The relation between the most-massive star and its parental star cluster mass
We present a thorough literature study of the most-massive star,mmax, in several young star clusters in order to assesswhether or not star clusters are populated from the stellar initial massfunction (IMF) by random sampling over the mass range 0.01 <= m <=150Msolar without being constrained by the cluster mass,Mecl. The data reveal a partition of the sample into lowestmass objects (Mecl <= 102Msolar),moderate mass clusters (102Msolar
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Search for OB stars running away from young star clusters. I. NGC 6611
N-body simulations have shown that the dynamical decay of the young (~1Myr) Orion Nebula cluster could be responsible for the loss of at leasthalf of its initial content of OB stars. This result suggests that otheryoung stellar systems could also lose a significant fraction of theirmassive stars at the very beginning of their evolution. To confirm thisexpectation, we used the Mid-Infrared Galactic Plane Survey (completedby the Midcourse Space Experiment satellite) to search for bow shocksaround a number of young (?several Myr) clusters and OBassociations. We discovered dozens of bow shocks generated by OB starsrunning away from these stellar systems, supporting the idea ofsignificant dynamical loss of OB stars. In this paper, we report thediscovery of three bow shocks produced by O-type stars ejected from theopen cluster NGC 6611 (M16). One of the bow shocks is associated withthe O9.5Iab star HD165319, which was suggested to be one of “thebest examples for isolated Galactic high-mass star formation” (deWit et al. 2005, A&A, 437, 247). Possible implications of ourresults for the origin of field OB stars are discussed.
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Adaptive Optics Photometry and Astrometry of Binary Stars. III. a Faint Companion Search of O-Star Systems
We present the results of an adaptive optics survey for faint companionsamong Galactic O-type star systems (with V lsim 8) using the AdvancedElectro-Optical System (AEOS) 3.6 m telescope on Haleakala. We surveyedthese O-star systems in the I-band, typically being able to detect acompanion with a magnitude difference of utrimI lsim 6 in theprojected separation range 0farcs5 < ρ < 1farcs0, andutrimI lsim 9.5 in the range 1farcs0 < ρ < 5farcs0.In the course of the survey, we discovered 40 new companions among 31 ofthe 116 objects examined and made astrometric and differential magnitudemeasurements of 24 additional known pairs, several of them beingconfirmation detections. We present new astrometric orbits for twobinaries, BU 1032AB (WDS 05387–0236 σ Ori AB) and SEE 322(WDS 17158–3344 HD 155889AB). We lack magnitude differences forother filter bands, so it is difficult to determine physical fromline-of-sight companions, but we present empirical arguments for thelimiting magnitude difference where field contamination is significant.Based on observations made at the Maui Space Surveillance Systemoperated by Detachment 15 of the US Air Force Research Laboratory'sDirected Energy Directorate.
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Pulkovo compilation of radial velocities for 35495 stars in a common system.
Not Available
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New Estimates of the Solar-Neighborhood Massive Star Birthrate and the Galactic Supernova Rate
The birthrate of stars of masses >=10 Msolar is estimatedfrom a sample of just over 400 O3-B2 dwarfs within 1.5 kpc of the Sunand the result extrapolated to estimate the Galactic supernova ratecontributed by such stars. The solar-neighborhood Galactic-plane massivestar birthrate is estimated at ~176 stars kpc-3Myr-1. On the basis of a model in which the Galactic stellardensity distribution comprises a ``disk+central hole'' like that of thedust infrared emission (as proposed by Drimmel and Spergel), theGalactic supernova rate is estimated at probably not less than ~1 normore than ~2 per century and the number of O3-B2 dwarfs within the solarcircle at ~200,000.
