X-ray domain to
is a dassic of modern astronomy. It is limited by the physics of the detection zero on the possible optical counter-
only through the optlcal studies that one interaction. In particular, the focussing parts. Broadly, this has been the
can gain complete understanding of ob- of photons is only possible if their stmtegy adopted in our Key Programme
jects, galllactlc and extragalactic dike, wavelength is comparable to the sur- "Optical fallow up identification of hard
which emit a lot of their energy, through face roughness of the reflecting sudace, X-ray/soft Tray murces discovered by
thermal and non thermal processes, in and this happens, in practice, only up to the SlGMA telescope' (see alsa Blgnami
photons 1000 or one million times more a few keV. et al., 1990). About two thirds of it have
energetic than the optical ones. For hard This is why, in the presence of a poor- already been carried wt, and the first
been the target of several SIGMA obser-
SIGMA+ROSAT+ Optical vations which revealed its highly vari-
able nature both In flux and spectral
shape. In particular the presence on Oc-
tober 13, 1990 (Paul d at., 1991,
Bouchet st al., 1991) of a significant
bump In the 300-600 keV reglon,
0
Garchin
11
molecular clouds in the centre of our
galaxy, so thaf the search for a more
standard counterpart should certainly
not be abandoned.
Further W ~ l e d Investigationsof SIG-
MA souroes must still await, at this time,
accurate soft X-ray positioning to come
mostly from the ROSAT mission. How-
ever, the case of Nova Muscae gives
another example of an interesting corre-
lation between y-ray astronomy from
Sigma data and ground-based ESO ob-
servations, as pubtished by Della Valb
et at., 1991.
In the spirit of our Key Programme we
have also d e d towards the under-
standing, through the Investigation of
optical counterparts, of a n u m h of pe-
culiar, unidentified, presumably galactic
X-ray sources. This has included,
among others,recently discwered GIN-
GA-ROSAT translents, and a number of
other serendipitous mOSAT and Bn-
stein sources. Of particular interest is
the of 1E 120723-M08.8, OM of
the very few remaining Einstein HRI
s o w w with no firm optical counterpart.
The source is at medium galactlc
latitude, in a non m d e d hkl, and
e s ~ ~interesting
l y because it is lo-
cated near the aeometric centre of the
,
I
i
itself, pdxtbly invisible, at teast of its
immediate surroundings. However, the
C ~ coincidence
I ~ of such ~cenatiois
r a t k high, owing to the high density of ngure 4: Image of the region of IE 1740.7-29r12 in the r W.
Image: gc2QmZ 5" HRI m r box, unlikely to be rapon-
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 sible for the X-ray emWi. Our ffmr
image with the NIT equipped with
EFOSC2 in a night of gmd-to-moderate
seeing (0.9")showed the presence of a
19-magnitude object 1.a" from the field
star, and thus so far unseen. Thig is
shown in Figure 6. The newly dlscw-
wed object is very likely to be the X - y
source counterpart, although the pre-
liminary spectrum taken at the KIT,
showing no obvious signature, d m not
allow its irnrnedhte identiincation. The
nature of this object cwld &Ill range
from a neutron star, possibly asscciated
with the SNR, to a field BL Lac.
In conclusion, we would feel particu-
larly happy if our Key Programme, be-
yond its q u a n t i i v e muRs, had
achieved its purpose of rendering the
community aware of the importance of
multiwavebnW astronomy - from
ground as well as from spa& -for tack-
Ihg the new objectsdiscovered by high-
energy astronomy.
References
Wiy,J., m t h a l M., WQI, Nat 363,234.
Bignami G.,Caraveo P A , M m g t W i S. et
al., 1 M , The -r00,16.
-
Rgure 5: Contour plot d the image shown hr -re 4. The cross indicates the p & w d the
d o sowce (a* 17 h 40 rn 4.299 s,d -W 43'25" (1aO)). Brxlcht L et al. 1991, Ap.3 (Letters). in
pr=.
[)ella Vale M,, Jarvis BJ., West R.M., 1991,
Aswon. Ashphys 247. L3h
Maw1Y.. Long K.S,,Tuahy, I.R., 1988,&J.
m,837,
Mewhetti S., Caram P., Blgnami G.F.,and
Bell0111T., 1991, subrnbted to Asm.Ae
tmphys.
Mirabel I.F., Mortis M.,Wlnk J. et d., 1991,
Astron. -, In press.
Paul J., a aL, 1991, In Gamma-Ray Une
a: Durouchoux Ph., ?rant-
N. ( h w York: IAP), 17.
PrimT., Skinner G.K, 1091, IAU Circ. 5252.
Skinner Q.K,et al., 1991, A s m . Amophys..,
In press.
Sunyaev R., et al., 1991, Asm. Astwhys.
247, L29.
-
thls instrument and how It was built. There
are also some examples of h a astronomical
observations which have been made wlth
EMMI.
It can be obtained from the ESO Infoma-
tim Service (address on last page). The cost
Is DM70.-. Premvment is reauired to
ngure 6: ~ E F O S vCimage
~ of I E I Z O ~ ~ - 5 2 0 9me
. 8 .tie10~istar (W=17.34)and the new account NO. 2102002. Cornmerzb;ink Miin-
candidate (m-19.04)are 1.8 amec apart, North is to the top and East to the left. chen, B E 70040041.
Trouble in the Magellanic Clouds!
First Results from the Key Programme on Coordinated Investigations of Selected Regions
in the Magellanic Clouds
K. S. DE BOER, Stemwade der Universitat Bonn, Germany
F. SPITE, P. FRANqOlS, R. CAYREL, M. SPITE, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France
B. BASCHEK, J. K~PPEN,lnstitut fur TheoretischeAstrophysik, Heidelberg, Germany
8.WOLF, 0.STAHL, A. JOTNER, Landesstemwarte, Heidelberg, Germany
W.SEGGEWISS, D. J. BOMANS, E. K. GREBEL, E. M GEYER, T. RICHTLER, A. VALLENARI,
Sternwarte der Universitat Bonn, Germany
J. KOORNNEEF, Space Telescope Science Institute, on assignment from ESA
F. P. ISMEL, Sterrewacht Leiden, Netherlands
P. MOM RO, S. MONAl, G. VLADILO, Osservatorio As tronomico, Trieste, Italy
S. D'ODORICO, R. LEISY, European Southern Observatory
M. DENNEFELD,R FERLfl, A. VIDAL-MADJAR, lnstitut d 'Asfrophysique,Paris, France
G.STASINSKA, Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France
M, AZZOPARDI, N. MEYSSONNIER, G,MURATORIO, E. REBEIROT, Observatoire de Marseille,
France
J, LEQUEUX, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France
Does star formation proceed in an $&la); (2) CCD photometry in small fields field is almost devoid ofthese. Observa-
orderly way7 How homogeneous are the within the regions (Bonn); (3) 1RAC pho- tions of the cluster area have been per-
Magellanlc Cbuds in their metal con- tometty of the same (Baltimore, Leiden); formed with EFOSCl in the slitless
tent? Is the motion of the gas complex- (4) stellar spectroscopy for the study of made using a grim and an Ha+[NIq
es welt behaved? element abundance$ In the hot stars Interference filter. Thanks to special
In the course of the Key Programme (Heldelberg)and cool stars (Meudon) of software routines (Muratorlo and
we s M 8 d to doubt that our companion field and clusters; (5)the Investigatlm of Aszopardi, 1990) this survey resutted in
galaxies show systematic bhaviour. Af- the interstellar absorption lines (Trieste, the Identificationof a b u t twice as many
ter two fairly aucce#ful observationat Paris); (6) the study of the spectra of new Ha ernlssion-line objects as in the
seasons with (except for the sliiless emission nebulae (Paris). All these p m Curtis-Schmidt telescope spwtm-
spectmmpy and #e photometry) good jects are carried out in coordination and ooplc sunrey of tlte same field. This led
observing condions, conflicting evl- it Is this aspect which promises (and to estimate the total number of Hcc mis-
dence on some of the fundamental starts to show) new scientific results. siondine objects in the SMC to about
questions has been obtain& During our first observing runs we 40,000 (Meyssonnier and kopardl,
Our Key Programme was among the concntmted on two of the regions with 1991). In particular, about slxty Ha
fimto be accepted and has as speciali- the young clusters NGC 3W and MGC emission-line stars have been dismv-
t y those two southern-sky gataxim 1818. But also in Region E In the upper ered in the cluster NGC 330 (Fig. 2),
which unfortunately can be observed edge of supershell LMC 4, in which one while only 10 were known to Feast
under good conditions only in the south- finds an old cluster and young stars, as (1972). With the normal BVR CCD 6
em summer. This means that Uw obser- well as in the supernova fleld observa- servatlons, also an Ha wide filter was
vational progress is slower than in pro- tions were carried out. In dl cases med for a few exposures. lncludlngalso
grammes af survey nature. In addition, puzzling effects have been found. A w- Wmgren photometry, Grebe1 d a
although our Key Programme does re- v b w of earlier work and of new results veloped in her Diplomathesis an elegant
quire a fairly large amount of telescope also from our Key Programme may be method to isolate the Be stars In the
tlme, it consists of small subpro- found in the conference praceedings sample. Her Identifications could b
grammes, each of which takes a edited by de Boer, Spite and Stasin& confirmed completely with the EFOSC
number of nights equal to that of any (1989) and by Haynes and Mllne (1991) data From the final account of that work
reguhr ESO prop&. In short, espe- respectively. (Gmbdst at., 1991) we show the colour-
cially the coordination aspect is impor- colour plot (Fig. 3), demonstrating an
tant, both time-wise and with respect to exceptionat high Be star fraction in that
the objects (Regions) where the re- SMC cluster.
search Is carried ad. The regions had Reglon A in the SMC contains the MetallIcity problems with NGC 330
been selected on scientific grounds (see young cluster NGC 330 which stands emerged in a combination of studies.
de Boer et al., 1989); here we show out from the field. Its age derived from Spite, Richtkr and Spite (1991) and Bar-
pictures of the MageHanic Clouds with our CCD photometry Isof approximately buy et al. (1991) confirmed results of
the Regions marked (Fig. 1). 10 M y . The surrounding fietd popula- work carried out before the Key Pro-
The subprojects we are working on tion (If homogeneous) has an age of at gramme, In showing that the metal con-
are the following: (1) spectroscopic sur- least a factor of 10 larger. The cluster tent of red supergiants In NGC 330 is
vey with EFOSC (Marseille, Paris, Upp- contains blue superglants, while the -1.0 to -1.1 dex. Very similar results
Figure 1 : h the SMC and the L MC a lot81of six regions have been defined where all studies of our Key Pf#gramme are concentrated. Region A:
NGC 330and field. poor in gas and dust: Region 3:N27 and crowded field. rich in gas and dust: Region C: NGC 7818 and field, poor in gas and
dust Region D: N 159 and field,rich in gas and dust; Region E: NGC 1978. ElGC 1948. and N49. some gas and dust; Region?I SN Ig87A and
field, gas and dust. (Picture with thanks to Reiner Donarski, ESO.)
have been obtained from one hot star in stars wrong or those of the HI1 regions, provided some input. But also the ex-
NGC 330 (see Reitemann et al., 1990. or perhaps both? Or is C still depleted in tinction may play a role. Recently,
Jcttner et al., 1991). For work on hot HII-region dust? The emission-line ob- BesseIl(1991) has critically analysed the
stars it was necessary to obtain also IUE ject sub-project (which was started late information available on the extinction
spectra to get reliable effective temper- in the Key Programme) should soon give toward the SMC. He found that E(8-V)
atures. For the field stars, earlier data by additional information. Type I planetary is rather of the order 0.1 than negligibly
Spite, Barbuy and Spite (1989) and by nebulae will be studied (C-N-Opro- small. In an effort to contribute to the
Russell and Bessell (1989) from Mt. cesses) and IUE data are being col- discussion with our Key Programme, the
Stromlo, indicated that the field has a lected. How does the C abundance strengths of the interstellar sodium tines
metal content of -0.6 to -0.7 dex. This affect the dust content and the molecule in the spectra obtained for our stars in
was confirmed in a related study, where formation in the Clouds? A related inter- and near NGC 330 were analysed. It is
Grebel and Richtler (1991) could show esting result is that europium (an r-pro- found by Molaro and collaborators that
from CCD Strijrngren photometry that cess element) is relatively enhanced in the foreground E(B-V), as derived from
the red giants and supergiants in NGC the stars of NGC 330 (Spite, Richtler the strengths of the Nal lines and the
330 have indeed a lower metallicity than and Spite, 1991). Does this indicate a correlation of N(Na1) with E(B-V),
those in the surrounding field, the differ- more primitive phase of chemical evotu- amounts to 0.08 to 0.1 mag. Even a
ence being of the order of 0.5 dex. In tion in the Clouds (Westerlund, 1990)? smalt contribution by the SMC gas
short, the cluster NGC 330 is younger The values for the extinction in the would bring the total E (B-V) near 0.1 1
than the surrounding field stars but with Clouds cause trouble too. For the study mag. This new result indicates that
a metallicity clearly below that of the of the abundance In the red supergiant some of the eaAer abundance studies
field. This means that the SMC must be stars it is of utmost importance to have a may have to be reworked!
chemically very inhomogeneous! A sirni- very accurate temperature determina- Region E in the LMC, in the NW
lar effect had been found spectroscopi- tion and here the photometry group has comer of the larger LMC-4 supershell,
cally in Region C in the LMC which
contains NGC 1818 (Richtler, Spite and
Spite, 1989; Reitermann et al., 1990). Table 1. Derived metal abundance6 relative to solar
Here the data could not yet be substan-
tiated through photometry. CIH O/H Fe/H Eu/ Fe
The abundance pattern of the ele-
ments in the Magellanic Clouds SMC Heglon A cluster - 0.9 - 1.1 -1.0 + 0.7
(Table 1) is in general not well under- field - 0.9 - 0.8 - 0.6
- + 0.4
-
stood. The large carbon deficiency
HI1 regions - 1.5 - 0.8
found in the SMC HI! regions (Dufour et LMC Region E cluster - - 0.5 - 0.9 + 0.6
al., 1982) is neither found in the stars of field - 0.5 .. - 0.3 -
-
NGC 330 (Barbuy et al., 1991) nor in H ll regions - 0.8 - 0.5 +
hwrn a
sw ol the
W0rkIngg.d €heb y PmgmlnmmlM-
~tionbYMdataw?3b~~m
~ ~ & m e ~ a n d o n t M ~ b l
f i Z r t h e m 1 M . M -
W?m5fhgQ?(qdUWNGC1rn,~ can kfbgMm.
