In this Letter, we report the results of spectroscopic and photometric monitoring of the candidate luminous blue variable (LBV) WS1, which was discovered in 2011 through the detection of a mid-infrared circular shell and follow-up optical spectroscop
y of its central star. Our monitoring showed that WS1 brightened in the B, V and I bands by more than 1 mag during the last three years, while its spectrum revealed dramatic changes during the same time period, indicating that the star became much cooler. The light curve of WS1 demonstrates that the brightness of this star has reached maximum in 2013 December and then starts to decline. These findings unambiguously proved the LBV nature of WS1 and added one more member to the class of Galactic bona fide LBVs, bringing their number to sixteen (an updated census of these objects is provided).
We report the discovery of a circular mid-infrared shell around the emission-line star Wray 16-137 using archival data of the Spitzer Space Telescope. Follow-up optical spectroscopy of Wray 16-137 with the Southern African Large Telescope revealed a
rich emission spectrum typical of the classical luminous blue variables (LBVs) like P Cygni. Subsequent spectroscopic and photometric observations showed drastic changes in the spectrum and brightness during the last three years, meaning that Wray 16-137 currently undergoes an S Dor-like outburst. Namely, we found that the star has brightened by approx 1 mag in the V and I_c bands, while its spectrum became dominated by Fe ii lines. Taken together, our observations unambiguously show that Wray 16-137 is a new member of the family of Galactic bona fide LBVs.
We have developed a method to identify planetary nebula (PN) candidates in imaging data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). This method exploits the SDSS five-band sampling of emission lines in PN spectra, which results in a color signature disti
nct from that of other sources. Selection criteria based on this signature can be applied to nearby galaxies in which PNe appear as point sources. We applied these criteria to the whole area of M31 as scanned by the SDSS, selecting 167 PN candidates that are located in the outer regions of M31. The spectra of 80 selected candidates were then observed with the 2.2m telescope at Calar Alto Observatory. These observations and cross-checks with literature data show that our method has a selection rate efficiency of about 90%, but the efficiency is different for the different groups of PNe candidates. In the outer regions of M31, PNe trace different well-known morphological features like the Northern Spur, the NGC205 Loop, the G1 Clump, etc. In general, the distribution of PNe in the outer region 8<R<20 kpc along the minor axis shows the extended disk - a rotationally supported low surface brightness structure with an exponential scale length of 3.21+/-0.14 kpc and a total mass of ~10^10 M_{sun}, which is equivalent to the mass of M33. We report the discovery of three PN candidates with projected locations in the center of Andromeda NE, a very low surface brightness giant stellar structure in the outer halo of M31. Two of the PNe were spectroscopically confirmed as genuine PNe. These two PNe are located at projected distances along the major axis of ~48 Kpc and ~41 Kpc from the center of M31 and are the most distant PNe in M31 found up to now.
We report the discovery of two new Galactic candidate luminous blue variable (cLBV) stars via detection of circular shells (typical of known confirmed and cLBVs) and follow-up spectroscopy of their central stars. The shells were detected at 22 um in
the archival data of the Mid-Infrared All Sky Survey carried out with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Follow-up optical spectroscopy of the central stars of the shells conducted with the renewed Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) showed that their spectra are very similar to those of the well-known LBVs P Cygni and AG Car, and the recently discovered cLBV MN112, which implies the LBV classification for these stars as well. The LBV classification of both stars is supported by detection of their significant photometric variability: one of them brightened in the R- and I-bands by 0.68pm0.10 mag and 0.61pm0.04 mag, respectively, during the last 13-18 years, while the second one (known as Hen 3-1383) varies its B,V,R,I and K_s brightnesses by simeq 0.5-0.9 mag on time-scales from 10 days to decades. We also found significant changes in the spectrum of Hen 3-1383 on a timescale of simeq 3 months, which provides additional support for the LBV classification of this star. Further spectrophotometric monitoring of both stars is required to firmly prove their LBV status. We discuss a connection between the location of massive stars in the field and their fast rotation, and suggest that the LBV activity of the newly discovered cLBVs might be directly related to their possible runaway status.
In the framework of the study of the evolutionary status of galaxies in the nearby Lynx-Cancer void, we present the results of the SAO RAS 6-m telescope spectroscopy for 20 objects in this region. The principal faint line [OIII]4363A, used to determi
ne the electron temperature and oxygen abundance (O/H) by the classical method, is clearly detected in only about 2/3 of the studied objects. For the remaining galaxies this line is either faint or undetected. To obtain the oxygen abundances in these galaxies we as well apply the semi-empirical method by Izotov and Thuan, and/or the empirical methods of Pilyugin et al., which are only employing the intensities of sufficiently strong lines. We also present our O/H measurements for 22 Lynx-Cancer void galaxies, for which the suitable Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectra are available. In total, we present the combined O/H data for 48 Lynx-Cancer void galaxies, including the data adopted from the literature and our own earlier results. We make a comparison of their locations on the (O/H)-M_B diagram with those of the dwarf galaxies of the Local Volume in the regions with denser environment. We infer that the majority of galaxies from this void on the average reveal an about 30% lower metallicity. In addition, a substantial fraction (not less than 10%) of the void dwarf galaxies have a much larger O/H deficiency (up to a factor of 5). Most of them belong to the tiny group of objects with the gas metallicity Z < Zo/20 or 12+log(O/H) <~7.35. The surface density of very metal-poor galaxies (Z < Zo/10} in this region of the sky is 2--2.5 times higher than that, derived from the emission-line galaxy samples in the Hamburg-SAO and the SDSS surveys. We discuss possible implications of these results for the galaxy evolution models.
