Astronomical Test with CMOS on the 60 cm Telescope at the Xinglong Observatory,NAOC

This work shows details of an evaluation of an observational system comprising a complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor detector, 60 cm telescope and filter complement. The system’s photometric precision and differential photometric precision, and extinction coefficients were assessed through observations of Supersky flat fields, open clusters, standard stars and exoplanets. Photometry was precision achieved at the 0.02 mag level, with differential photometry of 0.004 mag precision. Extinction was found to agree with previous studies conducted at Xinglong Observatory. Ultimately, the results demonstrate this observing system is capable of precision scientific observations with a charge-coupled device across the optical wavelengths.

Digitization of Astronomical Photographic Plates of China and Astrometric Measurement of Single-exposure Plates

From the mid-19th century to the end of the 20th century, photographic plates served as the primary detectors for astronomical observations. Astronomical photographic observations in China began in 1901, and over a century, a total of approximately 30,000 astronomical photographic plates were captured. These historical plates play an irreplaceable role in conducting long-term, time-domain astronomical research. To preserve and explore these valuable original astronomical observational data, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory has organized the transportation of plates, taken during nighttime observations from various stations across the country, to the Sheshan Plate Archive for centralized preservation. For the first time, plate information statistics were calculated. On this basis, the plates were cleaned and digitally scanned, and finally digitized images were acquired for 29,314 plates. In this study, using Gaia DR2 as the reference star catalog, astrometric processing was carried out successfully on 15,696 single-exposure plates, including object extraction, stellar identification,and plate model computation. As a result, for long focal length telescopes, such as the 40 cm double-tube refractor telescope, the 1.56 m reflector telescope at Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, and the 1m reflecting telescope at Yunnan Astronomical Observatory, the astrometric accuracy obtained for their plates is approximately 0."1–0."3. The distribution of astrometric accuracy for medium and short focal length telescopes ranges from 0."3 to 1."0. The relevant data of this batch of plates, including digitized images and a stellar catalog of the plates, are archived and released by the National Astronomical Data Center. Users can access and download plate data based on keywords such as station, telescope, observation year, and observed celestial coordinates.

Astronomical Knowledge Entity Extraction in Astrophysics Journal Articles via Large Language Models

Astronomical knowledge entities,such as celestial object identifiers,are crucial for literature retrieval and knowledge graph construction,and other research and applications in the field of astronomy.Traditional methods of extracting knowledge entities from texts face numerous challenging obstacles that are difficult to overcome.Consequently,there is a pressing need for improved methods to efficiently extract them.This study explores the potential of pre-trained Large Language Models(LLMs)to perform astronomical knowledge entity extraction(KEE)task from astrophysical journal articles using prompts.We propose a prompting strategy called PromptKEE,which includes five prompt elements,and design eight combination prompts based on them.We select four representative LLMs(Llama-2-70B,GPT-3.5,GPT-4,and Claude 2)and attempt to extract the most typical astronomical knowledge entities,celestial object identifiers and telescope names,from astronomical journal articles using these eight combination prompts.To accommodate their token limitations,we construct two data sets:the full texts and paragraph collections of 30 articles.Leveraging the eight prompts,we test on full texts with GPT-4and Claude 2,on paragraph collections with all LLMs.The experimental results demonstrate that pre-trained LLMs show significant potential in performing KEE tasks,but their performance varies on the two data sets.Furthermore,we analyze some important factors that influence the performance of LLMs in entity extraction and provide insights for future KEE tasks in astrophysical articles using LLMs.Finally,compared to other methods of KEE,LLMs exhibit strong competitiveness in multiple aspects.