.yamg e
w d a h OJW 1W and khe
mrn~yatn1;1du&erwiththa
mWm~aN4Q.Fmnsg~raolia for Rh6 mupa d d q &Pv+lMon
~
Is
~ w
l ~ m t h s n l ~
44 but with an ulembun-
~ ~~~~~~*
f e m n i m . Indimtiowfur hts BWGW t
~ O f s i n ~ ~ 8 @ m ~ ' w t y p ~ a p ~ ~ b u t Jsu l m ~
lWdapWmwpybrwWIWe88 W y r and brlgMms k B Qregt uaftie
we!Ias~ptmtmFikyka$b@cov-
dng W W 597a anand NGG 1- wtl
I d to the debtsion sf
zzFzLnt Ha e#!lWc&Ane ab-
jecbincfudihgafewm~Hn~
&ns, Ln M d W I F O S G s ~
vl--mMIQmwn
~ , h d i q e t d m m d a 1 @ 6,
wmm-'fifferaah
1
w w in m ideflmmbl nf "knsw The 3nves@&on d tlse
W n t ~ n & u h m d o f i l n ~ wOlwJnl wm1 wets i t s o m m l n r n ~
w b $tetr
~ &ndi#Mes in NQC 1978 rv-p, q m e m b d Irr 'the timk
.andb~rtrwnd~$etd.rn*d period of the mion F m d . SN
ma& 9lliptid;al d d the LMC Gk&m& ?=A. @ Ch1 MI intgp-
MGG 18% ktlMnLly ok@r4hm2 Gyr w a r ti* m a
l s have cafak&l
~ma d,in pmp.). fnWs str$ the farmwattmadggtsnof~~btt
pro9ileB provide lmiqlle rkl@rmtlwm
~iamm~~~ye~!amputa-~
tRewdmfidd hman ageo*aWt ~ & W & u m a f O r @ M a n d m a r n y
1 GyY*m&&?md&ABmwi &eMng m be,
~ ~ ~ 7 o ~ ~ ~ m o y j n t w ~ ~~ t ~ o ~ f~ l e k
t@n F4WQ C M.
is promhrePd due t h e d e p t h s ? w c b m d t b ~Forth58
.
~ ~ ~ d ~ a the dmo@bn
n dinwamcMhpared
' b wfth
Wb-d@ddSl@~- Hl ZJ-m Elmhhl&er d&avei&le In
w o u w :d&gmm !pwawd ttlahmJm. F r n m 0 2 - I d~ a f t
Wallemf et at. in mu)
ticale tM ~ . ~ ~ n ~ e
far the classification of the stars as main
Wuence or evolved star as well as with
respect to the suitability for stellar and
interstellar spectrosmpy. In ihe spec-
troscopic survey data hitherto unknown
emission-line objects have been dimv-
Bred, objects to be further investigated
by the emission nebula project.
the stellar spectra give in many cases
Preliminary information on the interstel-
larabsorptionlines, although &en extra
observations are required because of
tha very high w l u t l o n needed. And, as
indicated before, the IS work helps to
determine the value of the extinction, an
essential parameter in the abundance
studies.
The very existenw of our Key Pro-
gramme has stimulated others to pool HI 21 ern X=0.6 Y-1.0
efforts and work on the same regionsas
defined by us.
The abundanm studies of hot and
cool stars have benefitted much from 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
the collaboration with M. Bessell from heliocentric velocity (km/rec)
Mt. Stmmlo. Not only are &serving pro-
grammes coordinated, but the fact that Figure 4: The intesstekr NEll spectnrm obtained at a resolutbn of IOO,OW In an expoam d
5400 set. with the 3.6-m shows ttm g m t dePaiI of the s t m m of the hfWsW& medium in
h e l l analysed thus far stars of spec- the LMCh Region F. Fwcomparlson theHl2l-cmptYle fmrnRohHsetal. (198.4)isshown to
tral type not addressed by us adds demmsh-ate thet (&isin a# lines of dght In Region g the 8trang HI 2f -cm emission 270 km s-'
weight to our mutual research. component Is essmtMly absent In -tion, Snce most of the materiel in this dlmtbn has a
RigM from the beginning, R was whx/fy near 300km s-l, the 270 km s'l gas must be appmahlng thh part of the M C f m
foreseen that our Key Programme would the mar r/ladilo ei a)., 1M1).
Intemct strongly with the ESO Key Pro-
gramme on SEST CO obenrations of
the Magellanic Clouds coordinated by
Lequewt and Israel. For Regions C, D,
Feast* W.W. 1972, M.N.RAS. la,$13.
and F the 12CO (1-0) observations are
complete and some exist for the 12CO Grehsl, E.K., Rlchtler, T. 1991, 7he
Visit to the ESO
(2-1)trandtion. R q b n B has been part-
ly covered and Region E Is bdng
IWemmgws4, p. 56.
Gmbel, E.K., Richtler, 7.1901, Astron. Astro-
Headquarters
planned. phys. in pms, ESO was pleased to receive high-
In New Zealand, W. Tobin started pa- Qmbel, E.K., Richtler, T., de Boer, K.S. 1991, level visitws from Gemany and Swltzer-
trolling some of our CCD fields in search A s m . Asliuphys. submitted. land at the Headquarters in Garchlng,
Hetynes, R., MHne, D,, Editwrr. 1991, IAU near Munich.
for variable stars. The Mt. John Universi- Symp 148, The #a@knic C W s , Kluwer.
ty Obsenratory (see Tobin, 1991) is Jllttner, A., Statil, O., Wolf, B., m e k , 5.
On October 31, 1991 Mlnisterialdiri-
farther to the south than any other easily 1991,inprep. . gent Dr. H. Strub and MinisterialratinDr.
accessible facility, lbelt with on aver- Mayssonnier, N., APapardl, M. 1991, IAU A. Hansen (€SO Council delegates)
age poorer weather conditions, but with Syrrtp "MCs", p. 196. spent a day with ESC) staff to Inform
Mer conditions for long-term monitor- M o b , P., Viadllo, G., O'Och~ca,S,, themselves about the latest develop-
ing programmes. nefetd, M., Ferlet, R., Vidal-Madjar, A. ments at ESO, in particular about the
Finally, In cooperation with our Key lH, MU Symp. 448, p. 434. VLT projed.
Programme, obsewing progmmmes are Muratorio, G.,-pard\, M, IQgO, P m . 2nd Presentations w e made by senior
being canied out with ROSAT on the E m - E C F Oata Analflls WoMhop, p. ESQ staff, and the guests from Bonn
MCs. In patticular the Regions in the 0. received detailed replies to thdr various
LMC will get goad coverage being so Russell, S.C., Bmsdl, M S . 1988,Ap.J.S.70, questions. At the end of the day Ors.
865, Hansen and Strub met with the Gerrrtan
near to the orbital pole of that satellite. Rekemmn, A, 3ascIwkt B., Stahl, Q., Wolf, staff members in the auditorium where a
B. lo90 Astron. Ashophys. a, 109.
Flohlfs, K., Krebehrnann,J., Slegmann, B.C., very useful exchange of views took
Fettzingw, J.V. 194, Astfon. Astrophys. place.
References i37,343. On November 13, the new Swiss Con-
Barbuy, B., Spite, M., Splte, F., Milone A. Spite, M., Barbuy, B.,Spite, F. 1989, Asmn. sul General, Mr. P A Studer, and Vice
1991, A s t m . As&uphys., in pr-. Astmphys. =,35. qnsul, Mr. R. Bloch, came to tho ESO
BesselI, M.S. 1991, Aston, Astrophya, 242, Spite, F,. Richtler, T., Spite, M. 1991, Astron. Headquarters to learn about ESO-Swiss
t17. m y s , wbm. interactions. They were very pleased to
de Saer, K S . et al. 1389, 738 Meswww57, Tobin, W. 1891, Pack Reg. IAU Meeting, become better acquainted with our or-
27. Proc. M r . Soc. Australia, in pms.
de Boer, K.S., Spite, F., Stasinsker, G., Vladtto, G., Molaro, P., Monal, S., D'Worieo,
ganlzation, and €SO was happy to learn
Edltors. 1889, Recent M o p m n t s in S*, Oennefeld, M., Fetlet, R., Vldal-Madjar, about the interest of the local Swiss
MagdIank C l o d Research, Obs. de Paris. A. mi,in prep. authorities In promoting goad political
Dufwr, R.J., Shields, GA., Talbot, R.J. 1882, Westertund, 6.E 1990, Asfron. Astrophys. and industrial contacts between €SO
4 . J . 262,451. Rev. 2.29. and their home country.
Unusual Solar Halos Over La Silla
D. HUTSEMEKERS, Institut d 'Astrophysique,Univemit6 de Li&e, Belgium
I
gressively sets down.
On January 27, 1990, we had the
chance to photograph a rare and
irnpressiue combination of solar Wos.
The phenomenon appeared around 2
p.m. and lasted less than 1 h. It Is- partly
illustrated in Figurn 2 and 3, the dKfer-
I
ent halos being klentifled in Figure 5,
The -loured ring around the sun is the
2P mfractlon bfo. It is particularly
sharp and remarkable for its brightness
and high contrast. Downwards, we
succesdvely encounter a part of the
great 46' halo and the relatively ram
circumhorimntal arc well detaehed from
the former. Despite k i n g fainter, both I
were significantly oolwred. The strlking
featurn was the small pathdb circle In-
side and tangent to the 22" halo. This
halo surrounding the zenith and passing
through the sun Is due to reflected sun- I
\- \
'y -4-\
\
and 8, the clystats act as t
prisms, n3Spmdyy
W and €V
llght thfwgfwe Eon-
mimes near the minimum &viation, ~e.,
far Ice, near 22"and W. If the mptak are
mndomly oriented in the sky, hrays are
at thewlgnof ffie2Pand 4 8 e d ~
rhe shap of t h m halos is indepetwnt ot
* -;)--- the sun elevaiim. ~attllngin the air, some of
'I Ylese crystals. the lagest ones, tend ta have
t M r fiat bases orient& hoiizontally Thrwgh
thkWdmtedcrystals,mraysdtypeA
I p r o d m the l&ht m d e m a t h s celled sun
A-
I obgs or parhalla. For sun ~~ close t
/
ff, the rays enter nonrrrmaf to the c p t d s and
p r o d m sun &$s loeared at t b sun &ova-
tionOtlttach~i&abthe22"helo. F o r h m
q sun ~rewtlms, the rays penetmb
dented crystal W h k m s i n g skewma
the
0 The minlmum mgfe of deviation m u g h r
pliwn being higher for stew mjm, the sun
~~appaardechedmm
22"hlo for o r b &l a m swr etemtims
Figurn 5: *SEhematlC z m I t r n M pr&c- (Rg. 44 InWactfng with the same subset d
tkm iI!ustmting the hdo phenomena ob- W e d crystals, the reftactedrays C 8nd D
smedarwnd 2 pm. F I S2. and @LWB fhe dmmhorbn&I and clrdum-
imiwarcswlrilereysE,m~edm~
cal he% an3 at fhe M$ln d the parheiic
data ma glm ~arelsvdlflon, /t Is m y to
rmIk that the Ibht my6 C, 4 E q p m t t y
coma fmm arcs or circl85 which are centred
ZENITH on the miih and Ile at constant elevarion
above h e h o r l m (be Fig. 8). the fheb de-
gree of hwdm kme h r d crysws be-
ing mWan a w n d W wticml ax&. The
E 0 paw'ic ~ g the hsun and
may be seen fw any sun eievatbn. On the
Fgm 7: &we IIIusfmtesthe l&ht rays mn-, due to htemal twklion, the cir-
passing f h w h pkm-fomr Ibe eummIthd (rasp. ~ u m h w l z ~ r t a larr:)
cwtals which are #?oughtto be respond* cannot be m n lor sun @evations gmtw
far all the halo phenomena observed on tkin 92' (lower than 58").
CIRCUMZENITHAL ARC.
PARHEL
CIRCLE
20
Flower Power at La Silla
D. HOFSTADTand M. MORNHINWEG, ESO, La Sjila
Periodically a d n y winter hits the secutive years of drought, dressed up in duces a small almond-flavoured nut
'Norte Chico" of Chile. Winter 1991 was tiny g r m [eaves and delicate yetlow highly apprmlated by the Vizcacha
one of them and generated some un- flowers. A b v e the Pellcano quebrada rabbits. In the same area we dnd the
happiness among the La Silla obses- the evergreen C&wniI/o (Fig. 2) began AlgambiIla (Fig. S), anolher bush ex-
vm. a long sequence of white flowering posed to Intensive exploitation. Its thick
For tourism and botany however the which w l last till summer. I& branches bean-shaped fruit has a very high con-
interest was greatly enhanced. Down in are often chopped down for charcoal tent oftanin and Is expwted to the lath-
the valley near the airship the Palo San- and It is now in danger of extinction. er tanneries abroad.
to (Fig. 1) oplend the exhibition in Au- Fortunately the La SiIb territory remains The really spectacular scen&s how-
gust. The shrubs, frustrated by con- a pmsanratlon area. The ca&onillo pro- ever appeared in Septemk when the
- - I-".
pi-
r*.,,
.*;:'
*,..
L' ;',>-
;gga:
.1.7
,:-
:;,-:\ ,-*@
<fif,"
"t--.-,,-..
7
$:
42-h2
*;-;+.,
,w-
-
**k , \%
.'3: :.;I_$&*
-
r 4.-
:
Figure 9: Tercioplo V\rgylia radlata) Figure 12: Viola del Campo (Viola ast8-I
purple Pate da G u m c o (Fig. 1l),cov- dreds of placea in Chile where the vil- the mountain cousins of the garden
ered large extensbns of fields &emat- lages of Chafiar and Chafiarcillo m- Capucins. Sweral of those wltd species
b with the yellow W a s de! Camp pete in numbers with the A l m b o a pmpaeohrms) exist in Chile and the
(Fig.12) and the Rmib (Fig. 8). This is and Algamblllos. The elegant and thor- coastal slopes harbour a magnificent
the time when photographic cameras ny Algarrobo tree (Fig. 6) populates the three-cotour version.
get inspired and the telescopes emerge quebradas and has Invaded Mr. The white crosspetal Sohhpetelon
from unusual green surmundings. The Schumann's garden located five deserves a special mention as it is
curious visitor will spot the Tmiopetas hundred mdm below the mountain adapted to wr activities. It opens up at
Fig. 9) whom m ! o m range from top. It is moderate In water consumption sunsat and sends its honey smell
ygllow-orange to dark b n . The velvet and w1ll eventually outnumber the ever through the night before clodng fn the
flowers make a paint of growing on bare thirsty poplars and eucalipti, thriving on momlng.
ground where other plants cannot com- wr waste waters. Many more wild flowers grow on our
pete. On the road to La Sllla the flower lopes: the candid Marlposas M a m a s
Of the two native t m s which gmw in festival is led by the Endim which (Fig10). AdesmIas, Seneclos, MaM/las
our region the CkMr (Fig. 3) is the Chileans Identify with the lovely name and magnMoent W r n e W .
most spectacular one during the flower- of the Caronilk d d fmile (the friar's Dr. G r e m , our walking encyclo-
ing season. R shrouds IMtf in orange crown). pedia, has identified aver 150 endemic
blossoms and attracts thousands of On the mountain itself the SobdadIllos species in aur surroundings. Who said
-
bees. The tree has lent its name to hun- Piffle soldiers Fig. 7')llne up. They are La Silla is a desed .7 ..
