Siding Spring Research Articles

SkyMapper Southern Survey: Second data release (DR2)

AbstractWe present the second data release (DR2) of the SkyMapper Southern Survey, a hemispheric survey carried out with the SkyMapper Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia, using six optical filters: u, v, g, r, i, z. DR2 is the first release to go beyond the $\sim\!18$ mag (10 $\sigma$ ) limit of the Shallow Survey released in the first data release (DR1), and includes portions of the sky at full survey depth that reach $>\!21$ mag in g and r filters. The DR2 photometry has a precision as measured by internal reproducibility of 1% in u and v, and 0.7% in griz. More than 21 000 $\deg^2$ have data in some filters (at either Shallow or Main Survey depth) and over 7 000 $\deg^2$ have deep Main Survey coverage in all six filters. Finally, about 18 000 $\deg^2$ have Main Survey data in i and z filters, albeit not yet at full depth. The release contains over 120 000 images, as well as catalogues with over 500 million unique astrophysical objects and nearly 5 billion individual detections. It also contains cross-matches with a range of external catalogues such as Gaia DR2, Pan-STARRS1 DR1, GALEX GUVcat, 2MASS, and AllWISE, as well as spectroscopic surveys such as 2MRS, GALAH, 6dFGS, and 2dFLenS.

The Impact of Comet Siding Spring's Meteors on the Martian Atmosphere and Ionosphere

AbstractOn 19 October 2014, comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) had a close encounter with Mars and deposited cometary dust particles into the Martian atmosphere. We report a comprehensive analysis of the resulting meteor shower and its perturbation on Mars' atmosphere and ionosphere. Using Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN/Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph observations of ablated meteoric metallic species, we show this shower lasted less than 3 hr and was therefore limited to one hemisphere. Meteoric ablation occurred in a narrow altitude layer, with Mg+, Mg, Fe+, and Fe deposited between about 105 and 120 km, consistent with comet Siding Spring's relative velocity of 56 km/s. We find that 82 ± 25 t of dust was deposited, improving previous measurements and a thousand times larger than model expectations. With regular observations over two Mars days, we show that horizontal winds globally redistribute this material and also suggest new vertical transport mechanisms for metallic ions. Such transport is inconsistent with diffusion and may be related to electrodynamic processes. The rapid loss of neutral species and presence of ions at high altitudes indicate that our understanding of existing Martian meteoric chemistry modeling and ionospheric dynamics is incomplete.

Energetic Particle Showers Over Mars from Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring

AbstractThis paper is a phenomenological description of multispacecraft observations of energetic particles caused by the close flyby of comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring with Mars on 19 October 2014. This is the first time that cometary energetic particles have been observed at Mars. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN)‐solar energetic particle (SEP) and the Mars Odyssey‐High Energy Neutron Detector (HEND) instruments recorded evidence of precipitating particles, which are likely O+ pickup ions, during the ~10 hr that Mars was within the region of the comet's coma. O+ pickup ions were also detected several hours after, although whether their origin is the comet or space weather is not conclusive. We discuss the possible origin of those particles and also the cause of an additional shower of energetic particles that HEND observed between 22 and 35 hr after the comet's closest approach, which may be related to dust impacts from the comet's dust tail. An O+ pickup ion energy flux simulation is performed with representative solar wind and cometary conditions, together with a simulation of their energy deposition profile in the atmosphere of Mars. Results indicate that the O+ pickup ion fluxes observed by SEP were deposited in the ionosphere around 105 to 120 km altitude, and they are compared with precomet flyby estimations of cometary pickup ions. The comet's flyby deposited a significant fluence of energetic particles into Mars' upper atmosphere, at a similar level to a large space weather event.