A Novel Low-frequency Radio Astronomical Observation Array(1~90 MHz)and its First Light

The extremely low frequency(f<40 MHz)is a very important frequency band for modern radio astronomy observations.It is also a key frequency band for solar radio bursts,planetary radio bursts,fast radio bursts detected in the lunar space electromagnetic environment,and the Earth’s middle and upper atmosphere with low dispersion values.In this frequency band,the solar stellar activity,the early state of the universe,and the radiation characteristics of the planetary magnetosphere and plasma layer can be explored.Since there are few observations with effective spatial resolution in the extremely low frequency,it is highly possible to discover unknown astronomical phenomena on such a band in the future.In conjunction with low frequency radio observation on the far side of the Moon,we initially set up a novel low-frequency radio array in the Qitai station of Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory deep in Tianshan Mountains,Xinjiang,China on 2021 August 23.The array covers an operating frequency range of 1~90 MHz with a sensitivity of-78 dBm/125kHz,a dynamic range of 72 dB,and a typical gain value of 6 dBi,which can realize unattended all-weather observations.The two antennas due south of the Qitai Low-Frequency Radio Array were put into trial observations on 2021 May 28,and the very quiet electromagnetic environment of the station has been confirmed.So far,many solar radio bursts and other foreign signals have been detected.The results show that this novel low frequency radio array has the advantages of good performance,strong direction,and high antenna efficiency.It can play a unique role in Solar Cycle 25,and has a potential value in prospective collaborative observation between the Earth and space for extremely low frequency radio astronomy.

Effect of Cosmic Plasma on the Observation of Supernovae Ia

In observational cosmology,a supernova la is used as a standard candle in order to extend the Hubble diagram to a higher redshift range.Astrophysicists found that the observed brightness of high redshift supernovae la is dimmer than expected.This dimming effect is considered observational evidence for the existence of dark energy in the universe.It should be noted that this conclusion is based on an assumption that the mass density of the cosmic plasma is very small.Therefore,the dimming effect caused by the Compton scattering of free electrons in cosmic plasma can be neglected.X-ray observations suggest that the mass density of the cosmic plasma may be very large.In theory,the observed dimming effect of high redshift supernovae Ia may be caused by the Compton scattering of free electrons in the cosmic plasma.In this paper it will be shown that this idea is reasonable.Therefore,there is no need to introduce the confusing concept of dark energy into cosmology.

Dynamical Dark Energy in Light of Cosmic Distance Measurements.Ⅱ.A Study Using Current Observations

We extract key information on dark energy from current observations of BAO,OHD and H_(0),and find hints of dynamical behavior of dark energy.In particular,a dynamical dark energy model whose equation of state crosses-1 is favored by observations.We also find that the Universe has started accelerating at a lower redshift than expected.

Analysis of Bright Source Hardness Ratios in the 4 yr Insight-HXMT Galactic Plane Scanning Survey Catalog

We conduct a statistical analysis of the hardness ratio(HR)for bright sources in the 4 yr Galactic Plane Scanning Survey catalog of Insight-HXMT.Depending on the stable(variable)flux F_(s)(F_(v))or spectrum S_(s)(S_(v))of each source,the bright sources are classified into three groups:F_(v)&S_(v),F_(v)&S_(s),and F_(s)&_(s).Our study of the HR characteristics in different types of sources reveals that accretion-powered neutron star(NS)low-mass X-ray binaries(LMXBs)exhibit softer energy spectra than NS high-mass X-ray binaries(HMXBs),but harder energy spectra than black hole binaries in most cases.This difference is probably due to their different magnetic field strengths.Additionally,Fv&Sv LMXBs tend to be harder than Fv&Ss LMXBs below 7 keV,while the opposite is true for HMXBs.Our results suggest that LMXBs may dominate unclassified sources,and NS binaries are likely to be the primary type of X-ray binaries with ambiguous compact stars.By comparing the HR of transient sources in their outburst and low-flux states,it is found that the averaged HR of four sources in the two states are roughly comparable within uncertainties.We also investigate the spatial properties of the three groups and find that Fv&Sv sources are mainly located in the longitude of-20°<l<9°,Fv&Ss sources cross the Galactic Plane,and Fs&Ss sources are predominantly concentrated in 19°<l<42°.In addition,analyzing the HR spatial distributions shows the absorption of soft X-rays(primarily below 2 keV)in the Galactic Plane.