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The origin of massive O-type field stars: II. Field O stars as runaways
In two papers we try to confirm that all Galactic high-mass stars areformed in a cluster environment, by excluding that O-type stars found inthe Galactic field actually formed there. In de Wit et al. (2004) wepresented deep K-band imaging of 5 arcmin fields centred on 43 massiveO-type field stars that revealed that the large majority of theseobjects are single objects. In this contribution we explore thepossibility that the field O stars are dynamically ejected from youngclusters, by investigating their peculiar space velocity distribution,their distance from the Galactic plane, and their spatial vicinity toknown young stellar clusters. We (re-)identify 22 field O-type stars ascandidate runaway OB-stars. The statistics show that 4 ± 2% ofall O-type stars with V<8m can be considered as formedoutside a cluster environment. Most are spectroscopically singleobjects, some are visual binaries. The derived percentage for O-typestars that form isolated in the field based on our statistical analysesis in agreement with what is expected from calculations adopting auniversal cluster richness distribution with power index of β= 1.7,assuming that the cluster richness distribution is continuous down tothe smallest clusters containing one single star.
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On the Hipparcos parallaxes of O stars
We compare the absolute visual magnitude of the majority of bright Ostars in the sky as predicted from their spectral type with the absolutemagnitude calculated from their apparent magnitude and the Hipparcosparallax. We find that many stars appear to be much fainter thanexpected, up to five magnitudes. We find no evidence for a correlationbetween magnitude differences and the stellar rotational velocity assuggested for OB stars by Lamers et al. (1997, A&A, 325, L25), whosesmall sample of stars is partly included in ours. Instead, by means of asimulation we show how these differences arise naturally from the largedistances at which O stars are located, and the level of precision ofthe parallax measurements achieved by Hipparcos. Straightforwardlyderiving a distance from the Hipparcos parallax yields reliable resultsfor one or two O stars only. We discuss several types of bias reportedin the literature in connection with parallax samples (Lutz-Kelker,Malmquist) and investigate how they affect the O star sample. Inaddition, we test three absolute magnitude calibrations from theliterature (Schmidt-Kaler et al. 1982, Landolt-Börnstein; Howarth& Prinja 1989, ApJS, 69, 527; Vacca et al. 1996, ApJ, 460, 914) andfind that they are consistent with the Hipparcos measurements. AlthoughO stars conform nicely to the simulation, we notice that some B stars inthe sample of \citeauthor{La97} have a magnitude difference larger thanexpected.
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The origin of massive O-type field stars. I. A search for clusters
We present a study aimed at clarifying the birthplace for 43 massiveO-type field stars. In this first paper we present the observationalpart: a search for stellar clusters near the target stars. We derivestellar density maps at two different resolving scales, viz. 0.25pc and 1.0 pc from NTT and TNG imaging and the 2MASS catalogue.These scales are typical for cluster sizes. The main result is that thelarge majority of the O-type field population are isolated stars: only12% (5 out of 43) of the O-type field stars is found to harbour asmall-scale stellar cluster. We review the literature and aim atcharacterizing the stellar field of each O-type field star with theemphasis on star formation and the presence of known young stellarclusters. An analysis of the result of this paper and a discussion ofthe O-type field population as products of a dynamical ejection event ispresented in an accompanying paper.Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory,Chile, and at the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) operated onthe island of La Palma by the Centro Galileo Galilei of the CNAA(Consorzio Nazionale per l'Astronomia e l'Astrofisica) at the SpanishObservatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisicade Canarias.Table 2 and Figs. 4 to 17 are available in electronic form athttp://www.edpsciences.org
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Catalog of Galactic OB Stars
An all-sky catalog of Galactic OB stars has been created by extendingthe Case-Hamburg Galactic plane luminous-stars surveys to include 5500additional objects drawn from the literature. This work brings the totalnumber of known or reasonably suspected OB stars to over 16,000.Companion databases of UBVβ photometry and MK classifications forthese objects include nearly 30,000 and 20,000 entries, respectively.
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The total-to-selective extinction ratio determined from near IR photometry of OB stars
The paper presents an extensive list of the total to selectiveextinction ratios R calculated from the infrared magnitudes of 597 O andB stars using the extrapolation method. The IR magnitudes of these starswere taken from the literature. The IR colour excesses are determinedwith the aid of "artificial standards" - Wegner (1994). The individualand mean values of total to selective extinction ratios R differ in mostcases from the average value R=3.10 +/-0.05 - Wegner (1993) in differentOB associations. The relation between total to selective extinctionratios R determined in this paper and those calculated using the "methodof variable extinction" and the Cardelli et al. (1989) formulae isdiscussed. The R values presented in this paper can be used to determineindividual absolute magnitudes of reddened OB stars with knowntrigonometric parallaxes.