Spatially resolved electron density in the narrow line region of z < 0.02 radio AGNs

Context. Although studying outflows in the host galaxies of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) have moved to the forefront of extragalactic astronomy in recent years, estimating the energy associated with these outflows has been a major challenge. Determining the energy associated with an outflow often involves an assumption of uniform density in the narrow line region (NLR), which spans a wide range in the literature, leading to large systematic uncertainties in energy estimation. Aims. In this paper we present electron density maps for a sample of outflowing and non-outflowing Seyfert galaxies at z < 0.02 drawn from the Siding Spring Southern Seyfert Spectroscopic Snapshot Survey (S7) and try to understand the origin and values of the observed density structures to reduce the systematic uncertainties in outflow energy estimation. Methods. We use the ratio of the [S II]λ6716,6731 emission lines to derive spatially resolved electron densities (≲50–2000 cm−3). Using optical Integral Field Unit observations from the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS), we are able to measure densities across the central 2–5 kpc of the selected AGN host galaxies. We compare the density maps with the positions of the H II regions derived from the narrow Hα component, ionization maps from [O III] and spatially resolved BPT diagrams to infer the origin of the observed density structures. We also use the electron density maps to construct density profiles as a function of distance from the central AGN. Results. We find a spatial correlation between the sites of high star formation and high electron density for targets without an active ionized outflow. The non-outflowing targets also show an exponential drop in the electron density as a function of distance from the centre, with a mean exponential index of ∼0.15. The correlation between the star forming sites and electron density ceases for targets with an outflow. The density within the outflowing medium is not uniform and shows both low- and high-density sites, most likely due to the presence of shocks and highly turbulent medium. We compare these results in the context of previous results obtained from fibre and slit spectra.

Defending the earth from long-period comets and sneaky asteroids: Short term threat response requires long term preparation

Comets, such as the recent Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) can impact terrestrial planets with very short warning times: for Siding Spring the time from discovery to closest approach to Mars (135,000 km) was less than 22 months. Short warning times are also possible for certain asteroids approaching on unfavorable orbits, e.g., from the direction of the Sun. The time required to design, build, test and launch a high-reliability Interceptor spacecraft is on the order of 5 years, a timescale incompatible with threat mitigation for such short warning times. A potential solution is to build the interceptor before the threat is detected and put it into storage until it is required. Launch of a stored spacecraft could be accomplished in much less than a year after authorization based on experience with the DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) program managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.While asteroidal impacts are of order 100 times more likely than cometary impacts, comet impacts can carry more than 100 times the energy of a typical asteroid threat, making their destructive power nearly equal. Cometary threats have been largely ignored to date, a situation that needs to change as our Planetary Defense efforts become more mature. An idealized threat response system will be described.

Integral Field Spectroscopy of Supernova Remnant 1E0102–7219 Reveals Fast-moving Hydrogen and Sulfur-rich Ejecta

Abstract We study the optical emission from heavy element ejecta in the oxygen-rich young supernova remnant 1E 0102.2–7219 (1E 0102) in the Small Magellanic Cloud. We have used the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer optical integral field spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope on Cerro Paranal and the wide field spectrograph (WiFeS) at the ANU 2.3 m telescope at Siding Spring Observatory to obtain deep observations of 1E 0102. Our observations cover the entire extent of the remnant from below 3500 Å to 9350 Å. Our observations unambiguously reveal the presence of fast-moving ejecta emitting in [S ii], [S iii], [Ar iii], and [Cl ii]. The sulfur-rich ejecta appear more asymmetrically distributed compared to oxygen or neon, a product of carbon burning. In addition to the forbidden line emission from products of oxygen burning (S, Ar, Cl), we have also discovered Hα and Hβ emission from several knots of low surface brightness, fast-moving ejecta. The presence of fast-moving hydrogen points toward a progenitor that had not entirely shed its hydrogen envelope prior to the supernova. The explosion that gave rise to 1E 0102 is therefore commensurate with a Type IIb supernova.

