1. |
- Eyer, L., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Data Release 2 Variable stars in the colour-absolute magnitude diagram
- 2019
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 623
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The ESA Gaia mission provides a unique time-domain survey for more than 1.6 billion sources with G less than or similar to 21 mag. Aims. We showcase stellar variability in the Galactic colour-absolute magnitude diagram (CaMD). We focus on pulsating, eruptive, and cataclysmic variables, as well as on stars that exhibit variability that is due to rotation and eclipses. Methods. We describe the locations of variable star classes, variable object fractions, and typical variability amplitudes throughout the CaMD and show how variability-related changes in colour and brightness induce "motions". To do this, we use 22 months of calibrated photometric, spectro-photometric, and astrometric Gaia data of stars with a significant parallax. To ensure that a large variety of variable star classes populate the CaMD, we crossmatched Gaia sources with known variable stars. We also used the statistics and variability detection modules of the Gaia variability pipeline. Corrections for interstellar extinction are not implemented in this article. Results. Gaia enables the first investigation of Galactic variable star populations in the CaMD on a similar, if not larger, scale as was previously done in the Magellanic Clouds. Although the observed colours are not corrected for reddening, distinct regions are visible in which variable stars occur. We determine variable star fractions to within the current detection thresholds of Gaia. Finally, we report the most complete description of variability-induced motion within the CaMD to date. Conclusions. Gaia enables novel insights into variability phenomena for an unprecedented number of stars, which will benefit the understanding of stellar astrophysics. The CaMD of Galactic variable stars provides crucial information on physical origins of variability in a way that has previously only been accessible for Galactic star clusters or external galaxies. Future Gaia data releases will enable significant improvements over this preview by providing longer time series, more accurate astrometry, and additional data types (time series BP and RP spectra, RVS spectra, and radial velocities), all for much larger samples of stars.
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2. |
- David, P., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Focused Product Release: Asteroid orbital solution : Properties and assessment
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 680
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. We report the exploitation of a sample of Solar System observations based on data from the third Gaia Data Release (Gaia DR3) of nearly 157 000 asteroids. It extends the epoch astrometric solution over the time coverage planned for the Gaia DR4, which is not expected before the end of 2025. This data set covers more than one full orbital period for the vast majority of these asteroids. The orbital solutions are derived from the Gaia data alone over a relatively short arc compared to the observation history of many of these asteroids.Aims. The work aims to produce orbital elements for a large set of asteroids based on 66 months of accurate astrometry provided by Gaia and to assess the accuracy of these orbital solutions with a comparison to the best available orbits derived from independent observations. A second validation is performed with accurate occultation timings.Methods. We processed the raw astrometric measurements of Gaia to obtain astrometric positions of moving objects with 1D sub-mas accuracy at the bright end. For each asteroid that we matched to the data, an orbit fitting was attempted in the form of the best fit of the initial conditions at the median epoch. The force model included Newtonian and relativistic accelerations to derive the observation equations, which were solved with a linear least-squares fit.Results. Orbits are provided in the form of state vectors in the International Celestial Reference Frame for 156 764 asteroids, including near-Earth objects, main-belt asteroids, and Trojans. For the asteroids with the best observations, the (formal) relative uncertainty σa/a is better than 10-10. Results are compared to orbits available from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and MPC. Their orbits are based on much longer data arcs, but from positions of lower quality. The relative differences in semi-major axes have a mean of 5 × 10-10 and a scatter of 5 × 10-9
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3. |
- Klioner, S. A., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Early Data Release 3: The celestial reference frame (Gaia-CRF3)
- 2022
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 667
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Gaia-CRF3 is the celestial reference frame for positions and proper motions in the third release of data from the Gaia mission, Gaia DR3 (and for the early third release, Gaia EDR3, which contains identical astrometric results). The reference frame is defined by the positions and proper motions at epoch 2016.0 for a specific set of extragalactic sources in the (E)DR3 catalogue.Aims. We describe the construction of Gaia-CRF3 and its properties in terms of the distributions in magnitude, colour, and astrometric quality.Methods. Compact extragalactic sources in Gaia DR3 were identified by positional cross-matching with 17 external catalogues of quasi-stellar objects (QSO) and active galactic nuclei (AGN), followed by astrometric filtering designed to remove stellar contaminants. Selecting a clean sample was favoured over including a higher number of extragalactic sources. For the final sample, the random and systematic errors in the proper motions are analysed, as well as the radio-optical offsets in position for sources in the third realisation of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF3).Results. Gaia-CRF3 comprises about 1.6 million QSO-like sources, of which 1.2 million have five-parameter astrometric solutions in Gaia DR3 and 0.4 million have six-parameter solutions. The sources span the magnitude range G = 13-21 with a peak density at 20.6 mag, at which the typical positional uncertainty is about 1 mas. The proper motions show systematic errors on the level of 12 μas yr-1 on angular scales greater than 15 deg. For the 3142 optical counterparts of ICRF3 sources in the S/X frequency bands, the median offset from the radio positions is about 0.5 mas, but it exceeds 4 mas in either coordinate for 127 sources. We outline the future of Gaia-CRF in the next Gaia data releases. Appendices give further details on the external catalogues used, how to extract information about the Gaia-CRF3 sources, potential (Galactic) confusion sources, and the estimation of the spin and orientation of an astrometric solution.