Introduction Thanks to generous allocation of ESQ CCD direct imaging techniques which
Never since the discovery of Pluto In time we were able to continue our study allow high-precision differential pho-
1930 has our knowledge about this tiny of the mutual eclipse light curves. tometry wen If sky conditions are not
far-out planet improved so rapidly as strictly photometric. Our data base was
during the past five years. The coinci- supplemented by published light curves
dence of two rare opportunities that Eclipse O b s e ~ a t i ~ n s of eleven further events (Binzd et al,,
occur together only once every 250 As the aspect of Charon's orbit 1985; Tholen et al., 1987 b; Binzel,
years kept astronomers around the around Pluto as seen from Earth varies 1988, Tholen and Buie, 1988; Tholen
world busy to solve the puale of Pluto with time, different areas on Pluto are and Hubbard, 1988).
and its satellite Charon. occulted during the eclipses (Fig. 2). The While the first grazing eclipse light
In 1987/88, the plane of Cttaron's eclipse series started In early 1985 with curves could be analysed using models
highly inclined orbii around Pluto swept occultations of the north polar region on for eclipsing binary stars, more sophistl-
over the inner sofar system. This gave Pluto. While in 1986 and 1987 large cated algorithms were required as the
rise to a series of mutul occultations fractions of the northern hemisphere eclipse series continued. The light
and transfs of the planetary disks that were covered as Charon crossed in curves were then complicated by
were observable from Earth between front of Pluto, Pluto's southern hemi- shadow transits which occurred dis-
1985 and 1990 (cf. Fig. 1). Nearly at the sphere was involved in the eclipses placed in time relative to the eclipse
same time, on Sepiember 5,1989, Pluto throughout the rest of the series until events (Fig. 3).
reached the perihelion of its eccentric 1990. The analytical model developed by
orbit around the Sun which placed the To exploit the full information pro- Dunbar and Tedesco (1986) to derive
binary system within range for photome- vided by the mutual eclipses it was the physical parameters of a binary
try with rnedlurn-sized telescopes. therefore ngcessay to spread observa-
The shapes and the timings of the tions over the whole period of eclipse
mutual eclipse light curves not only re- phenomena. Due to the fact that the
flect the geometry of the system (which binary system is in a bound rotation It is,
had been scarcely known before) but however, only possible to derive the
also provide information about the gross gross albedo distribution on one herni-
albedo distribution on Pluto and sphere of Pluto and Charon, respec-
Charon. tively.
In an eartier issue of the Messenger From 1985 to 1990 we successfully
(Pakull and Reinsch. 19861, we reported observed six transits of Charon in front
the analysis of the first eclipse light of Pluto (inferior events) and eight occul-
curves observed in 1985 and 1986 tations of Charon by Pluto (superior
which revealed that the diameter of event@. The photometry was obtained I 1985 1087/88 lSQ0
Pluto was much smaller than previously with the ESO/MPI 2.2-m and the Danish Figure 1: Apparent view of Chamn's 8.4-day
believed. 1.5-m telescope, respectively, using ofbit around Pluto Behueen 1985 and f 990.
Table 1: Fbysicel pamnmtem and orbital elemmts of the Pluto-Chm system d&v& lrom
the W h m M of our w&vtiml model.
Pluto Charon
1985 Radius r Fm] 1151 f 20 591 -t11
Absolute bi-i&~trtnes~
V (1,O) -0.848 k 0.01 0 f 350 4 0.010
References
Binrel, R.P., Tholen, D.J., Tedasco, EF.,
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.80 0,80 1,OO Buratti, B.J., Nelscm, R.M., 1985, Sc1228,
1133.
rotational phase [ P = 8,38718 days] Blnrel, R.P., 1988, Sd 241,1070.
R5ure6: T h e m ~ t i o n a l ~ t c u w e o f H u t d a n d C h a r r r n ~ b e t1w9m
4 2 e v l d f ~Ihe
. mie, M.W., Tholen, DJ., 1gSg,Icmm79,23.
continuous fine ~ m toursa d y t l d dewiptlon of the light c m e mi& for the &ammlu- Dunbar, R.S., Tedese~,E.F., 1986 AJ 92,
m. 1203.
OHot, J.L, Dunhem, E.W., Bosh, AS., et at.,
1989, Icanrs77.148.
of Ptuto with high precision photometry space pro& may provide more de- Marclalls, R.L., 1988, AJ M,941.
to track the secular variation of the rota- tatled pictures of the surfaces of Pluto Pakull, M.W., Relnsch, K., 1086, The
tional light curve. The 'SHELF M e t of and Charon. Messww*, 3.
Relmh, K., Pakull, M.W., 1987, Asfm. As-
6uie and Tholen (1989) predicts w Im- tmphys tn,L43.
nasdie reversal of the secular varlaffon Stem, $94, Tmftm, LM., Gladstone, G.R.,
Acknowledgements
4i.a general brightening and a reduction 1988, I- 75,485.
In amplitude of the rotational light curve) We wish to thank M. FWw, C. fholen, D.J., W e , M.W., Swift, C.E, I987a,
whereas Stem et al. (1988) predlct that Motch, M. Remy, and N. Sleget who AJ32,244.
the reversal shoutd take place 7-17 kindly undertook m e of the *a- M e n , D.d,, Buie, M.W., B i m l , R.P., Frueh,
years after passing periheliondue to the tlons included In our analysis. We also M.L, 1#7b. &1237, Sl2.
thermal hertia of Pluto's surface. thank K. B e u m n for fruitful dlscus- fholen, D.J., Bule, M.W., 1988, M W , 1977.
fholen, D.J., Hubbard, W.B., 1988. Amon.
The physical pmmters of the Pluto- sions and continuous suppoPt durlng &Whys. m,L5.
C h a m system seem to tia well estab- this work. k s t but not least we #rank fholm, D.J., Bde, M.W., IM, 8AU 22,
lished now. The largest uncertainty that the many people from the ESO staff for 1129.
remains lies In the exact: determination their technical support durlng our time Walker, M.F., Hardb, R., 1955. PASP 67,
of the semi-major axis of the system critical obseming progmmme. 224.
wHch measures only 0.9" on the sky.
This Is the scaling factor of the d i m
ten3 and the total mass of the binary
m p o n m k . Future observations with ESO's Early History
high spatial resolution (e.g. with the HST
or the ESO-Ml) wlll dlow a more accu- The readers of the Messenger will be scientfsts with modern facilifiies for
rate determination of Charon's orbit. pleasedto leam that the recent series of front-line inve9tlgatlons beyond the
One physical parameter which is inde- eleven articles about the early histwy of capacities of t b individual member
pendent of this scaling length is the Em. written by Professor Ad- stat&%
mean density of the system that can be Blaauw, have now been cdlected In a P r o w A d r i a Blaauw, wdl-
calculated from the binary period and book. The text has been hmughly r+ known Dutch astronomer. has been
the dlmensioras of Pluto and Charon ret- vised and includes photos whfch were closely associated with ESO durlng all
atlve to the binary separation. The mean not in the Messmgwartictes. of this time. He actively participated in
dmdty of &bout 2 @ c d indicates that The narrative begins with the de- many of the events described and as a
the Ruto-Charon system has a high velopments in the early 1950's when former Dimtor General of ESO
rock mass fraction similar to that of the leading European astronomers initiated (1970-74) he possesses first-hand
larger satelltes of the giant planets. a search for the best posslbb obsma- knowledge of tha organization and the
The mutual eclipse series of Pluto and tory site undm Uw comparatively unex- way it works. A scientist of international
Charon has prwidd us with many new plored southern sky. Ten years latw, in renown, Professor BIaauw Is atso a
aspects of the binary planet Pluto-Cha- 1962, ESO was established by an Inter- noted amateur histopian in his hwne
Ton. The albedo maps computed by dif- national convention and soon thereafter wunby.
ferent &sewers will hopefully converge a remote mountain top in the Chilmn The book Is available from ESO (ad-
as the data of all o b m e m will be com- Atacama d m , La SiUa, was acquired. dress on the last page); the price is
bined. The spatial resolution that can be It took another d d e to transform this 25 DM, which mugt be prepaid by
obtained by eellpse mapping is superior site Into the world's largest optical ob- cheque or bank transfer to E W account
to that offered by the HST wen if it Swatory* No. 2102002 at the Cornmenbank
wauld be working to design sp8cifica- ESO exempliflw the hihly sucwsful in Munich ( B U 70040041). Please be
tions. It will not be before the end of the European integratton in a fundamental sure b indicate "ESO History" In your
first decades of the next century that fieki of science, providing Europaan order.
A Visit to Gaspra
This is a ground-based photo of the
first minor planet ever to be visited by a
spacecraft. On October 29, 1991, the
NASA spacecraft Galileo flew past
minor planet No. 951 Gaspra on its way
to Jupiter where it will arrive in De-
cember 1995. The distance to Gaspra
from the Earth was 410 million km at the
time of the fly-by. Although Galilw's
high-galn antenna has not yet been un-
folded and could therefore not be used,
JPL engineers succeeded In getting a
300-line Image via the low-gain antenna;
the others will be sent when Gallleo is
again near the Earth. The first image
showed the irregular form of Gaspra and
Several craters on its surface with a res-
otution of h t 130 metres. The diarne-
ter was measured as 16 kilornetms.
Gaspra was discovered on July 30,
1916 at the Simeis Observatq in the
mountains of Cximea, the Russia. The sofi on the southern coast of Crimea, in On this date, Its distance from the Earth
discoverer was the welt-known Russian which the famous Russian writer Lev was 262 million km and the magnitude
astronomer Grigorij Nikolaevich Neuj- Nikolaevfch Tolstoy (1828- 1910) spent was about 15.
min (born 1886 in Tbilisi, Georgia; died many years of his life." The village of The background of the photo is a
I946 in Leningrad), who later became Gaspra is located about 10 krn south- region in the southern constellation
Director of that observatory (1925- 1931 west of Yalta. Ophlochus (the Serpent-holder)which is
and 1936-1941) and Director of the The present photo was obtained with characterld by relativelyfew stars, but
Pulkovo Obsewatoty near St. Peters- the 1-metre ESO Schmidt telescope at many bright and dark nebulae. The
burg (1 944- 1946). During three de- La SIlla on April 9, 1991 and served brightest of the three stars in the top
cades he discovered 72 minor planets to measure an accurate position of right corner is the 5th-magnitude Rho
and 6 comets. Gaspra, in support of the navigation of Ophiuchl, a hot and young double star.
Neujmin's dedicationfor (951) Gaspra Galilm. The exposure lasted 10 minutes It is surrounded by nebulostty that re-
reads as follows: 'Named after the r e and Gaspra is indicated with an arrow. flects the light from the stars.
nant, and spanning directions from N-E shock in the direction of the stellar mo-
KeplWs supmova remnant (SNR) Is to West (ckkwiise). Othw groups of tion. In the bow shock the gas was
an ideal object for a direct investigation knots are located closer to the remnant compressed, allowing the condensation
of the interadon of a blast wave with a centre. Fainter diffuse emission Is atso of dense clumps. Mow the supemova
hlghly inhomogems medium. Most of present along most of the northem rim blast wave moves through this dense
the optical ernissbn comes from dense of this SNR, as well as In the surround- and Inhomogeneousmedium. The effect
-- -
(n 103 1O4 cm? and compact (r
1016 lo1' cm)knots recently hit by the
- ings of the centrat groups of knots. No
optlcat emlssion can be detected along
of this is an enhanced emission in radio
and X rays on that slde. When the most
main shock.The physics of the intwac- the southem rim of the remnant. compact clumps are 'ignited" by the
tion is complex and involves the forma- Actually the optical Images are not the arrival of the blast wave they become
fion of smmdziq shocks, cloud crush- most suitable for defining centre and visible as optically emitting knots.
ing and evaporation by saturated con- size of Kepler's SNR; but one could use Since the time-scale for the evolution
duction (see MKw, 1988 for a review). radio and X-ray images (Matsul et al., of knots is considerably shorter than the
We here present some results of a IW),w h m the remnant looks pretty remnant age, the optical knots trace the
tong-term project on Keplefs SNR. di- circular. However also at these actual position of the supernova blast
rected towards the study of links be- wavelengths W shows a strong wave. Knots are visible only on an
tween the klnemattcal, morpholugical asymmetry in the emission, with a N-W annulus at the intersection of the bow
and spdmampical propertlea of a limb considerably brighter than the rest shock with the blast wave. Since the
knd, and the phase of its Interaction of the remnant. common transtation also has a radial
with the supernova blast wave. Kepbr's component, the bow shock gmmetty Is
SNR is a very young object (less than seen from an oblique perspective, and
3. Kinematics - A Bow Shock this annutus appears as an ellipse. On
400 yr old), and contains features that Model?
evolve with time-scales considerably this hypothesis the knots projected near
shorter than a human titime. For this By a comparison of plates covering the central regions of the SNR are actu-
reason It represents one of those rare the period 1942-1 976, van den Bergh ally part of this ( d i s t m ) ellipse. Wlth
cases in which the evolution can be and Kamper (1977) were abte to mea- the expansion of the blast wave, new
followed 'in real time". sure proper motions for 19 knots. Fur- knots wlll appear on an ellipse that in-
thermore they collected radial velocity creases in sire and shim In position as
measurements for a few knots. well.
2Morphology Thdr data were consistent with an This geometry allows one to predict
Aftar Kepter's supernova (SN 1604) "expansion age" of less than 2 x 1o4 yr. where new knots will appear. A non-
faded away, more than three centuries Therefore it became clear that the opti- trivial prediction concerns the central
passed before its remnant was discov- cal knots in Kepler's SNR have hot been knots. These new knots should brighten
ered. In 1941 Butde '(1943) flrst de- ejected by the supernova. On the other to the south of those already existing
tected some nebulosity near the super- hand they are too dense and clumped to (8andbn 1988).
nova position that was deduced from be interstellar (recall that the remnant is
the historical records. He described tacated about 500 pc above the &lac-
4. The Restorationof Old Plates
Kepler's SNR as "a broken mass oT tic plane, for a dlstanm of 4.5 kpc). Very
bright knots and filaments covering a likely the optical knots originated from a Here we shall describe the most im-
fan-shaped area", but actually detected wind of the stellar progenitor. This hy- portant phases of a work (Bandim and
only the N-W brightest part of the opti- pothesis is also supported by the pres- van den Bergh, 19914, that allowed us
cal remnant. ence of a dlgM nitrogen owabundance to obtain clmnw and deeper images,
In fact the location of thIs remnant is (Dennefeld, 1982; Leibowitz and Dan- and to follow h detail the motions of
far from ideat for optical observations. It ziger, 1883). In m e respcts the knots many knots and the evolution of their
is highly redden&, and very crowded by resemble the "Quasi Stationary FImuli" intensities over the last half century.
field stars. Therefore faint filaments may in Cassiopeia A. We used plates taken with the Hooker
be overwhelmed by the background, not velocities, typ~ca~~y only some 2.5-rn reflector (1941-1 943) and with
while same optical knots can & mis- hundred kWs, can be interpreted as th M e 5-m telescope (1850-1983).
taken for stars. Deeper images of the random motions added to a common As already mentioned in Section 2, the
nebutar emlssion can h obtained only translation, pdnting towards the N-W. nebular emission is immersed in a
alter a careful suMractIon of the stellar Bandiera (1987) notied that such a crowded stellar fidd. This is particularly
continuum from narrow-band frames translation pdnts to the direction where evident on d d plates, exposed with
centred on conspfcuous emission lines, the remnant is brightest, in the optid as broad-hand filters. As a first step, we
like Ha+[N II] (D'Odorlco et al., 1986), well as in radio and X rays, and ex- decided to "restore" these plates, by
0 I] or [Q 110 (Blair, Long
but also [S Ill, 1 plained this in the following way: subtraction of the stellar continuum,
and Vancura 1991j. Assuming that this material Miglnated wlth the dm of also extracting from
Such imagas reveal a great deal of from a m l b r wind, Zts common motion them information that was originally
structure. In addition to the brightest may reflect the motion of the supernova hidden. This requires an off-line refer-
complex located on the N-W side of the progenitor. During that rnass-l- ence image for the subtraction. How-
remnant, there are some clumps of phase, the wind was interacting with the ever we did not expect the stettar field to
knots lying along the edge of the rem- interstellar medium, and formed a bow have experienced significant changes
'Fata$l
-
$4:
'r.
