Trigonometric Parallaxes of Massive Star Forming Regions: VI. Galactic Structure, Fundamental Parameters and Non-Circular Motions
M. J. Reid, K. M. Menten, X. W. Zheng, A. Brunthaler, L. Moscadelli, Y. Xu, B. Zhang, M. Sato, M. Honma, T. Hirota, K. Hachisuka, Y. K. Choi, G. A. Moellenbrock, A. Bartkiewicz
We are using the VLBA and the Japanese VERA project to measure trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of masers found in high-mass star-forming regions across the Milky Way. Early results from 18 sources locate several spiral arms. The Perseus spiral arm has a pitch angle of 16 +/- 3 degrees, which favors four rather than two spiral arms for the Galaxy. Combining positions, distances, proper motions, and radial velocities yields complete 3-dimensional kinematic information. We find that star forming regions on average are orbiting the Galaxy ~15 km/s slower than expected for circular orbits. By fitting the measurements to a model of the Galaxy, we estimate the distance to the Galactic center R_o = 8.4 +/- 0.6 kpc and a circular rotation speed Theta_o = 254 +/- 16 km/s. The ratio Theta_o/R_o can be determined to higher accuracy than either parameter individually, and we find it to be 30.3 +/- 0.9 km/s/kpc, in good agreement with the angular rotation rate determined from the proper motion of Sgr A*. The data favor a rotation curve for the Galaxy that is nearly flat or slightly rising with Galactocentric distance. Kinematic distances are generally too large, sometimes by factors greater than two; they can be brought into better agreement with the trigonometric parallaxes by increasing Theta_o/R_o from the IAU recommended value of 25.9 km/s/kpc to a value near 30 km/s/kpc. We offer a "revised" prescription for calculating kinematic distances and their uncertainties, as well as a new approach for defining Galactic coordinates. Finally, our estimates of Theta_o and To/R_o, when coupled with direct estimates of R_o, provide evidence that the rotation curve of the Milky Way is similar to that of the Andromeda galaxy, suggesting that the dark matter halos of these two dominant Local Group galaxy are comparably massive.
We report trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of water masers for 12 massive star forming regions in the Perseus spiral arm of the Milky Way as part of the Bar and Spiral Structure Legacy (BeSSeL) Survey. Combining our results with 14 parallax measurements in the literature, we estimate a pitch angle of 9.9 +/- 1.5 degrees for a section of the Perseus arm. The three-dimensional Galactic peculiar motions of these sources indicate that on average they are moving toward the Galactic center and slower than the Galactic rotation.
We report trigonometric parallaxes for three massive star forming regions, corresponding to distances of $2.34^{+0.13}_{-0.11}$ kpc for G12.89+0.49 (also known as IRAS 18089-1732),$1.98^{+0.14}_{-0.12}$ kpc for G15.03-0.68 (in the M17 region), and $8.0^{+4.0}_{-2.0}$ kpc for G27.36-0.16. Both G12.89+0.49 and G15.03-0.68 are located in the Carina-Sagittarius spiral arm.