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4. |
- Krone-Martins, A., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Focused Product Release: A catalogue of sources around quasars to search for strongly lensed quasars
- 2024
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 685
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Strongly lensed quasars are fundamental sources for cosmology. The Gaia space mission covers the entire sky with the unprecedented resolution of 0.18âà € ³ in the optical, making it an ideal instrument to search for gravitational lenses down to the limiting magnitude of 21. Nevertheless, the previous Gaia Data Releases are known to be incomplete for small angular separations such as those expected for most lenses.Aims. We present the Data Processing and Analysis Consortium GravLens pipeline, which was built to analyse all Gaia detections around quasars and to cluster them into sources, thus producing a catalogue of secondary sources around each quasar. We analysed the resulting catalogue to produce scores that indicate source configurations that are compatible with strongly lensed quasars.Methods. GravLens uses the DBSCAN unsupervised clustering algorithm to detect sources around quasars. The resulting catalogue of multiplets is then analysed with several methods to identify potential gravitational lenses. We developed and applied an outlier scoring method, a comparison between the average BP and RP spectra of the components, and we also used an extremely randomised tree algorithm. These methods produce scores to identify the most probable configurations and to establish a list of lens candidates.Results. We analysed the environment of 3 760 032 quasars. A total of 4 760 920 sources, including the quasars, were found within 6âà € ³ of the quasar positions. This list is given in the Gaia archive. In 87% of cases, the quasar remains a single source, and in 501 385 cases neighbouring sources were detected. We propose a list of 381 lensed candidates, of which we identified 49 as the most promising ones. Beyond these candidates, the associate tables in this Focused Product Release allow the entire community to explore the unique Gaia data for strong lensing studies further.
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5. |
- Lindegren, L., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Data Release 3: The extragalactic content
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 674
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Gaia Galactic survey mission is designed and optimized to obtain astrometry, photometry, and spectroscopy of nearly two billion stars in our Galaxy. Yet as an all-sky multi-epoch survey, Gaia also observes several million extragalactic objects down to a magnitude of G 21 mag. Due to the nature of the Gaia onboard-selection algorithms, these are mostly point-source-like objects. Using data provided by the satellite, we have identified quasar and galaxy candidates via supervised machine learning methods, and estimate their redshifts using the low resolution BP/RP spectra. We further characterise the surface brightness profiles of host galaxies of quasars and of galaxies from pre-defined input lists. Here we give an overview of the processing of extragalactic objects, describe the data products in Gaia DR3, and analyse their properties. Two integrated tables contain the main results for a high completeness, but low purity (50-70%), set of 6.6 million candidate quasars and 4.8 million candidate galaxies. We provide queries that select purer sub-samples of these containing 1.9 million probable quasars and 2.9 million probable galaxies (both 95% purity). We also use high quality BP/RP spectra of 43 thousand high probability quasars over the redshift range 0.05-4.36 to construct a composite quasar spectrum spanning restframe wavelengths from 72 1000 nm.