>
- -
I=-P
*?,
--
Figure 1: (a) goad-qualily photogrephic plate of Kepler's SNR (Hale 5-m telescope, May 1950);(bJ the same aftw restoration by subtraction of
the stellar ~untinuum.
Over the last decades. We therefore de- racy, resulting in a more efflclent stellar the plates. On average a knot was de-
c l d d to use an image taken recently. subtraction. As an example, Figure la tected on 9 of the 12 available frames.
Observations were carried out in 1989 shows the appearence of a photo- Our catalogue was not intended to be
wlth the 1.5-m Danish telescope on La graphic image of Kepler's SNR, ob- complete. Even a few rather bright knots
Silta, with the RCA CCD No. 15, using tained in 1950 with a broad-band red were discarded because they were al-
broad-band as well as Interference fll- filter. Figure I b shows the same image, most coincident with a poorly sub-
tefs centred on Ha+[N Ilj, [S II] Ilnes, and after the stellar subtraction procedure tracted star. Furthermore, a few very
on the nearby continuum, Our aim was described &bov%. recent knots were not included, be-
to produoe a reference image for the cause they were only present on a few
stellar field with a spectral response
5. A Catalogue of Optical Knots images, Our catalogue Lists only knots
similar to that of the old plates. In this whose parameters can be detmlned
respect a BesselI R filter was found to After "cleaning" the old plates from with some accuracy. The total number
give the best results. We first obtaind stellar contamination, following the of knots In wr catalogue is 50 com-
Ha+[N II] and [S II] images of the nebular evolution of the nebular emissbn be- pared to the 19 knots catalogued by van
emission, by subtracting the stellar con- comes an easier task. The comptete set den Bwgh and Kamper ( 1 9 7 , who
tinuum, after a proper alignment of the of restored images has been pubtished u& a similar set of plates.
frames and an approximateequalization by Bandiera and van dm Bergh (19914. INVENTORY gives both positions and
of the point spread functions. They were Some knots are seen to brighten con- intensities of sources. Thewe positions
then us& for subtracting the nebular siderably. Most of these lie on the exter- can be used to determine astrometric
component from the fmme with the nal part of the northern rim, but some motions of individual knots. Proper mo-
Bessdl R filter. In all the steps of #8 are also located in the central regions of tions are combined to measure the
reduction procedure we stressed the the remnant. The evolution of knots Is of amount of common translation, as well
production of i m g a that were as clean particular Interest for the understandhg as expansion velocity. After correcting
as possible, whiie deemphasidng the of the geometry of this object, Newer for Galactic mtatlon the components of
detection of very faint structures. knots brightened to the south of those the average hots motion are 117 f 10
The next step was the subtraction of already existing; in qualitative agree- km/s and 105 k 11 kmk, toward Wes?
the stellar continuum from the old ment with the predictjons of the bow and North, respectively; the expansion
plates. Thls stellar subtraction can be shock model (Bandiera and van den velocity is instead 87 i4 26 km/s (for a
carried out only after a linearization of Bergh, 1991b) described in Section 3. distance of 4.5 kpb. These values are
the chamcteristic curve of the photo- The qudity of the images is good consistent with those of van den Bergh
graphic plates. Since this was unknown, enough to also allow a quantitativeanal- and Kamper (1973, but have a much
we had to derive it from the plate itself, ysis of the evolution of the optbal rem- higher accuracy.
by comparison with the (line@ CCD nant. As a first step, a catalogue of Approximate photom&y has been
frame. Thls is a difficult task, mainly emitting knots has been prepared. In obtained by comparing the intensities of
because the point spread functions of Kepler's SNR optical knots usually look corresponding knots in different images,
the two images are also different. We to be well defined. When filamentary after additional cw7ections for effects of
solved the problem in an approximate structures are present, they usually con- the residual non-linearity In the restored
way by comparing the Intensities of a sist: of a group of aligned knots. In order images. Absolute dibration is provided
set of stars selected independently on to avoid selection effects produced hy by the knot fluxes given by D'Odorico et
the plate and on the CCD reference manual recognition and centring of al. (1986), At the end of this reduction
frame, using the INVENTORY routine, knots, we prefemd to perform an auto- we obtained light curves (basically in
implemented in MIDAS. By this proce- matic search @y INVENTORY) In the Ha+[N Il] emission) for all catalogued
dure the image of the bright stars region where knots are present Further- knots over a period of 40-50 yr. The
cannot be compIetely removed. How- mom, this search was pehrmed inde- relative aceutacy on the intensity es-
ever, for fainter stars which are more pendently on the different plates. We timates is about 30%.
numerous, the characteristic curve of retained as real only those knots that Bandbra and van den Bargh (1991a)
the plate can be fitt6d with greater accu- were detected independently on mast of prmnt all available quantitEttive infot-
Figure 2: Ma@t?g (4of pmper motb?s and (b) of evdutlon in brightness d catalog& knots h KepWs SNR (see texij.
mation derived from astrometry and knots). Larger circles indicate faster present preliminary results based on im-
photomeiq of the catalogued knots. evolution. As already discussed above, ages oQtalnd with SUSl at the New
Our Figures 2a and 2b give a synoptic newer knots brlghtend on the northern Technology Telescope (May IN?), us-
picture of the proper motions of knots rim central regions of Kepler's SNR. ing narrow-band filters centred on
and of thelr evolution In brightn-, re- Most knots are fading, with time-scales Ha+[N Ifl, ISIIJ and [0111] lines, respec-
speciivefy.In Figure 2a each arrow rep- generally longer than those of the brigh- tively. For each of these three filters,
resents the proper motion of a knot over tening ones (9-fold time-scales are up to after the subtraction of the stellar con-
400 yr (the present SMR age). The c m 10 yr for brightening, and up to 30 yr for tinuum. the retatlve intensities of knots
indicates the position of the centre of fading). catalogued by Bandiera and van den
the mdio and X-ray image, and the Bergh (19914 have bem measured.
arrow from its centre indicates the com- In Figures3a and 3b knot intensities in
mon translation of the pattern of knots. 6. Effects of the Evolution on the different lines are plotted ([Sll) vs.
In Flgure 2b a cirde centred at the posi-
Knots' Propedes HatlPIII], and [OIIfl vs. [Sllj, respective
tion of each catalogued knot represents Purpose of this Section is to give the ly). Each knot is repmentedby a circle,
Its evolutionary phase: filled circles indi- reader a qualitative feeling of how the whose characteristics indlcate the
cate brightening (newer knots), whlle properties of knots depend on the evolutive phase of that knot, according
open circles indicate fading (older phase of their evolution. Here we shall to the conventions already used in Fig-
h g .([Sn]) (arbitrary d t s )
Figure 3: WsMbutlon of knots at d I f f m e d u t h m y -888 in the (4&a+W 110 -Is 14 end (bJ IS I4 -[O /Ill htensily-planes (see i d .
llre 2b. Figure 3b contains only 30 Marseilb Obsewatory (Boulestelx et a]., Blair,W.P., Long,K.S., Vancura, 0.1Wt ,Ap,
knots, because the !NVEMORY routine 1W),howeuw, is ideal for radial w k i - J., see,484-
failed to detect [0llu emission from the tY mapping. Boulestetx, J., Georgelln, Y,P.. Mmlln, M.,
Monnet, Q., 1984, fn InsWmenhth in
others. Astronomy, Proc. SPlE 446,eds. V A Bok-
From both figures it Is se%nthat the Senberg, and D.L Crawford, p. 37.
regions rrontaining ywmgar knots (filled Dennefeld, M. 1- Astm. Astmphys. 312,
circles) are separated from those con- Ref-= 215.
taining older knots (open circles). In Fig- made, w. I~~E~,A~.J.,Q?, 119. DDdorlw, S., Bandkm, R., W g w , J.,
ure 3a the correlation between [S ill and Bandlera, R. 1987, Ap.J., 319,885. F d l , P. 1086, Ask J., 91, 1382.
Ha+[N Il] intensities is rather good, but -era, R. lgm, In Supemova shelfs and ~ d b o ~ l t r ,E.M., w p w , I.J. tm3.
thdr Mrfh ad. W. Kundtt w m MrNRA.8,2W, 273.
older knots are typically brighter in (S Ill. Notes in Physlcs S ~ WS .P ~ ~ Veda, W
However, In Flgm 3b this cornlation L M&uI, Y., Long, U.Dlckel,
, J.R., G d n ,
Berlin, p. 81. E.W. 1984. Ap. J., 287,295.
poor. Most of the brighter knots in [OIH] Barsdiew, R., van den B e ~ h S. , lQQf*, Ap. MCW, C. 1888. In - W ~~#nnsnts
are young, while this Is wt so for Iq. J., 974, 186. and tne I ~ t M a Mr u m , W Coll. 101,
These results qualitively agree with a Bandlera, R.1 a w h , S. 1991b, In SN gds. R.S. Roger, and f.L Landecker, Cam-
scenario In which the knots am initially 19874 and other SuPemova6 hid* Vniv. PM, New York, p. 205.
at a higher ionization level, which then ings of ESO/EIPC 1W- eds. 1.J- Dm- van den Bmgh, S. Kamw, Yaw.1077, Ap. J.,
decreases with time. However, quantita- ziger and K. 1<1&, p. 661. 218,Blf.
tive conclusEons am beyond the scope
of this discusslon which is still based on
jnoomplete data.
U o w direction is at P.A -
orisnted at PA. 153 f P, whereas the
Introduction
These 'normal' stars are best suited diagram. The most prominent new tools
Probably the most convincing definl- for significant tests for various asp&$ are:
tion for what astwoseismology actually of fundamental stellar physics. Con- preclse distances, measured by the
is, was given by Dappen, Dziembowskl fronting realistic stellar models with Hpparcos satelthe,
and Sienklewlcz (IAU Symp. No. 123, p. high-quality observations will tell us pulsation periods, observed wlth
233,1988) as a method of testing stellar much about the underlaying physics. ground-based telescope networks
structure and evolution theory, uslng J In addition, stars constitute essential and with space experiments,
avallable pulsation data (including also laboratories for studying important as- rotational velocities and magnetic
growth rates, phases, the fact that mode pects of basic physics (convection, fields, derived from surface imaging
exists, and sometimes are transient, MHD, nuclear reactions, equation of techniques,
etc.), and not just observed frequencles. states, transport processes, etc.. . ..) new powerful d e t e r s which help
Asteroseismology probably opens the under conditions which cannot be re- to increase the S/N of obsenrations
accessible parameter space well be- produced in terrestrial laboratories. For significantly,
yond the classical lnstabllii strips, if extremely high and low temperatures dramatic advances in computer
solar-type oscillations can be obsewed and densities, this stellar laboratory is technology.
for a large variety of stars. It has become indispensable for W i n g physical
an increasingly accepted opinion that theories. These are just a few examples
Scientific Goals
pulsation (probably mody In the form of for the significance of stellar physics
non-radial pulsation) is the rule, rather to what may be called laboratory phy- The key Issue of asteroseismology is
than the exception. Unfortunately, the sics. the theory of stellar structure and evolu-
obsewable quantities tend to be ex- Not surprisingly, many international don. In the present status of the theory,
tremely small and new instrumentation conferences have been devoted In re- a stellar model is typically characterized
is needed, for ground-based observa- cent years to heliu- and asteroseismolo- by flve parameters (mass, age, initial
tlons as well as for observations from gy. IAU Colloquium No. 137 (Vienna, compositions In helium and metals, and
space. The prospects, however, are -
Aprtt 13 to 17, 1992) will be d w d , mixing length a parameter describing
magnificent since it appears to be pos- among others, to aspects raised in the the convective transport of energy) for
sible to test stellar Interior and evolution present artlcle and is entitled "Inside the whlch we usually have only two obser-
over most of the parameter space of the Stars". vable~(luminosity and surface gravity).
HR dlagram. Stars where relativistic A short ovewlew over the last 30 Consequently, stelIar models cannot be
effects are not important and whlch years of stellar astrophysics illustrates adequately tested. Moreover, we have
might therefore be classified as 'nor- the immense increase of knowledge some reasons not to trust our descrlp-
mal', will probably serve as most com- about how stars are working, but also tion of stellar Interiors. Let us take two
mon targets for asteroseismology. about the serious shortcomings in our examples.
'Normal' stars are very Interesting as- physical concepts and accuracy of our When ensembles of stars (like open
tronomical objwts In themselves and data. clusters or binary systems) are ob-
certainly are not 'boring'. They play a In the slxties, a very important step In sewed for which independent con-
crucial rote In the chemkal evolution of stellar moddljng was achieved by qual- straints on some astrophysical para-
the Universe. Stars on me Maln Se- itative!~explaining the structure of the meters are available (same age and
quence and close to it are by far the HR diagram at the level of accuracy of same initial composition for each star
most frequent and easily observable in- the observational data. h the late In the ensemble), it Is usualty imposs-
gredients of the Universe. All our under- seventies and in the elghties the de- ible to reproduce the observed prop-
standing of the Cosmos is based on velopment of solar neutrino astronomy erties of the stars with the same val-
caltbratlons (age, distance, mass, etc.) as well as helioseisrnology showed that ue of the mixing length. This may
obtained from our closest neighbours. there is not yet a satisfactory model indicate that the representation of
We will nat be able to appreclate our which can predict the observed quan- convective transport by the mixing
Cosmos untll we fully understand its tities at the very high level of accuracy length theory Is not adequate.
constituent stars. Understanding stellar meanwhile achieved. The immense pro- The obsew6d solar neutrino flux Is
evolution Is fundamental for a coherent gress in this field, accelerated by suc- much lower than expected, which in-
picture of the Universe, because the life cessfut space experiments, suffers from dicates that modelling of the solar
of galaxies largely depends on the life of a tack of generality, as was demon- interior is incomplete.
their basic, luminous constituents: the strated, e.g., at IAU Cdloquium No. 121, Already these two examples demon-
stars. "Inside the Sun". New steps forward are strate that an improvement of stdlar
For many years, astronomers have needed to constrain theories by study- modelting is absolutely necessary. How-
struggled with the problem posed by ing stars wlth different physical parame- ever, such an Improvement is possible
these 'simple' objects, but find them- ters (effective temperature, luminosity, only if adequate tests for current models
selves still far from the goal anticipated chemical composition, rotation rate, can be provided, Asteroseismology is a
by Eddlngton who, In 1926, finished his magnetic flelds, etc.). new tool for this purpose.
