No Arabic abstract
We present colour transformations for the conversion of the {em 2MASS} photometric system to the Johnson-Cousins $UBVRI$ system and further into the {em SDSS} $ugriz$ system. We have taken {em SDSS} $gri$ magnitudes of stars measured with the 2.5-m telescope from $SDSS$ Data Release 5 (DR5), and $BVRI$ and $JHK_{s}$ magnitudes from Stetsons catalogue and citet{Cu03}, respectively. We matched thousands of stars in the three photometric systems by their coordinates and obtained a homogeneous sample of 825 stars by the following constraints, which are not used in previous transformations: 1) the data are de-reddened, 2) giants are omitted, and 3) the sample stars selected are of the highest quality. We give metallicity, population type, and transformations dependent on two colours. The transformations provide absolute magnitude and distance determinations which can be used in space density evaluations at short distances where some or all of the {em SDSS} $ugriz$ magnitudes are saturated. The combination of these densities with those evaluated at larger distances using {em SDSS} $ugriz$ photometry will supply accurate Galactic model parameters, particularly the local space densities for each population.
We derive transformation equations between GALEX and UBV colours by using the reliable data of 556 stars. We present two sets of equations; as a function of (only) luminosity class, and as a function of both luminosity class and metallicity. The metallicities are provided from the literature, while the luminosity classes are determined by using the PARSEC mass tracks in this study. Small colour residuals and high squared correlation coefficients promise accurate derived colours. The application of the transformation equations to 70 stars with reliable data shows that the metallicity plays an important role in estimation of more accurate colours.
Template fits to observed galaxy fluxes allow calculation of K-corrections and
We carried out an optical polarimetric study in the direction of the RCW95 star forming region in order to probe the sky-projected magnetic field structure by using the distribution of linear polarization segments which seem to be well aligned with the more extended cloud component. A mean polarization angle of $theta=49.8^opm7.7^o$ was derived. Through the spectral dependence analysis of polarization it was possible to obtain the total-to-selective extinction ratio ($R_V$) by fitting the Serkowski function, resulting in a mean value of $R_V=2.93pm0.47$. The foreground polarization component was estimated and is in agreement with previous studies in this direction of the Galaxy. Further, near-infrared images from Vista Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey were collected to improve the study of the stellar population associated with the HII region. The Automated Stellar Cluster Analysis (ASteCA) algorithm was employed to derive structural parameters for two clusters in the region, and a set of PAdova and TRieste Stellar Evolution Code (PARSEC) isochrones was superimposed on the decontaminated colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) to estimate an age of about 3 Myr for both clusters. Finally, from the near-infrared photometry study combined with spectra obtained with the Ohio State Infrared Imager and Spectrometer (OSIRIS) mounted at the Southern Astrophysics Research Telescope (SOAR) we derived the spectral classification of the main ionizing sources in the clusters associated with IRAS 15408$-$5356 and IRAS 15412$-$5359, both objects classified as O4 V stars.
We present JHKs near-infrared CCD photometric study for the Galactic open clusters NGC 1641 and NGC 2394. These clusters have never been studied before, and we provide, for the first time, the cluster parameters; reddening, distance, metallicity and age. NGC 1641 is an old open cluster with age 1.6 +/- 0.2 Gyr, metallicity [Fe/H] = 0.0 +/- 0.2 dex, distance modulus (m-M)_0 = 10.4 +/- 0.3 mag (d = 1.2 +/- 0.2 kpc), and reddening E(B-V) = 0.10 +/- 0.05 mag. The parameters for the other old open cluster NGC 2394 are estimated to be age = 1.1 +/- 0.2 Gyr, [Fe/H] = 0.0 +/- 0.2 dex, (m-M)_0 = 9.1 +/- 0.4 mag (d = 660 +/- 120 pc), and E(B-V) = 0.05 +/- 0.10 mag. The metallicities and distance values for these two old open clusters are consistent with the relation between the metallicities and the Galactocentric distances of other old open clusters. We find the metallicity gradient of 53 old open clusters including NGC 1641 and NGC 2394 to be Delta [Fe/H]/Delta R_gc = -0.067 +/- 0.009 dex/kpc.
Based on a carefully constructed sample of dwarf stars, a new optical-near infrared photometric calibration to estimate the metallicity of late-type K and early-to-mid-type M dwarfs is presented. The calibration sample has two parts; the first part includes 18 M dwarfs with metallicities determined by high-resolution spectroscopy and the second part contains 49 dwarfs with metallicities obtained through moderate-resolution spectra. By applying this calibration to a large sample of around 1.3 million M dwarfs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Two-Micron All Sky Survey, the metallicity distribution of this sample is determined and compared with those of previous studies. Using photometric parallaxes, the Galactic heights of M dwarfs in the large sample are also estimated. Our results show that stars farther from the Galactic plane, on average, have lower metallicity, which can be attributed to the age-metallicity relation. A scarcity of metal-poor dwarf stars in the metallicity distribution relative to the Simple Closed Box Model indicates the existence of the M dwarf problem, similar to the previously known G and K dwarf problems. Several more complicated Galactic chemical evolution models which have been proposed to resolve the G and K dwarf problems are tested and it is shown that these models could, to some extent, mitigate the M dwarf problem as well.