Tunable filter absorption line spectroscopy of the Galactic bar. Metallicity gradients

Scritto il 30 Apr 2013 alle 01:39 in Pubblicazioni

The stellar metallicity distribution of stars can be a very useful tool to constrain the chemical evolution models reproducing different formation scenarios for the Galactic bulge. However, classical spectroscopy of individual stars is observationally expensive, and the surveys done so far have been unsuccessful due to the low number statistics. Recently, the advent of tunable filter tomography has opened a new way to obtain low-resolution spectroscopy of large samples of stars. We present preliminary results on an on-going study to measure the stellar metallicity at two different...

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T Pyx: towards a new paradigm for nova explosions

Scritto il 30 Apr 2013 alle 01:39 in Pubblicazioni

T Pyxidis is a recurrent nova which underwent explosions at semi-regular intervals of about 22 years between 1890 and 1966. On the 14th Apr 2011, it started its sixth (long overdue) known outburst. In this talk, I present a multi-site campaign aimed at the follow-up of this object in the optical regime with intermediate resolution spectroscopy and I summarize some of our findings which challenge some of the common understandings of novae. Our observations may actually imply that the two populations of novae (Fe II and He/N) suggested by te{wms92} are, in fact, a byproduct of the...

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On variability in obscured and unobscured AGNs

Scritto il 30 Apr 2013 alle 01:39 in Pubblicazioni

Quasars belong to the most energetic phenomena in the universe. Physical
processes at the origin of them can be explained in the framework of the
AGN unified scenario. The unified scenario predicts two classes of
quasars, obscured and unobscured ones, depending on the orientation of
the dusty torus which surrounds the central supermassive black hole.
Variability is ubiquitous in AGN, and may be generated by several
phenomena that would produce different footprints. Determining the
nature and origin of the variability is a key subject to understand the
differences between the different types of AGNs.

Status of the OTELO project

Scritto il 30 Apr 2013 alle 01:39 in Pubblicazioni

The OTELO project is the extragalactic survey currently under way using
the tunable filters of the OSIRIS instrument at the GTC. OTELO is
already providing the deepest emission line object survey of the
universe up to a redshift 7. In this contribution, the status of the
survey and the first results obtained will be presented.

Goals and strategies in the global control design of the OAJ Robotic Observatory

Scritto il 30 Apr 2013 alle 01:39 in Pubblicazioni

The Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre (OAJ), is a new astronomical facility located in the Sierra de Javalambre (Teruel,Spain). The observatory will host two telescopes, an 83cm telescope with one 9.2k x 9.2k CCD and a 2.55 telescope with 14 CCDs 10.5K x 10.5K The OAJ control system has been designed from a global point of view including astronomical subsystems as well as infrastructures and other facilities. We strongly believe that the best approach for a success design of a new observatory is to consider it as whole and to focus on overall efficiency basically integrated by...

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