Related papers: Reconsidering the galactic coordinate system
In the first section of these lectures I outline the classical framework of the Hubble classification system. Because of space limitations I will focus on points of controversy concerning the physical interpretation of the Hubble sequence,…
We present results of a study of the Galactic hard X-ray and soft gamma-ray background emission performed with the IBIS telescope aboard the INTEGRAL observatory using data obtained over more than 20 years of operations. The study of the…
Optical positions from the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey have been compared in detail with accurate radio positions that define the second realisation of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF2). The comparison was limited to the IIIaJ…
Some years ago we proposed a new approach for the analysis of galaxy and cluster correlations based on the concepts and methods of modern statistical physics. This led to the surprising result that galaxy correlations are fractal and not…
Over the past 2 decades, wide-field photometric surveys in optical and infrared domains reached a nearly all-sky coverage thanks to numerous observational facilities operating in both hemispheres. However, subtle differences among exact…
We report on the first observation of cosmologically distant field galaxies with an high order Adaptive Optics (AO) system on an 8-10 meter class telescope. Two galaxies were observed at 1.6 microns at an angular resolution as high as 50…
The entire Kazarian galaxies (KG) catalog is presented which combines extensive new measurements of their optical parameters with a literature and database search. The measurements were made using images extracted from the STScI Digitized…
(Abridged) Galaxies are observed to be simple systems but the standard model of cosmology (SMoC) implies a haphazard merger history driven by dynamical friction on dark matter halos. The SMoC is tested here with the results that the dual…
The UKIDSS Galactic Plane Survey (GPS) is one of the five near infrared Public Legacy Surveys that are being undertaken by the UKIDSS consortium, using the Wide Field Camera on the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope. It is surveying 1868…
A model is introduced, in which the irregularity spectrum of the Galactic magnetic field beyond the dissipation length scale is first a Kolmogorov spectrum $k^{-5/3}$ at small scales $\lambda \, = \, 2 \pi/k$ with $k$ the wave-number, then…
Reference systems and frames are crucial for high precision absolute astrometric work, and their foundations must be well-defined. The current frame, the International Celestial Reference Frame, will be discussed: its history, the use of…
We give an update of the observations and analysis of G2 - the gaseous red emission-line object that is on a very eccentric orbit around the Galaxy's central black hole and predicted to come within 2400 Rs in early 2014. During 2013, the…
The use of four Lagrange points of the Sun/Earth system for fundamental physics experiments in space is presented. L1, L2, L4 and L5 rotating rigidly together with the Earth form a natural reference frame at the scale of the inner solar…
We revisit the idea that the Galactic center (GC) is the dominant source of Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), based on a series of new observational evidence. A unified model is proposed to explain the new phenomena of GCRs and $\gamma$-rays…
We show that the spatial correlation of the intrinsic alignments (IAs) of galaxies, measured in galaxy redshift surveys, offers a precision route to improve the geometrical and dynamical constraints on cosmology. The IA has been treated as…
This work introduces a new fitting formalism for isophotes which enables more accurate modelling of galaxies with non-elliptical shapes, such as disk galaxies viewed edge-on or galaxies with X-shaped/peanut bulges. Within this scheme, the…
The extreme extinction ($A_V\sim30$\,mag) and its variation on arc-second scales towards the Galactic centre hamper the study of its stars. Their analysis is restricted to the near infrared (NIR) regime, where the extinction curve can be…
Context. Traditionally, Globular Clusters (GCs) have been assumed to be quasi-relaxed non-rotating systems, characterized by spherical symmetry and orbital isotropy. However, in recent years, a growing set of observational evidence is…
FRIIb radio galaxies provide a tool to determine the coordinate distance to sources out to redshifts of two. The coordinate distance depends on the present values of global cosmological parameters, quintessence, and the equation of state of…
We present a novel method combining existing cosmological simulations and orbital integration to study the hierarchical assembly of globular cluster (GC) populations in the Milky Way (MW). Our method models the growth and evolution of GC…