Fixing the reference frame for PPMXL proper motions using extragalactic sources

We quantify and correct systematic errors in PPMXL proper motions using extragalactic sources from the first two LAMOST data releases and the Vbron-Cetty ＆ Vebron Catalog of Quasars. Although the majority of the sources are from the Veron catalog, LAMOST makes important contributions in regions that are not well-sampled by previous catalogs, particularly at low Galactic latitudes and in the south Galactic cap. We show that quasars in PPMXL have measurable and significant proper motions, which reflect the systematic zero-point offsets present in the catalog. We confirm the global proper motion shifts seen by Wu et al., and additionally find smaller-scale fluctuations of the QSO-derived corrections to an absolute frame. We average the proper motions of 158 106 extragalactic objects in bins of 3° ×3° and present a table of proper motion corrections.

Galactic Kinematics Derived From Hipparcos Proper Motions

Analyzing Hipparcos proper motions of 1352 O B5 stars, we have found a clear stellar warping motion that is a systematic rotation +3 8±1 1 kms -1 kpc -1 of stars about the axis pointing to the galactic center in the sense of increasing the inclination of the HI warp, and a remarkably large galactic rotation of (V 0) O-B5 = 268 7 ± 11 9kms -1 , compared with the IAU recommendation (V 0 = 220 ± 20kms -1 ), given the galactocentric distance of the sun R 0 = 8 5kpc. Combining Hipparcos proper motions and the radial velocity data, we have then studied the kinematics for 151 classical cepheids. The results show a contracting motion of the Galaxy in the solar neibourhood, V θ/θ/R =-2 60 ± 1 07kms -1 kps -1 , which is along the solar circle. In the present paper, we have also analyzed proper motions of 21000 K-M giants, and again we found a large galactic rotation (V 0) K-M = 252 6±9 5kms -1 .

Determination of the Proper Motions and Membership of the Globular Cluster M3 and of its Orbit in the Galaxy

We examine 14 plates of the globular cluster M3 (NGC 5272) taken with the 40 cm refractor at the Sheshan station of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory. The plates span over a period of about 77 years. The positions and absolute proper motions of eight stars in the Hipparcos Catalogue and of 49 stars in the Tycho-2 Catalogue are used as the reference frame. The astrometric reduction is made with the central overlapping principle. The absolute proper motions of 534 stars in a region of about 100' × 100' around the cluster are measured. With the new proper motion data the membership probabilities of the stars are determined. The average absolute proper motion obtained for the cluster is -0.06±0.30 mas yr-1 in R.A. and -2.6±0.30 mas yr-1 in Decl. By combining this result with the known distance and radial velocity of the cluster, we also obtained the Galactic orbit of M3 for a chosen three-component Galactic potential.

The Application of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor with Small Electrical Time Constant in Fiber Positioner

With the development of cutting-edge multi-object spectrographs,fiber positioners located in the focal plane are being scaled down in size,and miniature hollow-cup Permanent Magnet motors are now being considered as a suitable replacement for Faulhaber Precistep stepper motors.However,the small electrical time constant of such coreless motors poses a challenge,as the problem of severe commutation torque ripple in a fiber positioner running a position loop has been tricky.To overcome this challenge,it is advised to increase the Pulse Width Modulation(PWM)frequency as much as possible to mitigate the effects of the current fluctuation.This must be done while ensuring adequate resolution of the PWM generator.By employing a voltage open-loop field-oriented control based on a modulation frequency of 1 MHz,the drive current only costs 25 m A under a 3.3 V power supply.The sine degree of phase current is immaculate,and the repeat positioning accuracy can reach 2μm.Moreover,it is possible to further shrink the bill of devices and the layout area of the Printed Circuit Board,especially in sizesensitive applications.This device has been developed under the new generation of The Large Sky Area MultiObject Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope.

Improved proper motion determinations for 15 open clusters based on the UCAC4 catalog

The proper motions of 15 nearby（d 〈 1 kpc） open clusters（OCs） were recalculated using data from the UCAC4 catalog. Only evolved or main sequence stars inside a certain radius from the center of the cluster were used. The results significantly differ from the ones presented by Dias et al.（2014）. This could be explained by a different approach in which we take the field star contamination into account. The present work aims to emphasize the importance of applying photometric criteria for the calculation of OC proper motions.