The Jiao Tong University Spectroscopic Telescope Project

The Jiao Tong University Spectroscopic Telescope(JUST)is a 4.4-meter f/6.0 segmented-mirror telescope dedicated to spectroscopic observations.The JUST primary mirror is composed of 18 hexagonal segments,each with a diameter of 1.1 m.JUST provides two Nasmyth platforms for placing science instruments.One Nasmyth focus fits a field of view of 10′and the other has an extended field of view of 1.2°with correction optics.A tertiary mirror is used to switch between the two Nasmyth foci.JUST will be installed at a site at Lenghu in Qinghai Province,China,and will conduct spectroscopic observations with three types of instruments to explore the dark universe,trace the dynamic universe,and search for exoplanets:(1)a multi-fiber(2000 fibers)medium-resolution spectrometer(R=4000-5000)to spectroscopically map galaxies and large-scale structure;(2)an integral field unit(IFU)array of 500 optical fibers and/or a long-slit spectrograph dedicated to fast follow-ups of transient sources for multi-messenger astronomy;(3)a high-resolution spectrometer(R~100000)designed to identify Jupiter analogs and Earth-like planets,with the capability to characterize the atmospheres of hot exoplanets.

New HⅠObservations Toward the NGC 5055 Galaxy Group with FAST

We report a new high-sensitivity HⅠmapping observation of the NGC 5055 galaxy group over an area of 1°.5×0°.75 with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope(FAST).Our observation reveals that the warped HⅠdisk of NGC 5055 is more extended than what was previously observed by WSRT,out to239(61.7 kpc).The total HⅠmass of NGC 5055 is determined to be~1.1×10^(10)M_Θ.We identified three HⅠclouds with HⅠmasses of the order of~10^(7)M_Θat the southeastern edge of the HⅠdisk,as well as a candidate high-velocity cloud with an HⅠmass of(1.2±0.5)×10^(6)M_Θto the north of NGC 5055.The HⅠcontent of UGCA337 is robustly detected for the first time by the FAST observations.It has a narrow HⅠlinewidth of W_(50)=17.4±3.8 km s^(-1)with a total HⅠmass of(3.5±0.3)×10^(6)M_Θ.Comparing the gas content and g-r color of UGCA 337 with typical low-mass dwarf galaxies,UGCA 337 appears relatively gas-poor despite its blue color.This suggests that UGCA 337 may have undergone gas stripping in the past.We also analyzed the possible origin of the diffuse HⅠclouds located at the outskirts of NGC 5055,and speculate that they might be the remnant features of a merger event in the past.

Observation of HⅠaround three Satellite Galaxies of M31 with FAST:AndromedaⅡ,NGC 205,and NGC 185

With the exceptional sensitivity of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope,we conducted observations of the neutral hydrogen(HⅠ)in the circumgalactic medium of Andromeda’s(M31)satellite galaxies,specifically AndromedaⅡ,NGC 205,and NGC 185.Initially,three drift scans were executed for these satellites,with a detection limit of 4×10^(18)cm^(-2)(approximately 1.88×10^(3)M_Θof HⅠmass),followed by a more in-depth scan of a specific region.We discovered a C-shaped HⅠarc structure sharing a position and line-of-sight velocity similar to a stellar ring structure around AndromedaⅡ,hinting at a potential connection with AndromedaⅡ.In the context of NGC 205,we identified two mass concentrations in the northeast direction,which could be indicative of tidal streams resulting from the interaction between this galaxy and M31.These new lumps discovered could be very helpful in solving the missing interstellar medium problem for NGC 205.Observations regarding NGC 185are consistent with previous studies,and we did not detect any additional HⅠmaterial around this galaxy.These observational results enhance our understanding of the evolution of these satellite galaxies and provide insight into their historical interactions with the galaxy M31.

Derivative Spectroscopy and its Application at Detecting the Weak Emission/Absorption Lines

The development of spectroscopic survey telescopes like Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope(LAMOST),Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment and Sloan Digital Sky Survey has opened up unprecedented opportunities for stellar classification.Specific types of stars,such as early-type emission-line stars and those with stellar winds,can be distinguished by the profiles of their spectral lines.In this paper,we introduce a method based on derivative spectroscopy(DS)designed to detect signals within complex backgrounds and provide a preliminary estimation of curve profiles.This method exhibits a unique advantage in identifying weak signals and unusual spectral line profiles when compared to other popular line detection methods.We validated our approach using synthesis spectra,demonstrating that DS can detect emission signals three times fainter than Gaussian fitting.Furthermore,we applied our method to 579,680 co-added spectra from LAMOST Medium-Resolution Spectroscopic Survey,identifying 16,629 spectra with emission peaks around the Hαline from 10,963 stars.These spectra were classified into three distinct morphological groups,resulting in nine subclasses as follows.(1)Emission peak above the pseudo-continuum line(single peak,double peaks,emission peak situated within an absorption line,P Cygni profile,Inverse P Cygni profile);(2)Emission peak below the pseudo-continuum line(sharp emission peak,double absorption peaks,emission peak shifted to one side of the absorption line);(3)Emission peak between the pseudo-continuum line.