SkyMapper Southern Survey: First Data Release (DR1)

AbstractWe present the first data release of the SkyMapper Southern Survey, a hemispheric survey carried out with the SkyMapper Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Here, we present the survey strategy, data processing, catalogue construction, and database schema. The first data release dataset includes over 66 000 images from the Shallow Survey component, covering an area of 17 200 deg2 in all six SkyMapper passbands uvgriz, while the full area covered by any passband exceeds 20 000 deg2. The catalogues contain over 285 million unique astrophysical objects, complete to roughly 18 mag in all bands. We compare our griz point-source photometry with Pan-STARRS1 first data release and note an RMS scatter of 2%. The internal reproducibility of SkyMapper photometry is on the order of 1%. Astrometric precision is better than 0.2 arcsec based on comparison with Gaia first data release. We describe the end-user database, through which data are presented to the world community, and provide some illustrative science queries.

Thermal Modeling of Comet-like Objects from AKARI Observation

Abstract We investigated the physical properties of the comet-like objects 107P/(4015) Wilson–Harrington (4015WH) and P/2006 HR30 (Siding Spring; HR30) by applying a simple thermophysical model to the near-infrared spectroscopy and broadband observation data obtained by the AKARIsatellite of JAXA when they showed no detectable comet-like activity. We selected these two targets because the tendency of thermal inertia to decrease with the size of an asteroid, which has been demonstrated in recent studies, has not been confirmed for comet-like objects. It was found that 4015WH, which was originally discovered as a comet but has not shown comet-like activity after its discovery, has effective size D = 3.74–4.39 km and geometric albedo with thermal inertia J m−2 K−1 . The corresponding grain size is estimated as 1–3 mm. We also found that HR30, which was observed as a bare cometary nucleus at the time of our observation, has km and with J m−2 K−1 . We conjecture the pole latitude . The results for both targets are consistent with previous studies. Based on the results, we propose that comet-like objects are not clearly distinguishable from their asteroidal counterparts on the D–Γ plane.

First Results of the SkyMapper Transient Survey

AbstractThe SkyMapper Transient survey (SMT) is exploring variability in the southern sky by performing (a) a rolling search to discover and study supernovæ, and (b) a Target of Opportunity programme that uses the robotic SkyMapper Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory. The supernova survey is obtaining a non-targeted sample of Type Ia supernovæ (SNe Ia) at low redshifts, z < 0.1, and studying other interesting transients found with the search strategy. We have a Target of Opportunity programme with an automatic response mechanism to search for optical counterparts to gravitational-wave and fast radio-burst events; it benefits from SkyMapper’s large field of view of 5.7 sq. deg. and a rapid data reduction pipeline.We present first results of the SMT survey. The SMT pipeline can process and obtain potential candidates within 12 hours of observation. It disentangles real transients from processing artefacts using a machine-learning algorithm. To date, SMT has discovered over 60 spectroscopically confirmed supernovæ, several peculiar objects, and over 40 SNe Ia including one (SNIa 2016hhd) which was found within the first few days of explosion. We have also participated in searches for optical counterparts of gravitational waves, fast radio bursts and other transients, and have published observations of the optical counterpart of the gravitational-wave event GW170817. We also participate in coordinated observations with the Deeper Wider Faster programme, and the Kepler K2 cosmology project.

Integral Field Spectroscopy of Balmer-dominated Shocks in the Magellanic Cloud Supernova Remnant N103B

Abstract We present results of integral field spectroscopy of Balmer-dominated shocks in the LMC supernova remnant (SNR) N103B, carried out using the Wide Field Integral Spectrograph (WiFeS ) on the 2.3 m telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Existing X-ray studies of N103B have indicated an SN Ia origin. Radiative shock emission from clumpy material surrounding the SNR may result from interaction of the forward shock with relic stellar wind material, possibly implicating a thermonuclear explosion in a single-degenerate binary system. The recently discovered Balmer-dominated shocks mark the impact of the forward shock with low density, partially neutral CSM gas, and form a partial shell encircling clumps of material exhibiting radiative shocks. The WiFeS spectra of N103B reveal broad Hα emission having a width as high as 2350 km s−1 along the northern rim, and both Hα and Hβ broad profiles having widths around 1300 km s−1 along the southern rim. Fits to the Hα line profiles indicate that in addition to the usual broad and narrow emission components, a third component of intermediate width exists in these Balmer-dominated shocks, ranging from around 125 km s−1 up to 225 km s−1 in width. This is consistent with predictions of recent Balmer-dominated shock models, which predict that an intermediate-width component will be generated in a fast neutral precursor. We derive a Sedov age of approximately 685 ± 20 years for N103B from the Balmer-dominated spectra, consistent with the young age of 380–860 years estimated from light echo studies.