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6. |
- Recio-Blanco, A., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Data Release 3: Chemical cartography of the Milky Way
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 674
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The motion of stars has been used to reveal details of the complex history of the Milky Way, in constant interaction with its environment. Nevertheless, to reconstruct the Galactic history puzzle in its entirety, the chemo-physical characterisation of stars is essential. Previous Gaia data releases were supported by a smaller, heterogeneous, and spatially biased mixture of chemical data from ground-based observations.Aims. Gaia Data Release 3 opens a new era of all-sky spectral analysis of stellar populations thanks to the nearly 5.6 million stars observed by the Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) and parametrised by the GSP-Spec module. In this work, we aim to demonstrate the scientific quality of Gaia s Milky Way chemical cartography through a chemo-dynamical analysis of disc and halo populations.Methods. Stellar atmospheric parameters and chemical abundances provided by Gaia DR3 spectroscopy are combined with DR3 radial velocities and EDR3 astrometry to analyse the relationships between chemistry and Milky Way structure, stellar kinematics, and orbital parameters.Results. The all-sky Gaia chemical cartography allows a powerful and precise chemo-dynamical view of the Milky Way with unprecedented spatial coverage and statistical robustness. First, it reveals the strong vertical symmetry of the Galaxy and the flared structure of the disc. Second, the observed kinematic disturbances of the disc seen as phase space correlations and kinematic or orbital substructures are associated with chemical patterns that favour stars with enhanced metallicities and lower [α/Fe] abundance ratios compared to the median values in the radial distributions. This is detected both for young objects that trace the spiral arms and older populations. Several α, iron-peak elements and at least one heavy element trace the thin and thick disc properties in the solar cylinder. Third, young disc stars show a recent chemical impoverishment in several elements. Fourth, the largest chemo-dynamical sample of open clusters analysed so far shows a steepening of the radial metallicity gradient with age, which is also observed in the young field population. Finally, the Gaia chemical data have the required coverage and precision to unveil galaxy accretion debris and heated disc stars on halo orbits through their [α/Fe] ratio, and to allow the study of the chemo-dynamical properties of globular clusters. Conclusions. Gaia DR3 chemo-dynamical diagnostics open new horizons before the era of ground-based wide-field spectroscopic surveys. They unveil a complex Milky Way that is the outcome of an eventful evolution, shaping it to the present day.
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7. |
- Schultheis, M., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Data Release 3: Exploring and mapping the diffuse interstellar band at 862 nm
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 674
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are common interstellar absorption features in spectroscopic observations but their origins remain unclear. DIBs play an important role in the life cycle of the interstellar medium (ISM) and can also be used to trace Galactic structure.Aims. Here, we demonstrate the capacity of the Gaia-Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) in Gaia DR3 to reveal the spatial distribution of the unknown molecular species responsible for the most prominent DIB at 862 nm in the RVS passband, exploring the Galactic ISM within a few kiloparsecs from the Sun.Methods. The DIBs are measured within the GSP-Spec module using a Gaussian profile fit for cool stars and a Gaussian process for hot stars. In addition to the equivalent widths and their uncertainties, Gaia DR3 provides their characteristic central wavelength, width, and quality flags.Results. We present an extensive sample of 476 117 individual DIB measurements obtained in a homogeneous way covering the entire sky. We compare spatial distributions of the DIB carrier with interstellar reddening and find evidence that DIB carriers are present in a local bubble around the Sun which contains nearly no dust. We characterised the DIB equivalent width with a local density of 0.19 ± 0.04 kpc1 and a scale height of 98.60 8.46+11.10 pc. The latter is smaller than the dust scale height, indicating that DIBs are more concentrated towards the Galactic plane. We determine the rest-frame wavelength with unprecedented precision (?0 = 8620.86 ± 0.019 in air) and reveal a remarkable correspondence between the DIB velocities and the CO gas velocities, suggesting that the 862 nm DIB carrier is related to macro-molecules. Conclusions. We demonstrate the unique capacity of Gaia to trace the spatial structure of the Galactic ISM using the 862 nm DIB.
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8. |
- Schultheis, M., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Focused Product Release: Spatial distribution of two diffuse interstellar bands
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 680
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are absorption features seen in optical and infrared spectra of stars and extragalactic objects that are probably caused by large and complex molecules in the galactic interstellar medium (ISM). Here we investigate the Galactic distribution and properties of two DIBs identified in almost six million stellar spectra collected by the Gaia Radial Velocity Spectrometer. These measurements constitute a part of the Gaia Focused Product Release to be made public between the Gaia DR3 and DR4 data releases. In order to isolate the DIB signal from the stellar features in each individual spectrum, we identified a set of 160 000 spectra at high Galactic latitudes (|b| ≥ 65) covering a range of stellar parameters which we consider to be the DIB-free reference sample. Matching each target spectrum to its closest reference spectra in stellar parameter space allowed us to remove the stellar spectrum empirically, without reference to stellar models, leaving a set of six million ISM spectra. Using the star's parallax and sky coordinates, we then allocated each ISM spectrum to a voxel (VOlume piXEL) on a contiguous three-dimensional grid with an angular size of 1.8 (level 5 HEALPix) and 29 unequally sized distance bins. Identifying the two DIBs at 862.1 nm (λ862.1) and 864.8 nm (λ864.8) in the stacked spectra, we modelled their shapes and report the depth, central wavelength, width, and equivalent width (EW) for each, along with confidence bounds on these measurements. We then explored the properties and distributions of these quantities and compared them with similar measurements from other surveys. Our main results are as follows: (1) the strength and spatial distribution of the DIB λ862.1 are very consistent with what was found in Gaia DR3, but for this work we attained a higher signal-to-noise ratio in the stacked spectra to larger distances, which allowed us to trace DIBs in the outer spiral arm and beyond the Scutum-Centaurus spiral arm; (2) we produced an all-sky map below ±65 of Galactic latitude to ∼4000 pc of both DIB features and their correlations; (3) we detected the signals of DIB λ862.1 inside the Local Bubble (≲200 pc); and (4) there is a reasonable correlation with the dust reddening found from stellar absorption and EWs of both DIBs with a correlation coefficient of 0.90 for λ862.1 and 0.77 for λ864.8.