X-Ray Source Classification Using Machine Learning:A Study with EP-WXT Pathfinder LEIA

X-ray observations play a crucial role in time-domain astronomy.The Einstein Probe(EP),a recently launched X-ray astronomical satellite,emerges as a forefront player in the field of time-domain astronomy and high-energy astrophysics.With a focus on systematic surveys in the soft X-ray band,EP aims to discover high-energy transients and monitor variable sources in the universe.To achieve these objectives,a quick and reliable classification of observed sources is essential.In this study,we developed a machine learning classifier for autonomous source classification using data from the EP-WXT Pathfinder—Lobster Eye Imager for Astronomy(LEIA)and EP-WXT simulations.The proposed Random Forest classifier,built on selected features derived from light curves,energy spectra,and location information,achieves an accuracy of approximately 95%on EP simulation data and 98%on LEIA observational data.The classifier is integrated into the LEIA data processing pipeline,serving as a tool for manual validation and rapid classification during observations.This paper presents an efficient method for the classification of X-ray sources based on single observations,along with implications of most effective features for the task.This work facilitates rapid source classification for the EP mission and also provides valuable insights into feature selection and classification techniques for enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of X-ray source classification that can be adapted to other X-ray telescope data.

Real-time Abnormal Detection of GWAC Light Curve based on Wavelet Transform Combined with GRU-Attention

Nowadays, astronomy has entered the era of Time-Domain Astronomy, and the study of the time-varying light curves of various types of objects is of great significance in revealing the physical properties and evolutionary history of celestial bodies. The Ground-based Wide Angle Cameras telescope, on which this paper is based, has observed more than 10 million light curves, and the detection of anomalies in the light curves can be used to rapidly detect transient rare phenomena such as microgravity lensing events from the massive data. However, the traditional statistically based anomaly detection methods cannot realize the fast processing of massive data. In this paper, we propose a Discrete Wavelet(DW)-Gate Recurrent Unit-Attention(GRU-Attention) light curve warning model. Wavelet transform has good effect on data noise reduction processing and feature extraction, which can provide richer and more stable input features for a neural network, and the neural network can provide more flexible and powerful output model for wavelet transform. Comparison experiments show an average improvement of 61% compared to the previous pure long-short-term memory unit(LSTM) model, and an average improvement of 53.5% compared to the previous GRU model. The efficiency and accuracy of anomaly detection in previous paper work are not good enough, the method proposed in this paper possesses higher efficiency and accuracy,which incorporates the Attention mechanism to find out the key parts of the light curve that determine the anomalies. These parts are assigned higher weights, and in the actual anomaly detection, the star is detected with83.35% anomalies on average, and the DW-GRU-Attention model is compared with the DW-LSTM model, and the detection result f1 is improved by 5.75% on average, while having less training time, thus providing valuable information and guidance for astronomical observation and research.

Long-term Evolution of Solar Activity and Prediction of the Following Solar Cycles

Solar activities have a great impact on modern high-tech systems,such as human aerospace activities,satellite communication and navigation,deep space exploration,and related scientific research.Therefore,studying the long-term evolution trend of solar activity and accurately predicting the future solar cycles are highly anticipated.Based on the wavelet transform and empirical function fitting of the longest recorded data of the annual average relative sunspot number(ASN)series of 323 yr to date,this work decisively verifies the existence of the solar century cycles and confirms that its length is about 104.0 yr,and the magnitude has a slightly increasing trend on the timescale of several hundred years.Based on this long-term evolutionary trend,we predict solar cycles 25 and26 by using phase similar prediction methods.As for solar cycle 25,its maximum ASN will be about146.7±33.40,obviously stronger than solar cycle 24.The peak year will occur approximately in 2024,and the period will be about 11±1 yr.As for solar cycle 26,it will start around 2030,and reach its maximum between2035 and 2036,with maximum ASN of about 133.0±3.200,and period of about 10 yr.