book on The Internal Constltutlon of the In the nineties, still more accurate ob-
Stars with the sentence: ". . . but It is servational techniques are being de-
veloped which are sulted to challenge
Pulsation
reasonable to hope that in a not too
distant future we shall be competent to theories in a parameter space more Classical pulsating stars have already
understand so simple a thlng as a star." complex than the two-dimensional HR been known since 1784, when 6 Cephei
Agure 1: S o k pmodes, equatwial cmss Rgure 2: Solar p-modes, qua-/ Cmss ngure 3: Sdar p-modes, equatorla1 c m
section 1-80, m -40. 1-3.175 mHz. section 1-40, m-0, vc3.175 m M . section 1-2,rn-2, v-3.147 m u ,
was discovered as a variable star. It star, and c is the travel s p e d of sound. be measured to a very htgh accuracy In
took nearly 200 mow years to under- For a rotating star, the unpertutBed such a power spectrum: the "larg# and
stand the masons for this type of stellar frequency v,, as obsewed f m the the "smalluseparations. The large ssp-
variability. earth, is f u h e r spllt in a symmetric fre- sratton Av, Is the frequency dierence
Eigenmodes of pulsations cany a quency multiplet according to: between two modes of same degree I,
Wealth of information on the state of the but of quantum numbers n diffel-lng by
tot one. The small sepmtion 6,, Is the fm
Interior of stars. A mode of a glven de- u,,,, = m (1 ot,nl Q ,
QrmIis confinedto a glven cavlty wWn quency difference between mode n, I
h e star. High-dgree modes, llke the with -I< -
m< I, m being an integer, Sa and mode n 1, I+ 2. Itturns out that Av,
one represented In ngures 1 and 2, are the stellar rotatation frequency, and C a depends on the 'average" sound speed
restrictd to sub-surface layers, while constant whlch strongly depends on the In the steIlar interior, and therefore
low-degm modes, as shown in F l g stellar structure. carries information on the "average"
ure3, propagate a!I the way to the In addfllon, the global magnetb fleld structure, while a,,, Is sensitive to the
centre of the star. The Ftgures 1 to 3 are structure of a star also Influences the detalb of the stellar structure close to
quatorial cross &Ions through vi- elgenfrequendes and pulsation am- the core.
brating solar models and have been plitudes. Hence, arnptitude ratios of fre- On# the large and the small separa-
kindly provided by S. Frandsen (Astro- quency multiplets allow to derive Infor- tions have been measured to a high
nomlsk Instltut, m u s ) . Amplitudes of m a t h on this magnetfc field structure. acwracy for a given star, one can, for
the displacement m r s of the solar As is evident, a full mode identlflca- example, locate them In the w-calted
p-modes are colour wdd. Another tlon (n,Iand m)-la necessary in order to astemismologlcal HR diagram, where
Illustration of non-radial pulsation oompare any ~~ pulsation ff& the structure constant Do,proporttonal
modes is given in Weiss and Schnsider quency wlth predictions. For most of the to the small separation, is plottedverws
(h Messenger, No. 33). For dlstant ctasdcal pulsating stars only one pula- the large separation Avo. This diagram
stars, ony tow-degree mode can be tlon frequency has been observed, was Introduced into asteroselsmology
detected because of the lack of spatial sometimes two, v e ~ yrarely three fie by J. Chrlstensen-Dalsgaard (Aarhus). In
resolution, Fortunately, these modes are quencles. Frequently, the observed f#- such a diagram (Fig. 5), llnes of constant
precisely those that probe the structure quench do only poorly m r ~ p o n to d mass (full llnes) and llnes of constant
from surface to centre. those predicted hy models. The solutbn central hydrogen content (dashed lines)
The roots of astermisrnology are, of to #Is dlscmpancy fs oflen p m n t e d can be drawn. The central hydrogen
course, the same as for the theory of by an unknown full mode identiflcatbn. content Is an excellent age Indicator. By
classical pulsating stars. Thls can be placing the measured large and small
best i!lumated In the wymptotic case,
when ttw degm Iof a pulsation mode ia -
Asteroselsrnotogy a New Tool
separations In the asteroseismological
HR diagram, one can derive wkh a good
much smaller than the ordor (overtone) In a s t ~ 1 s m o l o g ythe analyds of accuracy the mass and age of a star.
of this pubation n. Tasswk (9980) has the stellar structure wlll not be based on Funher diagnostics Is provided in an
derived sn asymptotic solution for the observation of one or two fr@quen- 'echdle' diagram (Fig. Q in which the
p-modes: cies, but on a frequency spectrum frequencies are plotted moduto Avo,
whlch allows the determination of The curvature of the linm appearing In
characteristic pepiodk structum within an echelte diagram (one line for each
wch a spectrum. No individual mode value of 1) is very sert.sltrve to the detalls
idwrtrfieatbn la necessary in this case. of the structure just M o w the stellar
With .JnJ =,*I and The klnd of results we can expect for surface. Thus, low-degree modes can
distant stars are Illustrated by the full also be used to probe thme regions.
disk aolar power spectrum obtained by Finatly, and as was already men-
the lphlr exprimem on bawd the tioned, a further dependence of the fre-
Phbos probe towards Mars (Fig. 4). In quencies on the alrnuthal ordw rn is
The plytropic index of the model is -
this power spectrum of the Sun seen Intraduced when a star rotates, known
2e,whereas a and 8 are constants de- as a star -, we can distinguish up to 30 as the rotational splitting. Thls splming
pending on the internal structure of the low-degrw modes. Two quantttia can depends on the Integral of the internal
spectral resolution and the high S/N
ratio required. They are also llmited
to very slow rotators, because sharp
spectral lines are needed to reach
the desired accuracy. Unfortunately,
slow rotators are not the most Inter-
esting objects to study (no measur-
able rotational splitting, not efficient
dynamo),and therefore the first class
of methods should be prefetred for a
systematic study.
Although we are concentratlng here
on 'normal' stars. it has to be mentioned
that more exotlc objects, like whlte
dwafls and nuclei of planetary nebulae,
have knefmed enormously from as-
teroseismology.
In concludon we can say that as-
teroselsmology Is a powerful tool to
probe the Internal structure and dy-
namics of stars, and therefore to contri-
bute to the solution of the current basic
problems of stellar physics by providing
two Independent obsewables (Avo and
2400 2800 2000 8000 9200 3400 3800 3800 8,3, However, as current stellar evolu-
Frequ-cg (*I tion theories characterize a star by flve
independent parameters (mass, initial
Figure 4: Power spectrum of the /ow-- p-modes from 160 days oT the IPHIR experiment. mass fraction of Helium (Y) and metals
@, age and mlxlng length), additional
data have to be provided for a full test of
rotation over the region crossed by the amount to only 104 mag. for typical stellar interior and evolution models.
mode under consideration ([.em for most solar-type stars. Aa will be shown Hitherto, In most cases only the effec-
of the stars the low-degree modes), and later, photometric measurements tive temperature and luminosity can be
hence can provide an estimate of the down to this accuracy are not p088i- measured, accounting for two further
internal rotatlan. ble from the ground. Independent parameters, out of the total
Seismological techniques have been Veloclty fluctuations induced by the of flve needed.
applled extensively to the Sun, and pulsations: Thesg are of the order of
helloseismology has brought an enor- 10 cm 8' for solar-type stars, and Scienttfic Impact of Asteroseis-
mous amount of Information about the this type of measurements represent mology
solar interior. Among other results, It an Important technological chal- In the following sections we will try to
was shown that solar p-mode frequen- lenge, not totally w t of soope, highlight the most prominent aspects of
cies are not compatible with praently though. However, these measure- stdlar physics which will beneflt and -
assumed care mlxlng, with the exis- ments are Ilmited to only a few very have already benefitted - from as-
tence of Weakly lnteractlng Masslve bright objects, because of the high temelsmological projects.
Partlctes (WIMPS), that there is no fast
sptnnlng core In the Sun,and that solar
internal rotation Is not constant on cylin-
ders, as suggested by some theories.
For other sotar-type stars on the con-
trary, only very few results have been
obtained so far. In fact, only marginal
detection of pulsation has been claimed
for two very bright slow rotators (Gelly,
Grec, Fossat. 1986, A s h n . Astrophys.
,164, 383): a CMI (Procyon) and a Cen
(f(igil Kent). In the respective power
spmra for the radlal velocity variations,
no clear evidenm for Avo and
emerge and therefore no retiable Infor-
mation can be extracted about the Inter-
nal structure of these two stars.
Thls lack of clear asteroseismologlcal
results Is caused by the extremely low
signal that must be detected In the case
of, e.g., solar-type stars. Two obaenr-
able quantities can be used for as-
-
0 50 100 200 250
teroseismology:
Brishtness fluctuations induced by
t h e pulsations: These fluctuations ngum 5: m astwawismo\crgical HR Magram.
lodty gradient, and a hint on the rota-
tlonal shear at the base of the con-
W ~ o zone,
n
i 0
Asteroselsmology at La Silla
Already since the early stages of as-
0
teroseismology ESO has granted tele-
scope time to various projects In this
fiekl. In the following we can only glue a
very brief summary which wlll be biased
towards our own activity and Is based
malnly on after-dlnner 'shop tdalks' at La
Silla. We apologize for being Ignorant of
other impodant projects.
THEORY
One group of stars which contdbuted
to the boom In asteroseismology is the
group of pulsating magnetic CP2 stars,
also called, but less precisely. rapidly
oscillating Ap (roAp) stars. Soon after
the discovery of the first member of this
OBSERVATIONS group wlth periods of about 10 minutes
by Don Kurh: (South Africa) in 1979,
conffrmhg observations were gathared
at La Sllla wlth the 50-cm Danish tde-
scope in Strhgren and Hp colours. The
I I I L 1 I 1 full story Is already told In The
Messenger, No. 33.
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 In the beginning of the sightie, some
SHIFTED FREQUENCY (pHz) surveys had already been initiated to
check CP2 stars for stability against 8
Scuti type pulsation with few hours
period. Our suruey at La Silla, e.g., is still
ongoing and uses mainly small tete-
Stettar interior: For Individual stars, mode ~xcitation,and as a con* scopes (SO-crn telescopes, 0.9-rn Dutch
as mentioned above, we usually have quance on our understanding of stel- telescope and the f -m ESO telescope).
2 obbservables: the absolute lumlnos- lar convection. The recently descoped Walraven photo-
ity, which can now be known to a Angular momentum distriMion and meter proved to be particularly useful,
high accuracy thanks to the Hippar- fransport: The probim of angular because it allowed to obtain simulta-
cos satellite, and the surfam gravity, momentum is among the most Im- neous bcolour data. The potential of
known to a much lower accuracy. portant in stellar physics. The issue b multicolour information on mode iden-
The mode frequencies provided by to understand how stars get rid of tificatbn Is illustrated In The Messengw,
the asteroseIsmologioal data will their initial angular momentum, how No. 34, p. 9. Furthermore, Matthews,
yletd additional obsembles to test angular momentum is distributed Wehlau and Walks (Astrophys. J. Len;,
stellar models. In particular, the large and Is transported in stellar interiws 366, MI) have shown that such obser-
and the small separatims will be during a sW1s life. Providing an esti- vations, supplemented by data from the
measured to a very high accuracy. mate of Internal rotation through ro- IR, allow to derive the atmaspheric tm-
These two observables are directly tational spliings and a measure- perature stretiflcatlon, The first observa-
senJtIve to the detalls of internal ment of surface ratation through ob- tions of roAp stars In the near IR have
structure, while the usual obsarv- served rotational modulation of white also been obtained at ta Silla.
ables are surface properties of the light as well as of UV lines wlll give a La Slla usually plays an important role
stars and are only Indirectly sensftlve hint &bout angular momentum dis- in &sewlng campaigns orgsnlred to
to the Internal structure. tribution wlthin stars. The differences obtain long and uninterrupted data sets
Stellar evelullon: Wlth the availabl4lty seen between stars of d i i t ages which are not affected by the day-night
of very preclse frequency measure- will tell us how angular momentum is cycIe. Several such carnpalgns have
ments it will be possible to detect transported during stellar evolution. already been successful for various
stellar evolution effects even withln Dynarmo theories: The mode fm 8 Scuti (9.g. M. Breger With Bochum
an active life time of a scientist. This quencles and the separatbns pro- observers) and roAp stars.
has bwn Investigated, among vide an estimate of stellar a p s and The observations 05 solar-type oscil-
others, for white dwarfs by D. Wlng- masses. The frequencies and sep tations of Procyon and a Cen, men-
et,for roAp stars by St. Kawaler, and arstions, with the addition of mode tioned earlier In this artlcle, have been
for 8 Scuti stars by M.Breger. amplitudes and life-times, will result obtained by the Nice group prirnarlly at
Excitation and convection: Convec- h constraints on the structure of La Silla. Other very Important actlvitles
tlon is thought to be ~ n s i b l for e convective zones, Moreover, as indi- In astwo58ismology are currently ongo-
mode excFtatlon In solar-type stars. cated prwlousty, the slmdtanmus ing at the Danish 1.5-m telescope,
Therefore, measuring mode am- estimates of Internal rotatlon (rota- where S. Frandsen (Aarhus) and his col-
plitudes and life-times of stars of dif- tional spltttlngs) and of surface rota- leagues investigate various ctusters of
ferenttypes and ages will have a very tion (rotational modulation) will pro- diirent age for 6 Scuti stars. The
Important Impact on the theories of ulde an estimate of the angular ve- Geneva group has amurnulated and
publfsheda lot of data related to micro- llw elimination of atmospheric nolse In order to avoid a poor target choice.
variability, 6 ScuN, p Cephel and RR Lyr and the posslbllitles of very long, con- Photometric problems may arise from
variables. Slmlkr holds true for the tinuous data strings wlth a large duty even very faint background sources
Lelden group, using the famous Watra- cycb are the main reasons. One such which dm In and out of h e photometer
ven photometer. Very probably, this list asteroseismological space experiment aperture due to satellite jitter. To our
of photometric and spectr~cwicpro- is already approved for the Swjet surprise, there are presently no data ar-
jects carried out at La Silk 1s hcom- MARS-94 probe and has the acronym chives available which would allow M
plets, but yet suited to illustratethe sig- EVRIS. The other space project, more extract the required astromdrlc and
nificance of the excellent ESO site for versatile, elaborate and powerful, Is photometric Informationfor EVRIS. As a
&eroseismology, as well as for the Im- presently h Phase A study at ESA and Is consequence, all the candtdate target
p o r t and ~ ~ effectivity of small and called PRISMA (Probing Rotation and fields have to be carefully observed In
medium sized telescopes. "Blg Sci- Interlor of Stars: Micrcrvarlabilltyand Ac- various colwrs wlth CCD techniques.
ence" not always dmands "Big Tele- tivlty). This synergy between space- and
soopm", As already shown earlier In this article, grotlnd-basd obsewations Is another
Flnally, we would like to brlefdy touch supplementing ground-based obsem- example for the necessity to develop
on our future projects at la Silla wlated tions are mandatory for a fulI exploita- both and not to ignore one at the expen-
to asteroseismology, In addition to con- tlon of the scientific potential of as- ses of the other.
tlnulng our survey and participating in teroseismology. In the case of N I S ,
wotld-wide obsetving campaigns. bask stelhr data of sufficlent accuracy, Words of thanks: Many colleagues,
As has been clearly demonstrated by Ilk8 effective temperature, log g and ImposJble to llst all here, have contri-
a recent ESA Assessment Study for pro- luminosity are missing for many EVRlS buted to this article through discus-
ject PRISMA ( E M SCI (91) 5, as- target stars. Furthermore, a careful in- sions, cooperations and contributions.
teroseismology will anter a new em, If vestlgation of the Immediat8 vicinity of WWW is particularly grateful to the
observattons can be done from space. the very bright target sstar is necessary teams of EVRlS and PRISMA.
z me Data
Near-infrared photometry was ab-
tained an February 17-18,1#1 at the
€SO 1.Om telescope and on February
25-28 at the ESOIMPI22-m telescope.
