Related papers: Re-determining the Galactic spiral density wave pa…
As part of the Spaghetti Project Survey (SPS) we have detected a concentration of giant stars well above expectations for a smooth halo model. The position (l~350, b~50) and distance (~50 kpc) of this concentration match those of the…
The scale radius of dark matter halos is a critical parameter for specifying the density distribution of dark matter, and is therefore a fundamental parameter for modeling galaxies. We develop here a novel, observationally motivated probe…
We assess the practicality of computing the distance to stellar streams in our Galaxy, using the method of Galactic parallax suggested by Eyre & Binney (2009). We find that the uncertainty in Galactic parallax is dependent upon the specific…
We study how well the complex gas velocity fields induced by massive spiral arms are modelled by the hydrodynamical simulations we used to constrain the dark matter fraction in nearby spiral galaxies (Kranz et al. 2001, 2003). More…
We parametrized the total structure of the Galaxy in cylindrical coordinates by radial and vertical exponentials up to z=10 kpc, covering thin disc, thick disc, and the inner spheroid. However, we let the scaleheight and scalelength to be a…
The Hypervelocity Star survey presents the currently largest sample of radial velocity measurements of halo stars out to 80 kpc. We apply spherical Jeans modeling to these data in order to derive the mass profile of the Galaxy. We restrict…
Over the past decade, the BeSSeL Survey and the VERA project have measured trigonometric parallaxes to approximately 250 massive, young stars using VLBI techniques. These sources trace spiral arms over nearly half of the Milky Way. What is…
We examine the idea that dynamical parameters can be estimated by identifying locations in the solar neighbourhood where simulated velocity distributions match the observed local distribution. Here, the dynamical influence of both the…
We identify a large sample of isolated bright galaxies and their fainter satellites in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS). We analyse the dynamics of ensembles of these galaxies selected according to luminosity and morphological type…
The rich absorption spectra of Sun-like stars are enticing probes for variations in the fine-structure constant, $\alpha$, which gauges the strength of electromagnetism. While individual line wavelengths are sensitive to $\alpha$, they are…
We report the discovery of 31 blue, short period, pulsators made using data taken as part of the Rapid Temporal Survey (RATS). We find they have periods between 51-83 mins and full-amplitudes between 0.05-0.65 mag. Using the…
We have made measurements to determine the parallax and proper motion of the three 6.7-GHz methanol masers G305.200$+$0.019, G305.202$+$0.208 and G305.208$+$0.206. The combined parallax is found to be 0.25$\pm $0.05 mas, corresponding to a…
The morphology of a disk galaxy is closely linked to its kinematic state. This is because density wave features are likely made of spontaneously-formed modes which are allowed to arise in the galactic resonant cavity of a particular basic…
We have used the Effelsberg 100-m radio telescope to conduct a 1400-MHz ($\lambda$ 21-cm) search for young and rapidly rotating radio pulsars along a 2 deg$^2$ strip of the northern Galactic plane defined by $28^{\circ} \leq l \leq…
Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we probe the halo mass distribution by studying the velocities of satellites orbiting isolated galaxies. In a subsample that covers 2500 sq. degrees on the sky, we detect about 3000 satellites with…
On the Large Phased Array (LPA) of Lebedev Physics Institute (LPI), a search for pulsars outside the Galaxy plane was carried out in a 300 sq. deg area. The search with a sensitivity 5-10 times better than that of previously conducted…
We report trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions for three water masers and one methanol maser obtained with the VLBA as part of the BeSSeL Survey. Incorporating these parallaxes with 3-dimensional kinematic distances, we refine the…
We analyse dispersion measure (DM) variations in six years of radio observations of more than 160 young pulsars, all gamma ray candidates for the Fermi gamma ray telescope mostly located close to the Galactic plane. DMs were fit across 256…
We present results from a detailed dynamical analysis of five high surface brightness, late type spirals, studied with the aim to quantify the luminous-to-dark matter ratio inside their optical radii. The galaxies' stellar light…
We report on trigonometric parallax measurements for the Galactic star forming region G14.33-0.64 toward the Sagittarius spiral arm. We conducted multi-epoch phase-referencing observations of an H2O maser source in G14.33-0.64 with the…