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9. |
- Trabucchi, M., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Focused Product Release: Radial velocity time series of long-period variables
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 680
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The third Gaia Data Release (DR3) provided photometric time series of more than 2 million long-period variable (LPV) candidates. Anticipating the publication of full radial-velocity data planned with Data Release 4, this Focused Product Release (FPR) provides radial-velocity time series for a selection of LPV candidates with high-quality observations.Aims. We describe the production and content of the Gaia catalog of LPV radial-velocity time series, and the methods used to compute the variability parameters published as part of the Gaia FPR.Methods. Starting from the DR3 catalog of LPV candidates, we applied several filters to construct a sample of sources with high-quality radial-velocity measurements. We modeled their radial-velocity and photometric time series to derive their periods and amplitudes, and further refined the sample by requiring compatibility between the radial-velocity period and at least one of the G, GBP, or GRP photometric periods.Results. The catalog includes radial-velocity time series and variability parameters for 9614 sources in the magnitude range 6 ≲ G/mag ≲ 14, including a flagged top-quality subsample of 6093 stars whose radial-velocity periods are fully compatible with the values derived from the G, GBP, and GRP photometric time series. The radial-velocity time series contain a mean of 24 measurements per source taken unevenly over a duration of about three years. We identify the great majority of the sources (88%) as genuine LPV candidates, with about half of them showing a pulsation period and the other half displaying a long secondary period. The remaining 12% of the catalog consists of candidate ellipsoidal binaries. Quality checks against radial velocities available in the literature show excellent agreement. We provide some illustrative examples and cautionary remarks.Conclusions. The publication of radial-velocity time series for almost ten thousand LPV candidates constitutes, by far, the largest such database available to date in the literature. The availability of simultaneous photometric measurements gives a unique added value to the Gaia catalog.
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10. |
- Weingrill, K., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Focused Product Release: Sources from Service Interface Function image analysis: Half a million new sources in omega Centauri
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 680
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Gaia's readout window strategy is challenged by very dense fields in the sky. Therefore, in addition to standard Gaia observations, full Sky Mapper (SM) images were recorded for nine selected regions in the sky. A new software pipeline exploits these Service Interface Function (SIF) images of crowded fields (CFs), making use of the availability of the full two-dimensional (2D) information. This new pipeline produced half a million additional Gaia sources in the region of the omega Centauri (ω Cen) cluster, which are published with this Focused Product Release. We discuss the dedicated SIF CF data reduction pipeline, validate its data products, and introduce their Gaia archive table.Aims. Our aim is to improve the completeness of the Gaia source inventory in a very dense region in the sky, ω Cen.Methods. An adapted version of Gaia's Source Detection and Image Parameter Determination software located sources in the 2D SIF CF images. These source detections were clustered and assigned to new SIF CF or existing Gaia sources by Gaia s cross-match software. For the new sources, astrometry was calculated using the Astrometric Global Iterative Solution software, and photometry was obtained in the Gaia DR3 reference system. We validated the results by comparing them to the public Gaia DR3 catalogue and external Hubble Space Telescope data.Results. With this Focused Product Release, 526 587 new sources have been added to the Gaia catalogue in ω Cen. Apart from positions and brightnesses, the additional catalogue contains parallaxes and proper motions, but no meaningful colour information. While SIF CF source parameters generally have a lower precision than nominal Gaia sources, in the cluster centre they increase the depth of the combined catalogue by three magnitudes and improve the source density by a factor of ten.Conclusions. This first SIF CF data publication already adds great value to the Gaia catalogue. It demonstrates what to expect for the fourth Gaia catalogue, which will contain additional sources for all nine SIF CF regions.
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