We wed the standard INSB photometer
with apertures of 15" and 8" and a
throw of 20" and 15" at the 1.Om and
2.2-m, respectively. Standard stars
were observed from ths list af Eouchet
et al, (1881). The reduction was done at
La Sllla uslng the reduction programme
written by P. Bouch&. The results are
given in Table 2.
The 3-pm spectra were obtained at
the 2.2-m telescope with a Circular Varl-
41
able F l k r w h d . A f l a observing a pro-
gramme star, a nearby standard star
Figure I :Theiocrltlwr of-
70s c&un s m In the I- c o t w r - c o l o ~ a d iIn~ the
. tPp low was oobserved. We used the standard
~ t h e ~ ~ d h n ~ ~ d ~ n t o t h e dln t~ h ne mt - et h ~e u f ~reduction
g ~ Mnique of dlvidlng the
tot& srlmpb & plow. 7M &Id Hne Micat& the h t i m ofthe W a C W I~I-w. source sparurn by the standwd star
spectrum and then multiply either by the
above, avaltabb new-infrared (NIR) data To study the group IV and V stars assumed blackbody temperature of the
were used to catculah bdometrlc in more Wtl we had s w d obsewing standard w the known mntlnuumflux In
oormt10ns and CO data to calculate runs at La SiHa In the beginning of case of G-dwatfs (Koomrwef, f 983).Ab-
mass-loss rates. Seamhing In the litera- 1991. Optlcal fd, R, I) photom(etry was solub calibration was achieved by
ture we naticd that existing o h r v a - obtained at the 1.5-m Danish tele- adopttng a K magnitude for the stan-
tlons are biased agafnst inkared carbon m p e , MIR photometry at the Im0-nl dard, The standard stars used with their
stars (groups IV and V). For example, and 2.2-m telescopes and CO data at adopted magnitudes are listed h
NIR data existed In the literature for 14 the SEST. Table2. The c a l i b W spectra we
out of the 15 group II stars, but 10 out of One of the purposes of tha ob~rving shown In Ffgure 2.
48 group IV stars (-20 %) did not have nrns was to confirm that same of our All three $tars show the charamstic
NIR photometry. Wewise far the CO stars were indged &sfars.Many of carbon star feature at 3.1 pm attributed
data. For group 11 stam, 13 out of 16 the inffared e o n stars d i h y the sill- to photospheric HCN and CeHp (Ridg-
have hmeasured In either CQ(1-O) con &Me (Siq feature In thelr LRS way at al., 1978). For I 1318-7253 this IS
or GO@-I), for group W this Is only 29 spectra, but some have an almost fe& not surprising since R Is a known optical
out of 48. With regard to optical pho- tureks LRS spectra (the g m p V ob- carbon star ( C 3 W in Stephenson's
tom* the artuatlon Is even worse. l 3- jects) or are misclasstfled Ln the LRS 1989 catalogue of carbon stars) with an
cept for the well-known d o n stw CW atlas. Therefore, we obtained CVF spec- 1 W LRS clasmcation of 44. for
tea none of the group IV and V stars tra wound 3 pm for a number of stars at 08Q74-3615 and 13477-6532 t k e ob-
m s to have been measured at o p t i d
wavehngths. There seems to be a mls-
conceptionthat l n f -&on ~ ~ stars [or Table 1: Qsnsral parameOers
In general Infrared AGB stars) hsve no
Optical counterpart. However, dof
these 'ohcurad' stars (usually AFGL
sources) have been idmttfid (e.g.
Lebofsb and Kieinrnann, 1976, Allen t3t
d., I G n , Cohen and Kuhl, 1977).
T&le 2: NIR photmehy and a p e c t ~ t a u n ~
Name H K
- J
- - L
- M
- Standard*
- K-nIag.
08074-3615 -
18.7 f 0.7
9.m 10.02
9.78 f 0.05
4-51 f 0.04
4.57 lt 0.02
2,78 k 0,05 HR 3842 3.39
2.92 f0.04
11318-7256 5-11 f 0.04 3.12k0.08 1.52SO.08 -0.47k0.05 -0,73*0.05 HR 4523 3.32
13477-6532
3.00f042 1.4B f 0.01 -0.47 f 0.02 - 0.89 f 0.03
10.3Bf 0.07 7.28 k 0.08 2.91 k0.03 4 .W f 0.03 HR SW -1.51
N o k I f t w o r n M e e a r e g f v e n , V l e t o p r o w d t # t i t o ~ f r w n t h e 2 . ~ - m ~ a n d f h e b o t t w nbtk
row 1 ~ ~ A w r l p n I n d l c a b e s a n ~ v a k o e
8.0
1.6
F
B
\
1.0
-
",
CI
0.6
$
0.0
la IIBlB-rnl
P 1.0
s
s
$ or
L
$
0.a
OA
lglW46aa
0,a
P
B
3 0s
?
-52
Q.1
?;
0.0
t 6 10 no 100 10 i6 m
trl A bl
Observed and predicted spectral energy dlstrJbuths and M S spectra. For details of LhB model pametem see text.
-
toms correspond to colder areas; from
a flrst rough estimate S 1.83 corre-
sponds to 350 K above the mean and
ence values of S 0.e. the value m e -
spondhg to the unperturbed photo-
sphere). To disentangle this effect from
E w e r M. 1981, PASPW, 528.
Q r o n W , 0. 1976, A s t m . Astrophp.
SUM. 24,399.
S = 0.5 to 400 K below. the actual brightness variation we are Kuiper P.G. 1941, Ap.J. 93,133.
Lucy LB. 1908, Ap.J. 151, 1123.
The similarity between the photomet- undertaWng the computation of local Maoeroni C.,van Hamme W., Van 't Veer F.
ric and spectroscopic maps is evident, profiles by means of model atmo- 1W ,Astm. AstmMys. 234,177.
at least with reference to the distribution spheres. Maceronl C.,Van 't Veer F. 1990 In Active
on a large scale. In both cases the fitting Close Blnark Ed. C. tbanoglu, Kluwer
of the data requires a smooth non- Acad. Publ. Dordrecht, p. 309.
uniform temperature distribution with
3. Discussion and Conclusions Piskunov N.E,Tuorninen I., Vilhu 0. 1990,
the stdlar poles hotter than the backs The Doppler imaging was already Asttvn. Astrophys. 230,383.
and the equators. Therefore we can say successfully applied to less rapidly S c h a k m E 1962, Ann Astmphw. 2s, 18.
that the mbdels from photometry and rotating cbj- by other people, but as Van 't Veer F. 1975, ktron. Astrophys 40,
167.
spectroscopy are at this level fully con- far as we know never to W UMa stars. Wlhu 0.1Q82,A s t m Astrwphys. 109,17.
sistent. On the other hand, the detailed Wrth this experience we intended to ex- V-1 S.S., Penrod G.D. 1Q83,PASP 95, 565.
analysis of the s u b e features requires amine if it Is also possible to obtain new Wilson R.E 1979, 4p.J. 254, 1054.
a less simple treatment, that we are still fnforrnatlon about these capricious, Wilson R.E., Biennann, P. 1970. Astmn. As-
developing. Even In absence of spots rapidly rotating objects. The reason for w h ys .48,349.
The R Coranae Borealis p CB) stars AG8 stars (Schonbemer, 1986) have pulse it may be intense enough to re-
are a rare group of cool hydrogen-defi- been unable to reconcile the observed ignite a helium-burning shdl sending
cient supergiants whose Ilght variations photospheric abundance3 with model the star towards the AGB for a m-
are characterized by dramatic fading of predictions. Recently two rather exotlc ond time ('h again' AQB star). The
up to visual mag. 9 and a slow recovety scenarios have emerged that address R CrS stars are suspected to be at
to maximum. Spectroscopicdly they this problem: this stage. This process is accorn-
appear to be extremely hydrogen-defi- The last thermal pulse scenario (Ren- panied by large-scale mixing of the
cient and carbon rich. Their evolutionary zini, 1979, 1981 and lben et al., photosphere. Although the computa-
history has been the source of much 1983). Calculations have shown that tional work is great it does appear
controversy. Mixing scenarios for single If a whie dwarf suffers a thermal that the time spent at the AGE is
H ALPHA 8gr is rapidly evolving towards #he red
supergiant region of the HR diagram -
probably the R Cr3 reglon,
In order to test this scenwb more
tbmugh~ywe (Poltacco et d., 1891)
have used the Wr to #arch for falnt
nebulae around cool R CrB stars. Multi-
ple [mageswere obtained of UW Cen In
very deep minima that dearly show the
star to be surrounded by a faint (and
small) nebula of unusual physical
appearance Fig. 3). The morphology
conaists of a fainter outer envelope of
circular appearance wblle the central
p& are dominated by a palr af
Rgurs 1a/b; #wow-bandimages of V 546 Sgrand Its surmuding nebula &ken with tfra ESCa/ reasanably collimated and diagonally
MPl2.2-m te- In 1 ~ 7ln. each c~dscr re am ten mnWm w d y W the opposed "jets" (I use thls word Ilghtty).
sky level and the peak flux h the centrrrl WE. mse images am m L h t U u m sub- - Narrow-band imaging and spectra
altbwgh dWferences in the PSF thrwgh the d l m n t fltem and images show that mm%stellar (Fig. 4) owned with the M n suggest
midue m a i m that the nebular emlsslon is dominated
by a scattering component with no ob-
vious signs of line emission (our detec-
strongly mass dependent and even These Images are continuum subtracted tor had little efflclencyat A3720 4. De-
for the lowerst mass o b w may be and show an amazing morphology spite h e omhelming excelknce and
too short to account for the sus- d M n c e (normally lmqes of PN in hence enjoyment of uslng the MTI; this
pected R CrS lifetimes. Subsequent these ions display m~@lly J m i h sttuc- nrn was overshadowed by a certain
evolubon is via a S~h:Rbnbemr -
track tures). Spectroscopy obtained wtth the student who shall remain nameless -
to the white dwarf configuraffon. M T (Ag. 2) shows the nebula to be of who found during a long stew that he
The merged wfilte dwarf m a r f o low excltatlon. An analysis of this Id- was unable to control the contents of
(Webbink, 1984). It Is thought posst cated that bllurn Is heavily membun- his stomach.
ble that a double dggenemte binary a n t , while simple and more oornpl2- This structure is proving difficult to
consisting af He and CO white cated modelling faild tn predict the ob- understand m the context of the
dwarfs may lose suPFicient angular served nebular ionrzatlon and extent at evolutionary scenarios & out above.
momentum by gravitational radia- the inferred surface temperaturn of the Mwever, considering the ejection ve-
tiodmatern'al ejection to allow the central siar (-20,000 K: SchBnbemer locities lrnplled by chromospherjc lines
spterm to merge within a Hubbb and Heber, 1986). However, conver- (-200 km )''s observed during the de-
tlme. h these circumstances it is ex- gence was achieved using black-body cline to minimum, these structures
pected that the lighter He d W will models (the limlflng case) if the stellar could m l l y be poduoed within the
be smeared muhd the other pro- temperature wa8 raised by some 10,000 theomt'cal age of the R CtB phase
ducing the obsewed abundanoes. K (Pollacco ef al., 1090)-UV spectra do (SchBnbemeP, 187). Hewe It is more
The firat clues to the e v o l u d o n ~ not give any indicatbns of mother body Ilkdy that the jet structure Is related to
status of the R CrS stars may have been In the system, so we are forced to the process causing the minima. In line
fwnd by Herbig (19491988) who while =pt that V 348 Sgr must have been with this, Pol- et d. (1901) sug@
o b w i n g the proto-type R CrB in deep hotter In the recent past (the reoomblna- that in UW Cen and by lmplicatlon all R
mlnima found possibk evidence of [O Ir] tion t l m l e of the nebula is Cr6 stars, there is also &jetIn or close to
h3727/9A emission. These lines only 120-2300 yr). We cmlude that V 348 the tine ofsight.
occur in low-temperahre and density
material and suggest that R ch-6 may be
sumwnded by ;?ow-surface b r i g h k
nebula. lRAS obmvations of R CrB
have revealed the presen- of a huge
fossil dust shell (Walker, 1986) some 8
pc in diametw. Gillett et 4.(1986) tried
to undestand the haaflng of the shell
but concluded that the stellar and Intar-
stellar radiation fields are far too W l e
to account for the obsmed shell tem-
petaturn.
The hot R CrB stars are thought to be
similar to the R CrS stars but have much
higher ph-pheric tempetaturn
Pollaem, 1989, Pallaoco and Hill, 1MI).
f h e brightest member of this elm, V348
Sgr, Is known to be surrounded by a faint
nebula. Figure 1db shows the nebula's . ' ' L ~ ' ~ ~ ' m l ' f m
S880 -0 4WO WW HW -0 6800 MOP
morphology as o h w e d through Ha -mw
and [NIU ~ 8 ' 4 A narrow-band fllters u k Flgum 2: sum of 5 hr wwth of IPES spectra tam Wm'theR4f In 1987. N& me w~uuely
fng the ESO/MPI 2.2-m telescope re- strongappsmce of~sl1587dwhbhIs mtexpmwfwlaaentmlaclwoeofthis-
motely from Gaming. tum (-rn,,oOo @
Discovery of the First Eclipsing Binary Barium Star
' ~ u r o ~ e Southern
an Observatory;21nstitut dHstrophysique, Unlversit4 de Li&ge, Belgium; vrije Universiteit
h s s e l , Betglum
0 - -- . :4
\
4
-
.',
eclipse of the companion by the barium
star. During the ?-year span of the
.I*.
monitoring, only thrw ecllp ~ e swere
pmdicted to occur at a time when the
I =' 4 star was w i l y o h w a b k HD 46407
was obsmed once a night fw 20 to 40
- 4
0.01 - -- -
nights d u h g these periods (FebmarY
1985, Noamher 1488 and February
1990).
A clear dlp is seen in the lightcunre In
-0.0 1 November 1968 while the comparison
pair remains stable (Fig. 1). Since this
dip is exactly centred on the predicted
I
* a
time for the total acllpse, there ts littler
A *
0
- 1
- 1. m .
8
t
:I ,
* AY 0 ' . +* :
doubt that an eclipse has %ctudlybeen
. detected. Very accurate measurements
- * v 7 *
I a . were carried out ddng the FebnmY
v #mom 1990 campaign at the Danish 50-cm
0.01 - A
lo* -- 8
8 telescope, and meal that, I any, the
- eclipse was much shallower. The mea-
surements of February 1985 are puz-
z l l g , since a M s t i d l y significant
1t1rrI1iii1
M
1 1
trend is ind& o b s e d , but If It were
-0.01 TTT--Ctt 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - - I 1 1 1 1 I I
to twrsspond to the eclipse Ingress,
there wwld be a > 0.03 phase lag
a m wml respect to the spzhamplc
=
I
* t ephemeris.