The study of ionized gas morphology and kinematics in nine eXtremely Metal-Deficient (XMD) galaxies with the scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer on the SAO 6-m telescope is presented. Some of these very rare objects (with currently known range of O/H
of 7.12 < 12+log(O/H) < 7.65, or Zo/35 < Z < Zo/10) are believed to be the best proxies of `young low-mass galaxies in the high-redshift Universe. One of the main goals of this study is to look for possible evidence of star formation (SF) activity induced by external perturbations. Recent results from HI mapping of a small subsample of XMD star-forming galaxies provided confident evidence for the important role of interaction-induced SF. Our observations provide complementary or new information that the great majority of the studied XMD dwarfs have strongly disturbed gas morphology and kinematics or the presence of detached components. We approximate the observed velocity fields by simple models of a rotating tilted thin disc, which allow us the robust detection of non-circular gas motions. These data, in turn, indicate the important role of current/recent interactions and mergers in the observed enhanced star formation. As a by-product of our observations, we obtained data for two LSB dwarf galaxies: Anon J012544+075957 that is a companion of the merger system UGC 993, and SAO 0822+3545 which shows off-centre, asymmetric, low SFR star-forming regions, likely induced by the interaction with the companion XMD dwarf HS 0822+3542.
We report the discovery of a new Galactic candidate Luminous Blue Variable (cLBV) via detection of an infrared circular nebula and follow-up spectroscopy of its central star. The nebula, MN112, is one of many dozens of circular nebulae detected at $2
4 mu$m in the {it Spitzer Space Telescope} archival data, whose morphology is similar to that of nebulae associated with known (c)LBVs and related evolved massive stars. Specifically, the core-halo morphology of MN112 bears a striking resemblance to the circumstellar nebula associated with the Galactic cLBV GAL 079.29+00.46, which suggests that both nebulae might have a similar origin and that the central star of MN112 is a LBV. The spectroscopy of the central star showed that its spectrum is almost identical to that of the bona fide LBV P Cygni, which also supports the LBV classification of the object. To further constrain the nature of MN112, we searched for signatures of possible high-amplitude ($ga 1$ mag) photometric variability of the central star using archival and newly obtained photometric data covering a 45 year period. We found that the B magnitude of the star was constant ($simeq$ 17.1$pm$0.3 mag) over this period, while in the I band the star brightened by $simeq 0.4$ mag during the last 17 years. Although the non-detection of large photometric variability leads us to use the prefix `candidate in the classification of MN112, we remind that the long-term photometric stability is not unusual for genuine LBVs and that the brightness of P Cygni remains relatively stable during the last three centuries.
We present the results of observations of the very low surface brightness (VLSB) dwarf galaxy SDSS J092609.45+334304.1 with extreme parameters which indicate its unevolved status. Namely, its value of O/H, derived as an average of that in two adjacen
t HII regions at the NE edge of the disc, corresponds to the parameter 12+log(O/H)=7.12+-0.02, which is amongst two lowest known. The total HI flux measurement obtained with the Nancay Radio Telescope and the photometric results imply that the galaxy ratio M(HI)/L_B ~3.0, is among the top known in the Local Volume. The galaxy is situated in the region of a nearby underdense region known as the Lynx-Cancer void, where other, unevolved galaxies, including DDO 68, HS 0832+3542 and SAO 0822+3545, are known to be present. The total mass of this almost edge-on VLSB galaxy is ~8.3 times larger than its baryonic mass, implying the dynamical dominance of Dark Matter (DM) halo. The (u-g), (g-r) colours of outer parts of this galaxy are consistent with the ages of its main stellar population of 1--3 Gyr. Thanks to the galaxy isolation, the small effect of current or recent star formation (SF), its proximity and rather large HI flux (~2.5 Jy km/s), this VLSB dwarf is a good laboratory for the detailed study of DM halo properties through HI kinematics and the star formation processes in very metal-poor low surface density environment. This finding, along with the discovery of other unusual dwarf galaxies in this void, provides evidence for the relation between galaxy evolution and its very low-density environment for the baryonic mass range of 10^{8} to 10^{9} Mo. This relation seems to be consistent with that expected in the LambdaCDM models of galaxy and structure formation.
We present the results of the first spectroscopic observations of two planetary nebula (PN) candidates in the Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy IC10. Using several spectral classification diagrams we show that the brightest PN candidate (PN7) is not
a PN, but rather a compact HII region consisting of two components with low electron number densities. After the rejection of this PN candidate, the IC10 planetary nebula luminosity function cutoff becomes very close to the standard value. With the compiled spectroscopic data for a large number of extragalactic PNe, we analyse a series of diagnostic diagrams to generate quantitative criteria for separating PNe from unresolved HII regions. We show that, with the help of the diagnostic diagrams and the derived set of criteria, PNe can be distinguished from HII regions with an efficiency of ~99.6%. With the obtained spectroscopic data we confirm that another, 1.7 mag fainter PN candidate (PN9) is a genuine PN. We argue that, based on all currently available PNe data, IC10 is located at a distance 725+63-33 kpc (distance modulus (m-M) = 24.30+0.18-0.10).