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Five-colour photometry of OB-stars in the Southern Hemisphere
Observations of OB-stars, made in 1959 and 1960 at the Leiden SouthernStation near Hartebeespoortdam, South Africa, with the VBLUW photometerattached to the 90 cm light-collector, are given in this paper. They arecompared with photometry obtained by \cite[Graham (1968),]{gra68}\cite[Walraven & Walraven (1977),]{wal77} \cite[Lub & Pel(1977)]{lub77} and \cite[Van Genderen et al. (1984).]{gen84} Formulaefor the transformation of the present observations to those of\cite[Walraven & Walraven (1977)]{wal77} and \cite[Lub & Pel(1977)]{lub77} are given. Table 4 is only available in electronic format the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) orvia http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html
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UBV beta Database for Case-Hamburg Northern and Southern Luminous Stars
A database of photoelectric UBV beta photometry for stars listed in theCase-Hamburg northern and southern Milky Way luminous stars surveys hasbeen compiled from the original research literature. Consisting of over16,000 observations of some 7300 stars from over 500 sources, thisdatabase constitutes the most complete compilation of such photometryavailable for intrinsically luminous stars around the Galactic plane.Over 5000 stars listed in the Case-Hamburg surveys still lackfundamental photometric data.
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ICCD speckle observations of binary stars. XIX - an astrometric/spectroscopic survey of O stars
We present the results of a speckle interferometric survey made with theCHARA speckle camera and 4 m class telescopes of Galactic O-type starswith V less than 8. We can detect with the speckle camera binaries inthe angular separation range 0.035-1.5 arcsec with delta M less than 3,and we have discovered 15 binaries among 227 O-type systems. We combinedour results on visual binaries with measurements of wider pairs from theWashington Double Star Catalog and fainter pairs from the HipparcosCatalog, and we made a literature survey of the spectroscopic binariesamong the sample. We then investigated the overall binary frequency ofthe sample and the orbital characteristics of the known binaries.Binaries are common among O stars in clusters and associations but lessso among field and especially runaway stars. There are many triplesystems among the speckle binaries, and we discuss their possible rolein the ejection of stars from clusters. The period distribution of thebinaries is bimodal in log P, but we suggest that binaries with periodsof years and decades may eventually be found to fill the gap. The massratio distribution of the visual binaries increases toward lower massratios, but low mass ratio companions are rare among close,spectroscopic binaries. We present distributions of the eccentricity andlongitude of periastron for spectroscopic binaries with ellipticalorbits, and we find strong evidence of a bias in the longitude ofperiastron distribution.
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Red and infrared colours of B stars and the reddening law in the Galaxy
The red and infrared intrinsic colours of B stars are derived fromphotometric observations through the UBV(RI)_CJHK and Hβ filters of257 early-type stars. Those stars for which the UBV and Hβmeasurements match the published spectral class, and which show no othersigns of peculiarity, are used to determine the intrinsic photometriccolours of B stars in the red and infrared. From these intrinsic coloursthe interstellar reddening relationships for the red and infraredcolours are evaluated, and the results are compared with previousestimates of these quantities. The values of R, E(B-V) and the distanceare then determined for the individual stars. R is confirmed to be closeto 3.1 in most cases, but was found to be much larger in somedirections. The relationship between R and the location of a star in theGalaxy is investigated. Usually the abnormally reddened stars seemed tobe associated with known regions of star formation. The paper alsoidentifies seven likely variable stars and a number of stars withpossible dust shells.