Probing the Physics of Narrow-line Regions in Active Galaxies. IV. Full Data Release of the Siding Spring Southern Seyfert Spectroscopic Snapshot Survey (S7)

Abstract We present the second and final data release of the Siding Spring Southern Seyfert Spectroscopic Snapshot Survey (S7). Data are presented for 63 new galaxies not included in the first data release, and we provide 2D emission-line fitting products for the full S7 sample of 131 galaxies. The S7 uses the WiFeS instrument on the ANU 2.3 m telescope to obtain spectra with a spectral resolution of R = 7000 in the red (540–700 nm) and R = 3000 in the blue (350–570 nm), over an integral field of 25 × 38 arcsec2 with 1 × 1 arcsec2 spatial pixels. The S7 contains both the largest sample of active galaxies and the highest spectral resolution of any comparable integral field survey to date. The emission-line fitting products include line fluxes, velocities, and velocity dispersions across the WiFeS field of view, and an artificial neural network has been used to determine the optimal number of Gaussian kinematic components for emission-lines in each spaxel. Broad Balmer lines are subtracted from the spectra of nuclear spatial pixels in Seyfert 1 galaxies before fitting the narrow lines. We bin nuclear spectra and measure reddening-corrected nuclear fluxes of strong narrow lines for each galaxy. The nuclear spectra are classified on optical diagnostic diagrams, where the strength of the coronal line [Fe vii] λ6087 is shown to be correlated with [O iii]/Hβ. Maps revealing gas excitation and kinematics are included for the entire sample, and we provide notes on the newly observed objects.

Project Solaris, a Global Network of Autonomous Observatories: Design, Commissioning, and First Science Results

We present the design and commissioning of Project Solaris, a global network of autonomous observatories. Solaris is a Polish scientific undertaking aimed at the detection and characterization of circumbinary exoplanets and eclipsing binary stars. To accomplish this, a network of four fully autonomous observatories has been deployed in the Southern Hemisphere: Solaris-1 and Solaris-2 in the South African Astronomical Observatory in South Africa; Solaris-3 in Siding Spring Observatory in Australia; and Solaris-4 in Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito in Argentina. The four stations are nearly identical and are equipped with 0.5-m Ritchey-Crétien (f/15) or Cassegrain (f/9, Solaris-3) optics and high-grade 2 K × 2 K CCD cameras with Johnson and Sloan filter sets. We present the design and implementation of low-level security; data logging and notification systems; weather monitoring components; all-sky vision system, surveillance system; and distributed temperature and humidity sensors. We describe dedicated grounding and lighting protection system design and robust fiber data transfer interfaces in electrically demanding conditions. We discuss the outcomes of our design, as well as the resulting software engineering requirements. We describe our system’s engineering approach to achieve the required level of autonomy, the architecture of the custom high-level industry-grade software that has been designed and implemented specifically for the use of the network. We present the actual status of the project and first photometric results; these include data and models of already studied systems for benchmarking purposes (Wasp-4b, Wasp-64b, and Wasp-98b transits, PG 1663-018, an eclipsing binary with a pulsator) as well J024946-3825.6, an interesting low-mass binary system for which a complete model is provided for the first time.