- 4
0 - -- I a, .'s0 Figure 2 presents the phase diagram
rn 7 for all D50 measurements,adopting P =
458.1 d and T = JD 2 445 296.0 (time of
maximum velocity), whbh cormpond
*,
0.01 - -- -t~ the lower bounds of McClure and
W o o d s W s elements. The measure
mmi of February 1985 are lagging in
that phase diagram as well, so that the
current uncwtalnty on ttw circular orbi-
0.7 0.72 0.74 0.76 11.78 0.8 0.7 0.72 0.74 0,760.18 0.8 tal elements (f0.5 d on P and k1 d on
T) annot resolve the discremcy. The
phase superposition of the February 1985
eclipse ingress on the Novembw 1988
(Q-
Figml:R ~ o f m ~ ~ n g w l m p a r s n ~ m n d t h e t l m e d t h e p r e d W e d l ~
U X ) : h b m y 1% (ypper p m I ; cycle I), l y o v ~ r n b r1m (middle pamid; cycle 4, d&t would require a 451.7 d period, not
F m y TssO low^; c* 5). Phases am omputlad adqothrg ma c&bI &emen& of vwy dMmnt from McClure'e spwtros-
McGIure and W m d w m h (I-). Tha martainty on Me prt3dicted tlme of iota! a d l p is coplc period, although well outside its
dispiayedbythehQMmtaImbaramndthe valwpl-0.75 5 . ~ f t the ~ formal
~ mt r bar.
d i t Y ~ 8 -+Bp
I mgdtu& in the SlrSmgren y channel, whereas the rightp a d dlspfay The phase diagram .of Flgure 2,
h 6 1 ~ ~ 1 l A - B y m a mwhere,PstanderWMeMumemandAandBfarMnuo
g ~ , adopting McClure and Woodsworth's
~ s l a r s ~ p ~ t i v d y H R P 3 7 3 a n d H R T2 h3 6e ~ m ~p r n h t o f t h e ~ t u d s ~(1990) s ~ l period,
c reveals
S~SWI: r = E m~ p t ~ m - -
C the mean Wwe of the mmapondlng dfmmntrsl mgnftude In a glven system (P * M O
A ; Em8 s t e m ; 7 ES050-8 m -
; E5U-x system).
d w a x i a i s w l e n W i n s u c n a w a y m t a ~ h ~ ~ s t o a d p i n W
that a wty broad secondary eclipse may
be present as well. A clear trend was in
E m .
fact &sewed for 0.35 c cp c 0.5 in
cycle 2, and the drop in brightness
around phase 0.35 was conf~rmedby
pie of 19 barium stars is presehd in between the cormpanding comparison the observations of cycle 6. Again, the
Jarissen, ManfroId and Wrken (1991), stars) we specifically related to the bi- large scatter in that phase range indl-
The main result of our rnonltoring Is that nary nature of t b etar, or whether HD cat= that the spcmmopb period is
the two M u m stars with the shortsst 121447, which is also the coolest known probabjy not the best ~ M c e for con-
orbital perlods in the sample, HD badurn star (K7 Ill, LU et al., 1983), is structing a photometric phase diwram.
f 21447 (- 185 dl JoPissen and Mayor, in simply a mIcrwariable as any other very A careful pert& analysis of our data
pepmation) and HD 46407 (458.6 d; red star. remains to be done.
McClure and Woodsworth, 1890), are In summary, the Itghrcunre of HD
the only ones to present small, albelt 46407 derived from the currently avail-
4. HD 48407: The Rrst Eclipsing
able photomettfc observations in the
-
significant, light variations, In the casa of
Binary Barium Star 050 system displays a sharp "primaryb
HD 121447, it Is not yet clear, however,
whether these variations at a Iwel o,
0.020 mag (to be compared with ay - HD 46407 (HR 2392, y 6.27, b - y a eclipse (companion &hind the barlum
0.60, KO111 8a3)hasthe second shortest star) and a p d b b shallow "secon-
0.009 mag for the magnitude dMemnce otbital period in our sample (P = 458.6 d, dmyn eclipse. In November 1988, the
-0.02 , n . , n . # , v . n , . - . , . m , ~ ~ ~ l l ~ ~ l ~ . tMvefy:
~ l the "depth
~ l " the
of ' eclipse will
yield an &mate of the mount of dust
-
q u l r e d and the wavelength depen-
P-(A+B)/2 A-B dence of the swtterlng cr~ss-sectIrn
should be oompatlble with the relattve
-0.01
I
--
8 - variations of b -y ewld v - b. The follow-
-* ing questions also remain to be en-
-.-..
a,
is such an explanation cornpat-
.4" #Is with the absence of IR excess for
a I * r HD 46407 (Hakklla and McNmara
1987, H W l a 1989b)? And how can
dust grains remain trapped around
the companion for long periods of t h e
b' t
(Poynblw-R- -I?
O f l 8
The pfiatwnetric monitoring of HD
2 4 W 7 is still going on; potarlmetricmea-
0.01 -
a a
-- -
surements are also In progress. Finally,
0
a similar photometric mbnitotim is be-
I
ing &ed out fw fhb two barium stars,
+ with the &omst known ohW persods
(HD 77247 and HD 12144?), and it will
be Interesting to know whether a be-
0.2 0.4 0.0 0.8 0 0.2 O,4 0.0 0.a haviwr similar to that of HD 46407 will
phase pbaae
be observed.
b 2 : #wedlagram forthe wtmk setofy m ~ i fheD51lsWm
n NRpensl: In conclusb, the behaviour of HE)
~ ~ ~ & t R n e t o ~ ~ c ~ t p a n e l : m p a ar W l sW Q7 ~n s~P, e e ~ 48407
- Is a clear example of a phenome-
~ ~ l i o v n I W e C ~ a n d W o o c ~ s w w t h ( f ~ ~ h e v a r l w s 5 ~ r e f a non r t othat
f h can
e wly be studied as part of a
~ * =cyele2,e=~b4,*~Gyda
d ~ ~ y d e S ( s l c d & f f f # n ~ ~ ~ r 1 4 5 ~ , f l : 1,r cflle carefully planned long-term project rely-
s , D - ~ 8 . W f f i e ~ o i a w w i d e ~ e d ~ W d * ~ i f l
ftpnt of the barium slarb Note that, bemuse P-,WEWinvolves the ~ W of P the Wo ing on m d c e obsenrfng: If) continurns
s m w me88MWl#h P-A tvld P-8, C R W+&&k
~ I/Z tlmeS 8 d l e r than photometric monitoring should be
theontronA-B, carried out In order to get the general
light cum; (3) eaeh eclipse naeds mom
--
Primary eclipse had a depth of 0.02 since dust ought not to be distributed In than one month of dally obswing; (iii)
mag In y and a full wldth of ~ r p 0.05 ;a spherically symrnet* way mund the they only occur every 7.3 years and one
6.e.&out 20 dl; the primly eclipse was companion. third of them am missed because of the
much shmllwer in February 19%). The ~lthough this m d seems to proximily to the Sun. In dditron, we
shdtow secondary ec~ipseoaurs when account qcratitativdy for bhe must also emphasiz~h a t only a small
the companion is in frmt of the barium beviour, It remainsto betested Wan- tdwmpe is needed. The LTPV project
*. b depth ts at least 0.01 mag in the
Y band and It m d s over about 60%
of the orbital period. It mlgM well be that
the brig- of HD 4W07 b slowly
W F n g over the whole OW period.
-
lha b y index is mqinally variable,
at variance with the v b index which -
exhibfts large vlvlatlons. Quite interest-
ingly, the variations 05 the v b index -
and of the y magnitude appear to be
roughly comM& when ths star is
falnter, R is alm redder, as shown by
Figure 3. This mhaviour L tvpicaI d
light-- ,p- SO that we
suggest that the ecllpmd light is actuaily
tho light from the barium star ttself which
is backscamred by dust trapped fin a
disk?) a n d the companion.
Rust must be present in a rather ex-
tended region around tlw companion,
since the November 1988 eclipse was
about thm$ times longer than ft would
have been expectid for the eclipse of a
point-like swroe by a red giant of mdlus
15 Rg (and a m i m a j o r axis of 1.5 AU;
total duratlon of 7 d or Arp = 0.015).
Mwewer, then does not s m to be a
flat battom in the d i p lightcum, in-
dicating that the e c l w is never total.
The phase tag of February 1- can dm
be acoounfed for by mls Wanatlon,
at ESO clearly represents the only avail- M., de Groot, M., D u W , H.. Duemmler, McC~U~ R.D.,
, WQO&WOT~~,AW. 1980,
able opportunity to address that kind of R., Figer, A,Hageman, T., Henaberg, H., Ap.J*, 932,m.
problem. Jorissen, A., Madejsky, R., MandeI, H., Ott, Starken, C. 1983, The M e s e n g w , 33,IO.
H., ReItermann, A, Schulte-Ladbeck, R., Tout, C.A.. Eggleton, P.P. 1988, M N M
Staht, O., Steenman, H., vander Unden D.. 291,823.
irckgral, F A . 1991, Astm, Astrophyw Webblnk, R.F. 1886, In: W a l Obwvatlons
8up@., 87,48 1, vsPhysicalM&forCl~~131~Sys-
Bldelrnan, W.P., Keenan, P.C. 1951, &J., McClure, R.D. 1983, ApJ., 268,264. tsms,eds. KC. Leuw and D.S. Zhal, Mew
t14,473. McChrre, R.O. 1984, PASP,#, 117. Yo&, Gordon and Breach.
bffin, H.M.J., Jodwm,A. 1 9 8 8 , m . A ~ -
m
mRYs, 155.
mm-w,E 19m, Ap.J., 2aa,L79.
BBnm-Vltense, E., Nemc, J., Proffltt, Ch.
1984, ApJ., 270,726.
Domlny, J.F.,LamM,D.L.lW,Ap.J.,270,
The Rise of SN 198749
180.
Hakkila, J. 198Oa, A.J., 98,699. It is now almost five years since SN intensky and the angular tarte have
Hakkifa, J. 1989b, m n . Astmphysys, 219 1987A explded in the LMC. In the been rescaled to allow direct corn@-
204. meantime, the visual brightness has d e son. A r w n t , careful remeasurementd
Hakkita, J., MeNamara, 6.J. f 987, Astron. m a & to about one millionth of what it the magnitudes of SM 1987A on these
-, 10B, 255. was at the time of maximum. If is still plates has shown that earlier publlskd
Jotissen, A., Mayor, M. 1988, Asm.Ash- being observed with large telescopes, estimates are too faint by 0.2-0.8 mag-
phm, 1!W, 187. also af ta Silla, but the elusive pulsar nitude (McNaugM and West, to appear
JoriSWI, A, ManWd, J., Sterken, C. IWl,
has not yet bean directly detected. in Astronomy and Astrophysics). The
&irona Asiqhys., In p-.
Larwiok, AU. 1983, PAW, H,644. The four plctures were taken during new values are in better agreement with
U,P.K.. D a r n , D.W., Upgren, AR., Wels, ambur patrols in Australia at the time the theoretical Ilghtcuwes, but they do
E,W. 1983, &J., 62, la. of the explaslon by Robert H. McNaugM not by themselves permit to decide
Manhold, J. 1985, habiT~t,theds, Univ. of (Plates 2.3 and 7)and frank 6. Zoltows- which of the two neutrino events that
we. ky (Plate 5). They show the early rise in were observed In the morning of Febm-
hamfroid, J., Swken, C., Bruch, A.. Bwger, brightness of this famous object; the ary 23,1987, w~ the actual time-zero.
A New Large Arc Revealed by Early NTT lmages
The internationaleffort devoted to the ent-day spectroscopy. Finding large jects and the nature of the blue popula-
search for gravitationalarcs has recently arcs, i.e. with large amplification, is tion are still unknown. An open questlon
been reviewed by 8. Fort (1991) in Ham- probably a unique way of shortening by is why this blue population seems to
burg. About 10 clusters with at least one a factor of 5 or more the exposure time have disappeared today. Were they
"large" arc (length > 1O") are report&. needed for spectroscopy of these other- compact AGNs? Extended objects with
fhe cluster presented here was de- wise very faint objects. nuclear or extranuclear star fwmation?
tected as an X-ray source of 3.1 6-10-'3 Deep photometric surveys of galaxies Mergers? Did they disappear after an
ergs cW2s-' by the Imaging Pmportion- have shown that the number-galaxy initial starburst (Cowie et al., 1991)7 Did
al Counter on board of Einstein Obser- counts in 1 are close to non-evolution they merge to farm the present-day
vatory, and was identfied with a faint models (Tyson, 1988). Counts in B and giant galaxies (Guiderdoni and Rocca-
cluster of galaxies by Gioia et al. (1984, U, however, have a much steeper slope Volrnerange, 1%I)?
Second Medium Sensitivity Survey). Its that can only be accounted for with Very good deep images, selected
optical position is RA=0302 44.8, some form of evolution (Shanks et al., among the best taken durlng the com-
&I. =+165828.0. Images show a very 1984, Metcalfe et al., 4987, Tyson, missioning period of the Nll, show that
rich cluster with two large galaxies, a 1988, Majewsky, 1989). At falnt mag- at magnitudes between V=22 and
morphology which is roughly similar to nitudes the difference in slope between V-24, the very blue objects do not be-
that of Abell370. 1 reobserved this clus- number counts In B and t translates into long to a single population (Giraud,
ter between November 1989 and Janu- an increasing fraction of blue objects. In 1991); there is (a) a class of compact
ary ID90 with the NIT. Such a northern the past three years, intwest in this objects surrounded by a nebulosity, (b)
cluster was observed from La Silla be- population has increased enormously, a class of irregular objects with probable
cause at that time the MT field rotator but the redshift distance of these ob- Isophote distortions at the limit of reso-
was still under testing.
Eight images were obtained in V and
R, with two different CCDs mounted on
EFOSC 2 (Melnick et al., 1989): the RCA
No. 5 which has pixels of 30 pm giving a
scale of 0.26 arcsedpixel and a mom-
son low-noise CCD with pixels of
19 pm. Images were taken at various
position angles. They were corrected for
&
flat field using master flats built up with
images taken during the same night,
aligned, rescaled and coadded at frac- I
tional pixel value. The central part of the
final image is shown in Figure I.There is
a faint halo, well visible In R, around the
two brightest galaxies. Approximately at
middistance from these objects is a
II
I1
faint filament. Perhaps the first idea
when looking at this image is that of a
shock wrface between the halos of two
large colliding galaxies. Another m-
ible explanatibi is gravitational lensing
of a faint (V > 24.5) background object.
Simple gravitational ntGels with 'two
potentials predlct well the orientation of
a nearly straight arc at this Iwtian. If
this is a genuine gravitational arc, the
amplification would be of the order of
II
15, presenting a rather unique chance to
obtain a spectrum of an otherwise -25" I
magnitude galaxy.
Rich clusters are slowly staftin0 to
play a role of gravitational klesco6 for
I1
the invesbgation of the remote popula-
tlon of galaxies. They discnm~natethe
gravitationally lensed arclets from other
extragalactic faint objects, although any
arclet may be an elongated cluster
member. Assuming that the arclets are
amplified objects, the exposure time for
acquiring a spectrum is shorter than for Figure 1: The central region d the X-ray cluster CL031M+ 1658 at 2-0.4 &wing the two m i n
the source obj&. Mast of the arclets, galaxies, a weak halo, and a filament of 20" wpmximately, which might be eihrrer a
however, are still mond reach of p r e @avitathI arc w a featmrelated to the intraduster medium.
lutlon and (c) double or multiple sys- Nn*, instruments, and new detectors Ully S.J., W l e LL, a d M n e r J.P., I=,
tems. It is for example pssible that working at best during these nlghts of AP.J.0 Wprlnt.
nuclear activity. chaotic star formation he commhiofiing period. Ithank Jorge &A-o 18% In fh@ of
and merging are responsible for the blue Melni~kfor the allocated time. Fbmlrltion, Eds, Frenk & al., Kluwer Dor-
dtecht, p, 86.
colours in campact, irregular and multi- Melnlck J.. W k e r H.. and D'Odorlm, 1988,
ple Sysmls, respectiuely. spectra of ESO OpmtIw Manuel No. 4.
blue, low-surface-brightness m will MetcaHe H., Fong R., Jones LR.,and Shmka
pawide us with the redshift distance of References T., t987, In High &&hiR and Prl-
these objects and posslbly with some mdaxks, Eds. Bergeron et at., Mltton
Cowie LL, Qardner J.P.. Waincoast RJ.,
indications of their physics, Hodapp K.W., 1W l , preprint.