The Absolute Proper Motion of M3 and Its Galactic Orbit

We have obtained the absolute proper motion of globular cluster M3 from measurements of 14 plates taken with the 40cm refractor at Sheshan station of Shanghai observatory, spanning epoch is about 80 years. The positions and absolute proper motions of 24 stars in ACT catalogue are used as the reference frame. The reduction was made with the central overlapping principle. The absolute proper motions of 534 stars in the region of about 1° 5×1° 5 around the cluster M3 are determined. With the new data of proper motions, the membership probabilities of the stars are determined. The mean absolute proper motions for the cluster of -0 3±0 3 mas/yr in R.A. and -3 1±0 3 mas/yr in Dec. were obtained.Combining our results with the known distance and radial velocity of the cluster, we obtained its space motions and Galactic orbits in two different three component Galactic potentials.

New open clusters found by manual mining of data based on Gaia DR2

The physical nature of a series of 20 new open clusters is confirmed employing existing data on putative star members,mainly from the second Gaia Data Release(DR2).The clusters were discovered as overdensities of stars by visual inspection of either photographic DSS plates or proper motion plots of random source fields.The reported objects are not present in the most comprehensive or recent catalogs of stellar clusters and associations.For all of them,clumps of comoving stars are revealed in the proper motion space.The parallaxes of the clumped stars are compatible with the real existence of open clusters over narrow ranges of distances.Surface density calculations,free of most noise from non-member sources,allow differentiating a cluster core and an extended cluster corona in some instances.Color-magnitude diagrams generally show a definite main sequence that allows confirmation of the physical existence of the clusters and some of their characteristics.Two of the new clusters seem to form a double system with a common origin.Several of the new clusters challenge the claim of near completeness of the known OC population in the distance range from 1.0 to 1.8 kpc from the Sun(Kharchenko et al.).

Review Article: Resonant Families of Periodic Orbits in the Restricted Three-body Problem

The restricted three-body problem(RTBP) is a fundamental model in celestial mechanics.Periodic orbits in the synodic frame play a very important role in understanding the dynamics of the RTBP model.Most of these periodic orbits,when interpreted in the sidereal frame,are actually resonant periodic orbits.As a result,numerical computation of the periodic orbits is also one approach for researchers to understand the orbital resonances of the three-body problem.Extensive studies have been carried out on this topic,concerning either the circular case or the elliptic case of this model.In this paper,we make a brief review of the history and current status of the studies on resonant periodic orbits in the RTBP model.Starting from the unperturbed two-body problem,we organize the review paper by the two cases of this model—the circular restricted three-body problem and the elliptic restricted three-body problem.

Quasars in the Galactic Anti-Center Area from LAMOST DR3

Abstract We present a sample of quasars discovered in an area near the Galactic Anti-Center covering 150°≤l≤ 210° and ｜b｜ ≤ 30°, based on LAMOST Data Release 3 （DR3）. This sample contains 151 spectroscopically confirmed quasars. Among them 80 are newly discovered with LAMOST. All these quasars are very bright, with i magnitudes peaking around 17.5 mag. All the new quasars were discovered serendipitously from objects that were originally targeted with LAMOST as stars having bluer colors, except for a few candidates targeted as variable, young stellar objects. This bright quasar sample at low Galactic latitudes will help fill the gap in the spatial distribution of known quasars near the Galactic disk that are used to construct an astrometric reference frame for the purpose of accurate proper motion measurements that can be applied to, for example, Gala. They are also excellent tracers to probe the kinematics and chemistry of the interstellar medium in the Milky Way disk and halo via absorption line spectroscopy.

An orbital motion study of globular cluster NGC6205

The positions and absolute proper motions of 264 stars in the field of about 70′ x 70′ around the globular cluster NGC6205 were determined. In the astrometric reduction, three early and three late epoch plates taken with the 40-cm refractor at Shensan, Shanghai, China, were used, with the epoch span of 73 a. The reduction was done using the central overlapping method, with 5 Hipparcos stars and 38 Tycho-2 stars as reference stars. Based on the reduced data of proper motion, the membership probabilities of the sample stars were determined. An absolute proper motion of the cluster of(1.49±0.36)mas a-1 in R.A. and (3.06±0.35)mas a-1 in Decl. was obtained. From this proper motion, together with distance and radial velocity data, we derived the space motion of NGC6205 and the orbit of the cluster in the Galaxy via numerical integration.