Multiwavelength observations of the 2015 nova in the Local Group irregular dwarf galaxy IC 1613

A nova in the Local Group irregular dwarf galaxy IC 1613 was discovered on 2015 September 10 and is the first nova in that galaxy to be spectroscopically confirmed. We conducted a detailed multiwavelength observing campaign of the eruption with the Liverpool Telescope, the LCO 2 m telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, and Swift, the results of which we present here. The nova peaked at MV = −7.93 ± 0.08 and was fast-fading, with decline times of t2(V) = 13 ± 2 and t3(V) = 26 ± 2 d. The overall light-curve decline was relatively smooth, as often seen in fast-fading novae. Swift observations spanned 40–332 d post-discovery, but no X-ray source was detected. Optical spectra show the nova to be a member of the hybrid spectroscopic class, simultaneously showing Fe ii and N ii lines of similar strength during the early decline phase. The spectra cover the eruption from the early optically thick phase, through the early decline and into the nebular phase. The Hγ absorption minimum from the optically thick spectrum indicates an expansion velocity of 1200 ± 200 km s−1. The full width at half-maximum of the Hα emission line between 10.54 and 57.51 d post-discovery shows no significant evolution and remains at ∼1750 km s−1, although the morphology of this line does show some evolution. The nova appears close to a faint stellar source in archival imaging; however, we find the most likely explanation for this is simply a chance alignment.

SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CAMERA II (SNUCAM-II): THE NEW SED CAMERA FOR THE LEE SANG GAK TELESCOPE (LSGT)

We present the characteristics and the performance of the new CCD camera system, SNUCAM-II (Seoul National University CAMera system II) that was installed on the Lee Sang Gak Telescope (LSGT) at the Siding Spring Observatory in 2016. SNUCAM-II consists of a deep depletion chip covering a wide wavelength from 0.3 {\mu}m to 1.1 {\mu}m with high sensitivity (QE at > 80% over 0.4 to 0.9 {\mu}m). It is equipped with the SDSS ugriz filters and 13 medium band width (50 nm) filters, enabling us to study spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of diverse objects from extragalactic sources to solar system objects. On LSGT, SNUCAM-II offers 15.7 {\times} 15.7 arcmin field-of-view (FOV) at a pixel scale of 0.92 arcsec and a limiting magnitude of g = 19.91 AB mag and z=18.20 AB mag at 5{\sigma} with 180 sec exposure time for point source detection.

Using an artificial neural network to classify multicomponent emission lines with integral field spectroscopy from SAMI and S7

We present The Machine, an artificial neural network (ANN) capable of differentiating between the numbers of Gaussian components needed to describe the emission lines of Integral Field Spectroscopic (IFS) observations. Here we show the preliminary results of the S7 first data release (Siding Spring Southern Seyfert Spectro- scopic Snapshot Survey, Dopita et al. 2015) and SAMI Galaxy Survey (Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral Field Unit, Croom et al. 2012) to classify whether the emission lines in each spatial pixel are composed of 1, 2, or 3 different Gaussian components. Previously this classification has been done by individual people, taking an hour per galaxy. This time investment is no longer feasible with the large spectroscopic surveys coming online.

The Catalina Surveys Southern periodic variable star catalogue

U.S. National Science Foundation [AST-1313422, AST-1413600]; National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NNG05GF22G]; CONICYT's PCI program [DPI20140066]; Ministry for the Economy, Development, and Tourism's Iniciativa Cientifica Milenio [IC 120009]; Proyecto Fondecyt [1141141]; Proyecto Basal [PFB-06/2007]; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; National Science Foundation [1138766]

Shape optimization of compliant pressure actuated cellular structures

Biologically inspired pressure actuated cellular structures can alter their shape through pressure variations. Previous work introduced a computational framework for pressure actuated cellular structures that is limited to two cell rows and central cell corner hinges. This article rigorously extends these results by taking into account an arbitrary number of cell rows, a more complicated cell kinematic that includes hinge eccentricities and varying side lengths as well as rotational and axial cell side springs. The nonlinear effects of arbitrary cell deformations are fully considered. Furthermore, the optimization is considerably improved by using a second-order approach. The presented framework enables the design of compliant pressure actuated cellular structures that can change their form from one shape to another within a set of one-dimensional C1 continuous functions. Several examples are used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed framework.