We have measured trigonometric parallaxes for four water masers associated with distant massive young stars in the inner regions of the Galaxy using the VLBA as part of the BeSSeL Survey. G026.50$+$0.28. is located at the near end of the Galactic bar, perhaps at the origin of the Norma spiral arm. G020.77$-$0.05 is in the Galactic Center region and is likely associated with a far-side extension of the Scutum arm. G019.60$-$0.23 and G020.08$-$0.13 are likely associated and lie well past the Galactic Center. These sources appear to be in the Sagittarius spiral arm, but an association with the Pe…
We report measurements of trigonometric parallaxes for six high-mass star-forming regions in the Scutum spiral arm of the Milky Way as part of the BeSSeL Survey. Combining our measurements with 10 previous measurements from the BeSSeL Survey yields a total sample of 16 sources in the Scutum arm with trigonometric parallaxes in the Galactic longitude range from 5 deg to 32 deg. Assuming a logarithmic spiral model, we estimate a pitch angle of 19.8 (+/-3.1) deg for the Scutum arm, which is larger than pitch angles reported for other spiral arms. The high pitch angle of the arm may be due to the …
The parameters of the Galactic spiral wave are re-determined using a modified periodogram (spectral) analysis of the galactocentric radial velocities of 58 masers with known trigonometric parallaxes, proper motions, and line-of-site velocities. The masers span a wide range of galactocentric distances, $3<$R$<14$ kpc, which, combined with a large scatter of position angles $θ$ of these objects in the Galactic plane XY, required an accurate account of logarithmic dependence of spiral-wave perturbations on both galactocentric distance and position angle. A periodic signal was detected correspondi…
We report trigonometric parallaxes for water masers in the G012.88+0.48 region and in the massive star forming complex W33 (containing G012.68--0.18, G012.81--0.19, G012.90--0.24, G012.90--0.26), from the Bar and Spiral Structure Legacy (BeSSeL) survey using the Very Long Baseline Array. The parallax distances to all these masers are consistent with $2.40^{+0.17}_{-0.15}$ kpc, which locates the W33 complex and G012.88+0.48 in the Scutum spiral arm. Our results show that W33 is a single star forming complex at about two-thirds the kinematic distance of 3.7 kpc. The luminosity and mass of this r…
As part of the BeSSeL Survey, we report trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of molecular maser sources associated with 13 distant high mass star forming regions in the Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way. In particular, we obtain improved parallax distance estimates for three well studied regions: 1.9 +0.1/-0.1 kpc for M17, 5.3 +1.3/-0.9 kpc for W51, and 7.9 +0.9/-0.7 kpc for GAL 045.5+00.0. Peculiar motions for all but one source are less than 20 km/s. We fit a log-periodic spiral to the locations and estimate an average pitch angle of 7.2+-1.9 deg. We find that the section of the…
We report measurements of parallaxes and proper motions of ten high-mass star-forming regions in the Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way as part of the BeSSeL Survey with the VLBA. Combining these results with eight others from the literature, we investigated the structure and kinematics of the arm between Galactocentric azimuth around -2 and 65 deg. We found that the spiral pitch angle is 7.3 +- 1.5 deg; the arm's half-width, defined as the rms deviation from the fitted spiral, is around 0.2 kpc; and the nearest portion of the Sagittarius arm is 1.4 +- 0.2 kpc from the Sun. Unlike for adj…
We use the multi-epoch K$\rm _S$ band observations, covering a $\sim$5 years baseline to obtain milli and sub-milli arcsec precision astrometry for a sample of eighteen previously known high proper motion sources, including precise parallaxes for these sources for the first time. In this study we show the capability of the VVV project to measure high precision trigonometric parallaxes for very low mass stars (VLMS) up to distances of $\sim$250\,pc reaching farther than most other ground based surveys or space missions for these types of stars. Additionally, we used spectral energy distribution…
We present a new luminosity-colour relation based on trigonometric parallaxes for thin disc main-sequence stars in SDSS photometry. We matched stars from the newly reduced Hipparcos catalogue with the ones taken from 2MASS All-Sky Catalogue of Point Sources, and applied a series of constraints, i.e. relative parallax errors ($σ_π/π\leq0.05$), metallicity ($-0.30\leq[M/H]\leq0.20$ dex), age ($0\leq t \leq 10$ Gyr) and surface gravity ($\log g>4$), and obtained a sample of thin disc main-sequence stars. Then, we used our previous transformation equations (Bilir et al. 2008a) between SDSS and 2MA…