Toward a Direct Measurement of the Cosmic Acceleration:The Pilot Observation of HI 21 cm Absorption Line at FAST

This study presents results on detecting neutral atomic hydrogen(H I)21 cm absorption in the spectrum of PKS PKS1413+13 at redshift z=0.24670041.The observation was conducted by FAST,with a spectral resolution of10 Hz,using 10 minutes of observing time.The global spectral profile is examined by modeling the absorption line using a single Gaussian function with a resolution of 10 kHz within a 2 MHz bandwidth.The goal is to determine the rate of the latest cosmic acceleration by directly measuring the redshift evolution of the H I 21 cm absorption line with Hubble flow toward a common background quasar over a decade or longer time span.This will serve as a detectable signal generated by the accelerated expansion of the Universe at redshift z<1,referred to as redshift drift z(5)or the SL effect.The measured H I gas column density in this DLA system is approximately equivalent to the initial observation value,considering uncertainties of the spin temperature of a spiral host galaxy.The high signal-to-noise ratio of 57,obtained at a 10 kHz resolution,strongly supports the feasibility of using the H I 21 cm absorption line in DLA systems to accurately measure the redshift drift rate at a precision level of around 10~(-10)per decade.

Close Major-merger Pairs at z=0: Star-forming Galaxies with Pseudobulges

We present a study of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) with pseudobulges (bulges with Sérsic index n<2) in a loca close major-merger galaxy pair sample (H-KPAIR).With data from new aperture photometries in the optical and near-infrared bands (aperture size of 7 kpc) and from the literature,we find that the mean Age of central stellar populations in Spirals with pseudobulges is consistent with that of disky galaxies and is nearly constant against the bulge-to-total ratio (B/T).Paired Spirals have a slightly lower fraction of pure disk galaxies (B/T≤0.1) than their counterparts in the control sample.Compared to SFGs with classical bulges,those with pseudobulges have a higher (>2σ) mean of specific star formation rate (sSFR) enhancement (sSFR_(enh)=0.33±0.07 versus sSFR_(enh)=0.12±0.06) and broader scatter (by~1 dex).The eight SFGs that have the highest sSFR_(enh)in the sample all have pseudobulges.A majority (69%) of paired SFGs with strong enhancement (having sSFR more than5 times the median of the control galaxies) have pseudobulges.The Spitzer data show that the pseudobulges in these galaxies are tightly linked to nuclear/circum-nuclear starbursts.Pseudobulge SFGs in S+S and in S+E pairs have significantly (>3σ) different sSFR enhancement,with the means of sSFR_(enh)=0.45±0.08 and-0.04±0.11respectively.We find a decrease in the sSFR enhancements with the density of the environment for SFGs with pseudobulges.Since a high fraction (5/11) of pseudobulge SFGs in S+E pairs are in rich groups/clusters (loca density N_(1Mpc)≥7),the dense environment might be the cause for their low s SFR_(enh).

Morphological Classification of Infrared Galaxies Based on WISE

This study introduces a novel convolutional neural network,the WISE Galaxy Classification Network(WGC),for classifying spiral and elliptical galaxies using Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer(WISE)images.WGC attains an accuracy of 89.03%,surpassing the combined use of K-means or SVM with the Color-Color method in more accurately identifying galaxy morphologies.The enhanced variant,WGC_mag,integrates magnitude parameters with image features,further boosting the accuracy to 89.89%.The research also delves into the criteria for galaxy classification,discovering that WGC primarily categorizes dust-rich images as elliptical galaxies,corresponding to their lower star formation rates,and classifies less dusty images as spiral galaxies.The paper explores the consistency and complementarity of WISE infrared images with SDSS optical images in galaxy morphology classification.The SDSS Galaxy Classification Network(SGC),trained on SDSS images,achieved an accuracy of 94.64%.The accuracy reached 99.30% when predictions from SGC and WGC were consistent.Leveraging the complementarity of features in WISE and SDSS images,a novel variant of a classifier,namely the Multi-band Galaxy Morphology Integrated Classifier,has been developed.This classifier elevates the overall prediction accuracy to 95.39%.Lastly,the versatility of WGC was validated in other data sets.On the HyperLEDA data set,the distinction between elliptical galaxies and Sc,Scd and Sd spiral galaxies was most pronounced,achieving an accuracy of 90%,surpassing the classification results of the Galaxy Zoo 2 labeled WISE data set.This research not only demonstrates the effectiveness of WISE images in galaxy morphology classification but also represents an attempt to integrate multi-band astronomical data to enhance understanding of galaxy structures and evolution.