Need for space governance for India and global space governance

Comets, such as the recent Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) can impact terrestrial planets with very short warning times: for Siding Spring the time from discovery to closest approach to Mars (135,000 km) was less than 22 months. Short warning times are also possible for certain asteroids approaching on unfavorable orbits, e.g., from the direction of the Sun. The time required to design, build, test and launch a high-reliability Interceptor spacecraft is on the order of 5 years, a timescale incompatible with threat mitigation for such short warning times. A potential solution is to build the interceptor before the threat is detected and put it into storage until it is required. Launch of a stored spacecraft could be accomplished in much less than a year after authorization based on experience with the DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) program managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.While asteroidal impacts are of order 100 times more likely than cometary impacts, comet impacts can carry more than 100 times the energy of a typical asteroid threat, making their destructive power nearly equal. Cometary threats have been largely ignored to date, a situation that needs to change as our Planetary Defense efforts become more mature. An idealized threat response system will be described.

MUSE Integral Field Observations of the Oxygen-rich SNR 1E 0102.2-7219

AbstractWe have observed the oxygen-rich SNR 1E 0102.2-7219 with the integral field spectrograph WiFeS at Siding Spring Observatory and discovered sulfur-rich ejecta for the first time. Follow-up deep DDT observations with MUSE on the VLT (8100 s on source) reaching down to a noise level of ~5 × 10−20ergs−1cm−2Å−1spaxel−1 have led to the additional discovery of fast-moving hydrogen as well as argon-rich and chlorine-rich material. The detection of fast-moving hydrogen knots challenges the interpretation that the progenitor of 1E 0102 was a compact core of a Wolf-Rayet star that had shed its entire envelope. In addition to the detection of hydrogen and the products of oxygen-burning, this unprecedented sharp (0.2″ spaxel size at ~0.7″ seeing) and deep MUSE view of an oxygen-rich SNR in the Magellanic Clouds reveals further exciting discoveries, including [Fe xiv]λ5303 and [Fe xi]λ7892 emission, which we associate with the forward shock. We present this exciting data set and discuss some of its implications for the explosion mechanism and nucleosynthesis of the associated supernova.

The Taipan Galaxy Survey: Scientific Goals and Observing Strategy

AbstractThe Taipan galaxy survey (hereafter simply ‘Taipan’) is a multi-object spectroscopic survey starting in 2017 that will cover 2π steradians over the southern sky (δ ≲ 10°, |b| ≳ 10°), and obtain optical spectra for about two million galaxies out to z < 0.4. Taipan will use the newly refurbished 1.2-m UK Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory with the new TAIPAN instrument, which includes an innovative ‘Starbugs’ positioning system capable of rapidly and simultaneously deploying up to 150 spectroscopic fibres (and up to 300 with a proposed upgrade) over the 6° diameter focal plane, and a purpose-built spectrograph operating in the range from 370 to 870 nm with resolving power R ≳ 2000. The main scientific goals of Taipan are (i) to measure the distance scale of the Universe (primarily governed by the local expansion rate, H0) to 1% precision, and the growth rate of structure to 5%; (ii) to make the most extensive map yet constructed of the total mass distribution and motions in the local Universe, using peculiar velocities based on improved Fundamental Plane distances, which will enable sensitive tests of gravitational physics; and (iii) to deliver a legacy sample of low-redshift galaxies as a unique laboratory for studying galaxy evolution as a function of dark matter halo and stellar mass and environment. The final survey, which will be completed within 5 yrs, will consist of a complete magnitude-limited sample (i ⩽ 17) of about 1.2 × 106 galaxies supplemented by an extension to higher redshifts and fainter magnitudes (i ⩽ 18.1) of a luminous red galaxy sample of about 0.8 × 106 galaxies. Observations and data processing will be carried out remotely and in a fully automated way, using a purpose-built automated ‘virtual observer’ software and an automated data reduction pipeline. The Taipan survey is deliberately designed to maximise its legacy value by complementing and enhancing current and planned surveys of the southern sky at wavelengths from the optical to the radio; it will become the primary redshift and optical spectroscopic reference catalogue for the local extragalactic Universe in the southern sky for the coming decade.