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A Radial Velocity Database for Stephenson-Sanduleak Southern Luminous Stars
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1997AJ....113..823R&db_key=AST
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Derivation of the Galactic rotation curve using space velocities
We present rotation curves of the Galaxy based on the space-velocitiesof 197 OB stars and 144 classical cepheids, respectively, which rangeover a galactocentric distance interval of about 6 to 12kpc. Nosignificant differences between these rotation curves and rotationcurves based solely on radial velocities assuming circular rotation arefound. We derive an angular velocity of the LSR of{OMEGA}_0_=5.5+/-0.4mas/a (OB stars) and {OMEGA}_0_=5.4+/-0.5mas/a(cepheids), which is in agreement with the IAU 1985 value of{OMEGA}_0_=5.5mas/a. If we correct for probable rotations of the FK5system, the corresponding angular velocities are {OMEGA}_0_=6.0mas/a (OBstars) and {OMEGA}_0_=6.2mas/a (cepheids). These values agree betterwith the value of {OMEGA}_0_=6.4mas/a derived from the VLA measurementof the proper motion of SgrA^*^.
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Vitesses radiales. Catalogue WEB: Wilson Evans Batten. Subtittle: Radial velocities: The Wilson-Evans-Batten catalogue.
We give a common version of the two catalogues of Mean Radial Velocitiesby Wilson (1963) and Evans (1978) to which we have added the catalogueof spectroscopic binary systems (Batten et al. 1989). For each star,when possible, we give: 1) an acronym to enter SIMBAD (Set ofIdentifications Measurements and Bibliography for Astronomical Data) ofthe CDS (Centre de Donnees Astronomiques de Strasbourg). 2) the numberHIC of the HIPPARCOS catalogue (Turon 1992). 3) the CCDM number(Catalogue des Composantes des etoiles Doubles et Multiples) byDommanget & Nys (1994). For the cluster stars, a precise study hasbeen done, on the identificator numbers. Numerous remarks point out theproblems we have had to deal with.
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A spectroscopic database for Stephenson-Sanduleak Southern Luminous Stars
A database of published spectral classifications for objects in theStepenson-Sanduleak Luminous Stars in the Southern Milky Way catalog hasbeen compiled from the literature. A total of 6182 classifications for2562 stars from 139 sources are incorporated.
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UBV photometry of OB+ stars in the southern Milky Way
One thousand two hundred and twenty six new observations are combinedwith previously published results of the author to yield an internalyconsistent set of magnitudes and colors on the international UBV systemfor 666 stars classified as OB+ in the Stephenson-Sanduleak OB starsurvey. The U - B, B - V diagram indicates that these stars consistprimarily of O-type stars and early B-type supergiants, reddened by upto E(B - V) = 2.1 mag.
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The visually brightest early-type supergiants in the spiral galaxies NGC 2403, M81, and M101
Moderate-resolution spectroscopy of the candidate brightest blue starsin the nearby spirals NGC 2403, M81, and M101 reveals that many are notsingle stars, but compact H II regions, clusters, and multiple systems.This is an additional and serious limitation on their use as distanceindicators. The derivation of the luminosities of the confirmed singleblue supergiants is discussed, and, combining these results withprevious work on the brightest red supergiants, a brief discussion andcomparison of the evolution of their most massive stars are given. Theproperties of the brightest blue and red stars in NGC 2403 and M81 arebasically in agreement with the pattern of massive-star evolutionobserved in Local Group galaxies. The distance to M101 is stillcontroversial, but at the larger distance modulus, the luminosities ofits brightest early and late-type supergiants place them beyond theEddington limit for their initial mass and temperature.
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The kinematical and binary properties of association and field O stars
A catalog of 195 Galactic O-type stars brighter than V = 8.0 mag hasbeen compiled to compare the velocity distribution and binary frequencyamong cluster and association, field, and runaway stars. Both the fieldstars and runaway stars have a larger dispersion in peculiar radialvelocity, a more positive mean peculiar radial velocity, and a widerz-distribution than stars found in clusters and associations, which isconsistent with the ejection of field and runaway stars from theirbirthplaces in associations. Visual binaries are common among stars inclusters and associations, but their incidence is a factor of 2 loweramong field stars, and they are absent in the runaway stars. Similarly,there is a deficiency of spectroscopic binaries among field stars, andespecially the runaway stars, relative to the numbers found in clustersand associations. Many of these properties can be understood in terms ofejection through close gravitational interactions with binary starsduring an early high number density epoch in the evolution of clusters.