Low Surface Brightness Galaxies Selected by Different Model Fitting

We present a study of low surface brightness galaxies(LSBGs) selected by fitting the images for all the galaxies inα.40 SDSS DR7 sample with two kinds of single-component models and two kinds of two-component models(disk+bulge):single exponential,single sersic,exponential+deVaucular(exp+deV),and exponential+sérsic(exp+ser).Under the criteria of the B band disk central surface brightness μ_(0,disk)(B)≥22.5 mag arcsec^(-2) and the axis ratio b/a> 0.3,we selected four none-edge-on LSBG samples from each of the models which contain 1105,1038,207,and 75 galaxies,respectively.There are 756 galaxies in common between LSBGs selected by exponential and sersic models,corresponding to 68.42% of LSBGs selected by the exponential model and 72.83% of LSBGs selected by the sersic model,the rest of the discrepancy is due to the difference in obtaining μ_(0) between the exponential and sersic models.Based on the fitting,in the range of 0.5≤n≤1.5,the relation of μ_(0) from two models can be written as μ_(0,sérsic)-μ_(0,exp)=-1.34(n-1).The LSBGs selected by disk+bulge models(LSBG_(2)comps) are more massive than LSBGs selected by single-component models(LSBG_1comp),and also show a larger disk component.Though the bulges in the majority of our LSBG_(2)comps are not prominent,more than 60% of our LSBG_(2)comps will not be selected if we adopt a single-component model only.We also identified 31 giant low surface brightness galaxies(gLSBGs) from LSBG_(2)comps.They are located at the same region in the color-magnitude diagram as other gLSBGs.After we compared different criteria of gLSBGs selection,we find that for gas-rich LSBGs,M_(*)> 10^(10)M_⊙ is the best to distinguish between gLSBGs and normal LSBGs with bulge.

Four Late-type Galaxies with Double Radio Lobes and Properties of Such Galaxies

The triggering mechanism for radio lobes from late-type galaxies is not fully understood.More samples are desired for a thorough investigation and statistics.By utilizing the optical data from the newly released Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument imaging surveys and the radio sources from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey and the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-centimeter,we identify four Late-type Galaxies with double Radio Lobes(La GRLs):J0217-3645,J0947+6220,J1412+3723 and J1736+5108.Including previously known La GRLs,we confirm the correlation between radio power P_(1.4GHz)and stellar mass M_(*)of host galaxies.Most(25/35)La GRLs belong to the blue cloud galaxies,while the newly identified cases in this work are located within the region of the red sequence.We find a clear correlation between the differential radio power,i.e.,the offset from the P_(1.4GHz)-M_(*)relation,and the galaxy color,indicating that bluer galaxies at a fixed M_(*)tend to host more powerful radio lobes.Furthermore,the majority(31/36)of La GRLs are either located in a galaxy group or displaying a disturbed morphology.We suggest that all of the galaxy mass,color and surrounding environment could play important roles in triggering radio lobes in late-type galaxies.

Dynamical Dark Energy in Light of Cosmic Distance Measurements.Ⅰ.A Demonstration Using Simulated Datasets

We develop methods to extract key dark energy information from cosmic distance measurements including the BAO scales and supernova(SN) luminosity distances.Demonstrated using simulated data sets of the complete DESI,LSST and Roman surveys designed for BAO and SN distance measurements,we show that using our method,the dynamical behavior of the energy,pressure,equation of state(with its time derivative) of dark energy and the cosmic deceleration function can all be accurately recovered from high-quality data,which allows for robust diagnostic tests for dark energy models.