Classical Cepheids (CCs) are at the heart of the empirical extragalactic distance ladder. Milky Way CCs are the only stars of this class accessible to trigonometric parallax measurements. Until recently, the most accurate trigonometric parallaxes of Milky Way CCs were the HST/FGS measurements collected by Benedict et al. (2002, 2007) and HST/WFC3 measurements by Riess et al. (2018). Unfortunately, the second Gaia data release (GDR2) has not yet delivered reliable parallaxes for Galactic CCs, failing to replace the HST as the foundation of the Galactic calibrations of the Leavitt law. We aim at…
A history is given of the discovery between 1914 and 1935 of stars of intermediate luminosity between giants and dwarfs with spectral types between G0 to K3. The Mt Wilson spectroscopists identified about 90 such stars in their 1935 summary paper of spectroscopic absolute magnitudes for 4179 stars. Called "subgiants" by Strömberg, these 90 stars defined the group at the time. The position of the Mt Wilson subgiants in the HR diagram caused difficulties in comparisons of high weight trigonometric parallaxes being measured and with Russell's prevailing evolution proposal, and critics questioned …
Emission from the 6.7 GHz methanol maser transition is very strong, is relatively stable, has small internal motions, and is observed toward numerous massive star-forming regions in the Galaxy. Our goal is to perform high-precision astrometry using this maser transition to obtain accurate distances to their host regions. Eight strong masers were observed during five epochs of VLBI observations with the European VLBI Network between 2006 June, and 2008 March. We report trigonometric parallaxes for five star-forming regions, with accuracies as good as $\sim22 \mathrmμ$as. Distances to these sour…
We report a trigonometric parallax measurement with the Very Long Baseline Array for the water maser in the distant high-mass star-forming region G75.30+1.32. This source has a heliocentric distance of 9.25+-0.45 kpc, which places it in the Outer arm in the first Galactic quadrant. It lies 200 pc above the Galactic plane and is associated with a substantial HI enhancement at the border of a large molecular cloud. At a Galactocentric radius of 10.7 kpc, G75.30+1.32 is in a region of the Galaxy where the disk is significantly warped toward the North Galactic Pole. While the star-forming region h…
Trigonometric Parallaxes of Maser Sources toward the Far Side of the Milky Way
Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院紫金山天文台）；State Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy and Technology, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院紫金山天文台射电天文与技术重点实验室）；University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学）；Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院新疆天文台）
We report a trigonometric parallax of 12 GHz methanol masers associated with the massive star forming region G9.62+0.20, corresponding to a distance of 5.2+-0.6 kpc. With a local standard of rest velocity of about 2 km/s, the region's kinematic distances of 0.5 and 16 kpc differ greatly from the distance derived here. Our measurement of the peculiar motion of the star forming region shows a very large deviation from a circular Galactic orbit: 41 km/s radially outward from the Galactic center and 60 km/s counter to Galactic rotation. The combination of its radial velocity and distance places G9…
Spatial velocities of all currently known 28 masers having trigonometric parallaxes, proper motion and line-of-site velocities are reanalyzed using Bottlinger's equations. These masers are associated with 25 active star-forming regions and are located in the range of galactocentric distances 3<R<14 kpc. To determine the Galactic rotation parameters, we used the first three Taylor expansion terms of angular rotation velocity Ω at the galactocentric distance of the Sun R0=8 kpc. We obtained the following solutions: Ωo=-31.0 +/- 1.2 km/s/kpc, Ωo'=4.46 +/- 0.21 km/s/kpc^2, Ωo"=-0.876 +/- 0.067 km/…
We report four trigonometric parallaxes for high-mass star-forming regions within 4 kpc of the Galactic center. These measurements were made with the VLBA as part of the BeSSeL Survey. By associating these sources kinematically with large-scale features in CO and HI longitude-velocity diagrams, we begin to outline some major features of the inner Milky Way: the Connecting arm, the near and far 3 kpc arms, and the Norma arm. The Connecting arm in the first Galactic quadrant lies closer to the Galactic center than the far 3 kpc arm and is offset by the long-bar's major axis near its leading edge…