F r o n t l h , p. 37.
Shanks T., !Sevenson P.R.F., Fang R,, md
Fort B., 1991, preprht. McGllllvray H.T., 1984, hdon. Not. FI. As-
GldaI.M.,&al., 1984.qo.J,283,45. hn.SQC,208,707.
O M E.. 1H1, ESO m r l n t . Tywn JA., 1988, AsfrOn. J., 96,l.
I woutd like to thank the technicell SM Guiddonl 6.. and Rocca-Volmepange 6..
an hSilla for thdr efforts in making the
1. Introduction lar features and present some of the 1990, Porceddu et al. 1991), and the
The Diffuse Interstellar Bands or DIBs, results we have obtaind so far. parallel theoretical studles (Muglas
as they are wually called, are absorp- 1977, Van de Zwet and Allamandola
tlon features which are generated In the 1985, LBger and d'Hendmourt 1985,
2. D I k What Do We Know? Allamandola et al. t 989, C o w - M a g o s
interstellar medium by a stlll unidentified
set of carriers. The Dl& were firstly The most recent highquality (high re- and Leach 1990) allow us to define
mentioned by Heger (1921), while their solving power as well as very high sig- some constraints on the D I W problem:
stationary character and their interstellar nal-to-noise ratio) observational data the presence of DlBs is relabd to the
origin was confirmed by Merrill (1936). (Snell and Van de Bout 198t, Massa et oolaur excess, in the sense that the
The mast exter~~iw wmy has been al. 1983, Seab and Snow 1984, h- lack of reddening Implies the ab-
published by Herbig in 1975, on the lowski and Walker 1887, WMerlund sence of the DIBs: but the DlBs' in-
basis of photu~raphicplate spectra: he and Krelowskl1988, Benvenutl and Por- tensity along one line of sight is only
reported 39 DIBs in the spectral range ceddu t 988, Crawford 1990, Le Bertre loosely correlated to the value of the
4400-6700 A, 24 d which were ob-
sewed for the first tlme. By now six
more OI8s have been discovered be-
yond 6700 A. ST?5 5780 57W
L " " 1 " " " " " " " " " " " " 4
6780 6785 5800 ti806
During the past years the interest for
the DIES has grown considerably, par-
Pcutarly b'ecause the new obseruing
techniqum and the improved quality of
the spectra allowed a deeper analysis of
their profiles, highlighting more and
more details on their behaviour and
therefore making them an interesting - 0.8
candidate as markers of the physical
and chemical status of the interstellar
medium. However, in spite of the higher
resolution and the excellent high WN
ratio which can be obtained from mod-
em spectrographs coupled to CCD de-
tectors, the nature of the carriers of the
- 0.0
t
Dl& remains a mistery: thelr long last-
ing challenge may Indeed be among the
rsasons for the continuing interest in 0.8 - HD 144217 - 0.8
them. Comprehensive reviews on the bWV
= 0+19
DIBs' topic, togethsr with extensive bib- I . . . . L . . . . I . . . . I L . . -
0.w
&- "6780" DIfl "5797" m
1 0.95
seen are completely
DIESfrom Flgure 4b,absent,
the 5780 and 5797
despite
relatively high value of the reddening
the
-
more stars, as, for example, by HD
179419 (Em-V) 0.35) which is shown
in Figure 3 b: in this case, despite the
I 1
Mr. Amdt, Udammtmy d St& for Education, Voceflonel TrsJningmd WS, mibfthin B d f i
1. Gamma-Ray Bursts: a 20-Year- more, their light curves, and their energy agreement on the galactic neutron star
Old Mystery spectra are extremely diverse: there is origin of these sources, based on the
Discovered some 20 years ago [I] no "typical" gamma-ray burst and characteristic time scales of the events
gamma-ray bursts (hereafter GRB) re- among the 600 bursts observed until (sometimes less than a millisecond) and
main mysterious: these transient sour- now, not even a general classification on the presence of strong magnetic field
ces emit only during times ranging from has been established. With 3 notable signatures in their energy spectra. In
a few milliseconds to several minutes, exceptions, none has been observed to that case, with more than 600 detec-
and they are observed only in the X-ray/ repeat. The exceptions are the soft re- tions to date (and an actual detection
Gamma-ray range, from 1 keV to more peaters SGR 1806-20 [5] [q, SGR rate of 1 per day), GRSs would have
than 100 MeV. They have no obvious 1900+14 and the GBS 0526-66 [8] been the most common manifestation of
counterparts, either transient or quies- March 5b, 1979 GRS, which is located neutron stars in our galaxy. However,
cent, in other spectral regions, 8.g. opti- in the direction of the LMC). recently the situation became quite con-
cal [2]or in soft X-rays 131 141. Further- Until recently, there was a general fused with the announcement by the
BATSE team [Q] that the distribution of 250 * I
pmm-ray burst souroes is apparently
quite Isotropic and (from the analysis of
their detection rate In e way drnilar to m- GRB91m19b
-
the logN logs test) that their expePi-
ment seas at- all GRB occurrences,
Taken togefher, these observations ex-
clude a gabctic origin and favour a cos-
mdogical origin for GRBs although a
very local w an extended gal-c halo
origln seem not to b~ excluded, and
there is some debate on the possible
instrumental biases. However, none of
these qgestlons fit all ths abaerva-
tions and this shows the need to obtain
independent data on these sources.
There are two ways to localize GRB Tme (seconds Ilh 4Sm Bs UT)
sources. The Rtst one is the go-called Ftguml: ~ t ~ d G R B 9 1 ~ f ~ a s s e e n b WATCHInstmmmth
ythe the IS- 180k13v
trlangulatIon (or time of arrival) method. m@tgymtgewHha timemuhfbn d 0 . 9 1 1 4 ~ .
Using the time delay between We d e w -
tion of the same event by several Instw
ments, widely separated in space, one 3-Do GRB Emit Visible Light?
can derive the diredon of the source. In would set stringent constmlnts on M
order to obtain awurate podtims, the Based on wotk on archival plates I101 amount of energy emitted at optical
triangulation method needs at bast 2 [I I] [12l them were claims that optical wavelengths during and after the burst,
detectors on Inteqlanm spacecmk transients were observed in or n w on the thmat decay time of the mum
The current Inkplanetaty network uses some gamma-my burst mot barns. The and on its nature. This would also be an
the GRB detectors aboard the Pioneer reality of these events is not yet est&b- Important point In the debate on UI%
Venus Orbiier (WO) and the Ulysses lished and b the subject of a v q hot h r e a l l t y of optical flashes, thdr astrophy-
mission (which will leave the mltptle In debate [la] [I41 [is]. However, GRB sWl origin, and their as#ciatlon with
Februmy 1492) in addition to the instru- sources may well a p m to be e m t W the (3RBphenomenon. Whatever is the
ments on near-Earth platforms (Granat, at optical wavelengths, eitheras the re- outcome of our prqect, we hope that it
Ginga, SoIar A, Compton GRO, OMSP). aufl of the reproeassing of the gamma will Improve signifbantly the knowldge
This M o d may reach my g m d rays In an aceretion dlsk or In the photo- of gamma-ray bursf sources.
accuracies, 025 arcmln2 for GRB sphere of a binary mmpanion, or b e
790305b {Gamma-ray bursts are usually muse of the thermal deoay of the mu-
designed by the letter ORB fdlowed by tron star surface afker the burst, which
the event date, here March 5,1979, and depnds on the amount and on the
eventually a I&er indicating the wdsr of depth of the energy release. [I] Klebesadd RW., Strong I.B., Olson
the event In the day), but for a very small The goal of our project is to find this R.k: 1873. AshWhp. J. Letttws, 182,
number of strong bursts with a well- emission, or to s& eonstmints on it. The 85.
defined time structure. WATCH, BATSE, and CClMPTEL teams Motck, C. et d.: 1985 AHm. A i m -
The other approach uses the a n i s m - m y provlde rough locdIraf'10nwithln 12 phys., 145,201.
phy of the detector response to the slg- to 14 hwrs a m h e burst. Shortly after,
131 &rer M. et at.: 1988, ABfFOn. ASftophp.,
202,117.
wit direction of Incidence, wlth several we expose a plate at the ESO Schmidt 141 W M . et at.: 1991, Astron. A&whya,
detectors (8 for the Burst and Transient teiwope. This plste may then be m- a49, t i &
- -
Experiment hereafter BATS€ on- pared with the ESO, Patomar or UK sky rn ~ttetaet 4.: 1w,~ pJ. ~ e ~ t e.r s ,
board the Compton Gamma-ray Obsar- surveys. If a new object is found, then sno, 105.
-
vatory CGRO) locatized syrnmetrldty follow-up studies may be triggered at I6l Fenimw et d., 1987,Ashqhys. J. Let-
ters, =,111.
on the same s p a m f t . In this 're- hqef telescopes, Later, when a more
sponse anisotrophy" method, the accu- precise localhation is eventually derived l7l b t s , ES. et d.; dgm, ~ wAs-.
.
racy reached Is not as good, 1 to 5 using the frlangulation method, a mom L&em 6,343.
[Bj Golenebkii, S., Ilylnaki V., Mmts E.:
degreesfor BATSE onCGRO, butalmost careful study of the GRB a m may ba 1964, Niature, W , 41.
A1 bursts detected may be locallzed done. p] m n C A el al.: 1891, IAU C h l a r
(about 180 during the first 6 months of The discovery of an optloat transient 535s.
t h CGRO
~ rnfsslon).The WATCH expert- GRB counterpmt may answer several DOl SdmeW, 6.E et d.: 1981, Natwe,2W
rnent, onboard the Granat satellite, uwa questions about these elusive objeats, 722.
a third method, with a rotating oolllmator such as thdr distance (@tactic vs. cos- [It] H-, R. Per-, R.. Match C.: IW,
grid, and provides localbt!om wlth an mological), thdr membership to a birvary Aptm. As&phys., 285,174,
intmediatsaocumoy,typicaJly0.3 deg. system, the energy process. . . . A de- [la Grelner, J., Maumann, C,, Wenzel W.:
1891, Asttvn. Asimphys.. 24$L425.
for strong events. Except for a handfulof tection would pmvlds w also with a
1133 Zytkow, AN.: t BQO, AstmpW. J., atia,
bxe8 ~ h k h well ~ ~ l ~localkation
g h suitable tor a real deep 138.
locallred with the triangulation method, search far a quiescent counterpart, and [I41 Greiner, J.: 1991, Ashoh Mrophys.,
fhe emr boxes are far too largeto search may result in a breakthrough in our 254,251.
for qulescmt counterparts at any understanding of these enigmatic sour- [I4 S c W RE., WI, As&@@. J., 9BA
wavelength. a.Even repeated non-detection 590.
Long-Slit Spectroscopy at La Silla: an Annotated Menu
I
cient than the Bdk & Chlvens spec- EMMl Blue 15.05 TEK +28
trographs. No significant instfirmental 1024 x 1024
flexure has been measured. 360 e4m pixel
Regarding h e operation of EFOSC, Th #tb
me has to remember that there is no sllt 1024x1024
viewer. The posittoning of the object on (I awl p~xt~l
h e sli has to be done via dirsct lmaglng
and calculating the OMS with IHAP
b a t h . Depending on the muracy of
the posIUoning, this may be a timcon-
suming task, e&pecjally 1the instrument
is rotated.
Sunrise over La Sitla, behind the 3.6-m dome, as photographed by ESO astronomer Alaln Smette at the end of October 1991. The sky Is
coloured red by the dust ejected into the stratosphere by the eruption earlier this year of the Pinatubo volcano on the Philippines.
66
MlDAS Memo
€SOImage Processing Group
1. Appllcatlon Developments summary is Included in the associated will ensure that users will have both a
The test and valldatlon of all basic solution data base and a reference to a stable core system, and access to new
MIDAS commands have now been 'patch-file' containing more detalls (e-g. applications developed between the re-
Completed with the help of the As- code mdlfication) is glven. teases. MlDAS sites managers will be
tronomy Group In ESO. This has led to This facltity has bean developed in informed when this faclllty has become
the correction of many bugs and slgnifl- conjunction with the ESO Archive and Is avalLable.
Cant lmprovernent of the documenta- available to both Internal users and ex-
tion. Most of these upgrades are avail- ternal Midas sites through Starcat In 4 MIDAS Hot-Llne Sewice
eble In the 91MOV release of MIDAS. order to access it, Internal users just The following MlDAS support services
In the Echelle spectroscopy package invoke starcat ESO midas from any of can be used to o w n help quickly when
(context Echelle) new routines have the organization's main computers. Ex- problems arlse:
been Implemented which perform order ternal users needto connect to ESO ff rst EARN: MIDAS@DGAES051.bitnet
definition and optimal extradon and and log in under the demt account (no SPAN: ES0::MIDAS
Provide an Improved user interface, password required), within stamt type Eunet: midas@so.uucp
A package for preparation of OP- ESO midas to access the DB. Internet: midas@eso.org
TOPUS obswvatlons was lmptsmented FAX.: +49-894202362, attn.: MIDAS
by A Gemmo. t! enables users to create HOT-UNE
the command files for drilling the star- 3. MlDAS Releases Tlx.: 52828222 eso d, attn.: MlDAS
plates directly from an object Ilst in a R has b e m e the general impression HOT-UNE
MIDAS table file. of MIDAS site managws and MIDAS Tel.: 49-09-32008-456
users that a rapid cycle of official re- Users are also invited to send us any
leases (1.e. each hatf year) is no longer suggestions or comments. Although we
2. Problem Report Data Base
needed as the MIDAS system has do provide a telephone sewlce we ask
All user reports of Midas bugs and stabilized. Therefore, the MlDAS Group users to use it In urgent cases only. To
questions as of October lW1 are now has decided to decrease the rate of make it easier for us to process the
being kept in a MidakProblems data- official MIDAS releases to once p a year requests property we ask you, when
base, as they are submitted to the ESO after the 91NOV version, This will also possible, to submit requests h written
IPG. All related information (9-g. regard- r e d m the internal overtleads and form either through electronic networks,
ing the local environment. Installation, enables us to put more efforts h the telefax or telex.
etc.) is included in the DB and Is avail- development of application pro- More information about MIDAS can
able to both Midas users as well as to grammes. be found In the ESO-MIDAS Courier
the person assigned to the bugfix. Once It is foreseen to offer new MlDAS ap- whkh is the biannual newsletter on
a solutbn to the problem has been plication packages and patches through MIDAS related matters Issued by the
found, whether or not it actually leads an anonymous flp account to avoid un- tmage Processing Group and edlted by
lo a real ccde modification, a brief nemssary delays for external sites. This Rein Warmels.