Related papers: A Giant Ring on the sky

We study the morphology of the central region of a sample of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and a ``control'' sample of normal galaxies using archival observations of the WFPC2 instrument onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). We use the…

We analyze the randomness of the sky distribution of cosmic gamma-ray bursts. These events are associated with massive galaxies, spiral or elliptical, and therefore their positions should trace the large-scale structure, which, in turn,…

Polar-ring galaxies (PRGs) are fascinating systems in which the central object (typically, an early-type galaxy) is encircled by a large-scale ring of stars, gas, and dust with almost perpendicular spin. PRGs are rare objects and their…

We developed an algorithm to find and characterize gravitationally lensed galaxies (arcs) to perform a comparison of the observed and simulated arc abundance. Observations are from the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble…

We made use of the two latest sets of Rotational Measures (RMs) of extra-galactic radio sources, namely the NRAO VLA Sky Survey otation Measures Catalogue, and a compilation by Kronberg&Newton-McGee(2011), to infer the global structure of…

Throughout the Milky Way, molecular clouds typically appear filamentary, and mounting evidence indicates that this morphology plays an important role in star formation. What is not known is to what extent the dense filaments most closely…

We report high quality near-infrared spectroscopy of 12 ultra-luminous infrared galaxy mergers (ULIRGs). Our new VLT and Keck data provide ~0.5" resolution, stellar and gas kinematics of these galaxies most of which are compact systems in…

Direct imaging has confirmed the existence of substellar companions on wide orbits. To understand the formation and evolution mechanisms of these companions, the full population properties must be characterized. We aim at detecting giant…

Wide-field optical imaging surveys will contain tens of thousands of new strong gravitational lenses. Some of these will have new and unusual image configurations, and so will enable new applications: for example, systems with high image…

This work investigates the alignment of galactic spins with the cosmic web across cosmic time using the cosmological hydrodynamical simulation Horizon-AGN. The cosmic web structure is extracted via the persistent skeleton as implemented in…

We present a new empirical \(JHK\) absolute calibration of the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We use published data from the extensive \emph{Near-Infrared Synoptic Survey} containing 3.5 million…

(abridged) An object classified as a galaxy in on-line data bases and revealed on sky survey images as a distant ring galaxy is a rare case of polar ring galaxy where the ring is only slightly inclined to the equatorial plane of the central…

M giants selected from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) have been used to trace streams of tidal debris apparently associated with the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Sgr) that entirely encircle the Galaxy. While the Sgr M giants…

Two new ON supergiant spectra (bringing the total known to seven) and one new ONn giant (total of this class now eight) are presented; they have been discovered by the Galactic O-Star Spectroscopic Survey. These rare objects represent…

Using the cross-matched data of Gaia EDR3 and the 2MASS Point Source Catalog, a sample of RC stars with parallax accuracies better than 20% is identified and used to reveal the nearby spiral pattern traced by old stars. As shown in the…

Tunguska and Chelyabinsk impact events occurred inside a geographical area of only 3.4\% of the Earth's surface. Although two events hardly constitute a statistically significant demonstration of a geographical pattern of impacts, their…

One of the most interesting astronomical objects is the Galactic Center. We concentrate our discussion on a theoretical analysis of observational data of bright stars in the IR-band obtained with large telescopes. We also discuss the…

The ability of digital sky surveys to collect and store very large amounts of data provides completely new ways to study the local universe. Perhaps one of the most provocative observations reported with such tools is the asymmetry between…

We measure the photometric properties of 105 giant arcs that were identified in systematic searches for galaxy-cluster-scale strong lenses in the Second Red-Sequence Cluster Survey (RCS-2) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The…

We present the basic properties of three objects near the Galactic Plane - a large galaxy and two candidate globular clusters - discovered in the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) dataset. All were noted during spot-checks of the data…