An updated model for the Perseus Spiral Arm from Trigonometric Parallax and 3-dimensional kinematic distances of distant massive stars
University of Tasmania（塔斯马尼亚大学）；International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, The University of Western Australia（西澳大利亚大学国际射电天文研究中心）；Nanjing University（南京大学）
The global survey of star clusters in the Milky Way (MWSC) is a comprehensive list of 3061 objects that provides, among other parameters, distances to clusters based on isochrone fitting. The Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) catalogue, which is a part of Gaia data release 1 (Gaia DR1), delivers accurate trigonometric parallax measurements for more than 2 million stars, including those in star clusters. We compare the open cluster photometric distance scale with the measurements given by the trigonometric parallaxes from TGAS to evaluate the consistency between these values. The average p…
We present accurate trigonometric parallaxes for 20 new members of the 25 pc white dwarf sample as part of the DENSE project (Discovery and Evalution of Nearby Stellar Embers, http://www.DenseProject.com). Previously, there were a total of 112 white dwarf systems with trigonometric parallaxes placing them within 25 pc and of these, 99 have trigonometric parallaxes known to better than 10%. Thus, the 20 new members presented in this work represent a 20% increase in the number of white dwarfs accurately known to be within 25 pc. In addition, we present updated parallaxes for seven known white dw…
We present absolute parallaxes and relative proper motions for the central stars of the planetary nebulae NGC 6853 (The Dumbbell), NGC 7293 (The Helix), Abell 31, and DeHt 5. This paper details our reduction and analysis using DeHt 5 as an example. We obtain these planetary nebula nuclei (PNNi) parallaxes with astrometric data from Fine Guidance Sensors FGS 1R and FGS 3, white-light interferometers on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Proper motions, spectral classifications and VJHKT_2M and DDO51 photometry of the stars comprising the astrometric reference frames provide spectrophotometric es…
Dynamical masses of YSOs with the VLBA: DYNAMO VLBA: Trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of YSOs in Orion
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie（马克斯·普朗克射电天文研究所）；Instituto de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México（墨西哥国立自治大学射电天文学与天体物理研究所）；Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Guanajuato（瓜纳华托大学天文学系）；Black Hole Initiative at Harvard University（哈佛大学黑洞倡议项目）；David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University（哈佛大学大卫·洛克菲勒拉丁美洲研究中心）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Florida（北佛罗里达大学物理与天文学系）；Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica（国家天体物理学、光学和电子学研究所）；Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo（圣保罗大学天文学、地球物理学和大气科学研究所）；National Radio Astronomy Observatory（美国国家无线电天文台）；Departament de Física Quàntica i Astrofísica (FQA), Universitat de Barcelona (UB)（巴塞罗那大学量子物理与天体物理学系）；Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona (UB)（巴塞罗那大学宇宙科学研究所）；Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire（赫特福德大学天体物理研究中心）
Context: Planetary Nebula distance scales often suffer for model dependent solutions. Model independent trigonometric parallaxes have been rare. Space based trigonometric parallaxes are now available for a larger sample using the second data release of GAIA. Aims: We aim to derive a high quality approach for selection criteria of trigonometric parallaxes for planetary nebulae and discuss possible caveats and restrictions in the use of this data release. Methods: A few hundred sources from previous distance scale surveys were manually cross identified with data from the second GAIA data release…
We report VLBA observations of 22 GHz H$_{2}$O and 43 GHz SiO masers toward the Mira variable RR Aql. By fitting the SiO maser emission to a circular ring, we estimate the absolute stellar position of RR Aql and find agreement with Gaia astrometry to within the joint uncertainty of $\approx1$ mas. Using the maser astrometry we measure a stellar parallax of 2.44 $\pm$ 0.07 mas, corresponding to a distance of 410$^{+12}_{-11}$ pc. The maser parallax deviates significantly from the Gaia EDR3 parallax of 1.95 $\pm$ 0.11 mas, indicating a $3.8σ$ tension between radio and optical measurements. This …