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Observations of interstellar diffuse absorption band at 4430 A
Observations of the interstellar diffuse absorption band at 4430 A for800 O and B stars in Neckel's (1967) catalog are being carried out, and482 spectra obtained up to September 1983 have been reduced. It isconfirmed that the strength of the interstellar diffuse absorption bandat 4430 A does not simply relate to the abundance of interstellar grainson the line of sight. The relation between the color excess E(B-V) andthe equivalent width of the band to the direction of l = 130-140 deg andb = -5 to +5 deg shows that some parameter(s) other than E(B-V) is (are)needed to understand the cause of this band.
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Catalog of O-B stars observed with Tokyo Meridian Circle
A catalog of the O-B stars, selected from 'Blaauw-Parenago' list andRubin's catalog, has been compiled on the FK4 system by the observationsmade with Gautier 8-inch Meridian Circle at the Tokyo AstronomicalObservatory during the period, 1971 to 1979. It contains 1059 stars andwas compiled for the future establishment of high precision propermotions of O-B stars.
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Exciting stars and the distances of the diffuse nebulae
Not Available
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New UBVRI photometry for 900 supergiants
A description is presented of the results obtained in connection with asystematic program of supergiant photometry on the Johnson UBVRI system.During the eight years after the start of the program, almost 1000 starshave been observed, about 400 three or more times each. The originalselection of stars used the spectral type catalog of Jaschek et al.(1964) to choose supergiants. Since observations were possible from bothChile and Canada, no declination limits were imposed, and no particularselection criteria were imposed other than to eliminate carbon stars.These are so red as to require enormous extrapolations of thetransformation equations.
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Very broadband structure in the extinction curves of southern Milky Way stars
Very broadband structure (VBS), previously detected in the interstellarextinction curve, is examined in detail for 22 reddened stars in thesouthern Milky Way. The VBS, which takes the form of a shallowdepression in the 5200-6000 A region, appears to be a widespread featureof the general galactic extinction, with the central depth amounting toabout 0.02 mag per magnitude of visual extinction for stars with longpath-length reddening. Two stars in the Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud exhibita modified form of VBS which may reflect chemical changes occurring onthe grain surfaces. A possible identification of the VBS with solidmagnetite (Fe3O4) in the grain material is discussed.
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Infrared photometry of southern early-type stars
The paper presents infrared photometry tied to the JHKL (1.2-3.5microns) broadband photometric system for 229 southern early-type stars.To determine data for stars of low reddening intrinsic visual-IR colorindices were used; the E(V-K)/E(B-V) diagram was applied to evaluate theratio of total selective extinction. A mean value of R = 3.12 plus orminus 0.05 was found for stars close to the galactic plane, but a highervalue of R (about 4.0) applies to the Orion and Sco-Oph regions.Infrared two-color diagrams were used to investigate the occurrence ofinfrared excess emission in different classes of shell star; no excesseswere found for supergiants or Of stars. It is concluded that theanomalous position HD 164740 in the two-color diagrams is produced bystrong infrared excess and not by a peculiar extinction law.
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Infrared colors and the diffuse interstellar bands
Broad-band infrared photometric measurements have been gathered for 105stars which exhibit diffuse interstellar bands in their spectra. Allnormal stars obey a single reddening law, and a value of R equal to 3.08+ or - 0.15 is derived. This value is consistent with other recentdeterminations of R. The diffuse band indicators, the central depth ofthe 4430-A feature and the equivalent widths of the 5780-A and 6284-Afeatures, show as large a scatter with the infrared color excesses asthey do with E(B - V). No single-valued relation between the colorexcesses and the diffuse band strengths appears to exist. This castsdoubt on whether dust grains which produce the visual and infraredextinctions are the carriers for the diffuse interstellar features.
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Infrared photometry, extinction curves and R values for stars in the southern Milky Way.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1976MNRAS.177..625W&db_key=AST
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Spectroscopic observations of stars in HII regions.
Not Available
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