We compile and analyze ~200 trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of molecular masers associated with very young high-mass stars. These measurements strongly suggest that the Milky Way is a four-arm spiral. Fitting log-periodic spirals to the locations of the masers, allows us to significantly expand our view of the structure of the Milky Way. We present an updated model for its spiral structure and incorporate it into our previously published parallax-based distance-estimation program for sources associated with spiral arms. Modeling the three-dimensional space motions yields estimates …
In this paper we gauge the potentiality of Gaia in the distance scale calibration of planetary nebulae (PNe) by assessing the impact of DR1 parallaxes of central stars of Galactic PNe (CSPNe) against known physical relations. For selected PNe targets with state-of-the-art data on angular sizes and fluxes, we derive the distance-dependent parameters of the classical distance scales, i.e., physical radii and ionized masses, from DR1 parallaxes; we propagate the uncertainties in the estimated quantities and evaluate their statistical properties in the presence of large relative parallax errors; w…
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 now needed are accurate distances to such stars which are well past the Galactic center. Here we analyze the potential for addressing this need by combining line-of-sight velocities and proper motions to yield 3D kinematic distance estimates. For sources within about 10 kpc of the Sun, significant systematic uncertainties can occur, and trigonometric paralla…
Over 100 trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions for masers associated with young, high-mass stars have been measured with the BeSSeL Survey, a VLBA key science project, the EVN, and the Japanese VERA project. These measurements provide strong evidence for the existence of spiral arms in the Milky Way, accurately locating many arm segments and yielding spiral pitch angles ranging from 7 to 20 degrees. The widths of spiral arms increase with distance from the Galactic center. Fitting axially symmetric models of the Milky Way with the 3-D position and velocity information and conservative pr…
We report on the measurement of the trigonometric parallaxes of 1612 MHz hydroxyl masers around two asymptotic giant branch stars, WX Psc and OH138.0+7.2, using the NRAO Very Long Baseline Array with in-beam phase referencing calibration. We obtained a 3-sigma upper limit of <=5.3 mas on the parallax of WX Psc, corresponding to a lower limit distance estimate of >~190 pc. The obtained parallax of OH138.0+7.2 is 0.52+/-0.09 mas (+/-18%), corresponding to a distance of 1.9(+0.4,-0.3) kpc, making this the first hydroxyl maser parallax below one milliarcsecond. We also introduce a new method of er…
We analysed 30 RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) globular cluster Reticulum that were observed in the 3.6 and 4.5 $μ$m passbands with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on board of the Spitzer Space Telescope. We derived new mid-infrared (MIR) period-luminosity PL relations. The zero points of the PL relations were estimated using the trigonometric parallaxes of five bright Milky Way (MW) RRLs measured with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and, as an alternative, we used the trigonometric parallaxes published in the first Gaia data release (DR1) which were obtaine…
Whether the Cygnus X complex consists of one physically connected region of star formation or of multiple independent regions projected close together on the sky has been debated for decades. The main reason for this puzzling scenario is the lack of trustworthy distance measurements. We aim to understand the structure and dynamics of the star-forming regions toward Cygnus X by accurate distance and proper motion measurements. To measure trigonometric parallaxes, we observed 6.7 GHz methanol and 22 GHz water masers with the European VLBI Network and the Very Long Baseline Array. We measured the…
We have collected literature data on young Galactic objects such as masers with VLBI-measured trigonometric parallaxes, OB associations, HII regions and Cepheids. We have recently established that vertical disk scale height is strongly influenced by the objects of the Local arm. In the present work we used samples that do not contain objects in this arm. Based on the model of a self-gravitating isothermal disk for the density distribution, we have found the following vertical disk scale heights: h=46+/-5 pc from 69 masers with trigonometric parallaxes, h=36+/-3 pc from 59 OB associations, h=35…
We present new luminosity-metallicity (LZ; MV-[Fe/H] and MG-[Fe/H]) relations and, for the first time, empirical, Gaia three-band (G,GBP,GRP) period-Wesenheit-metallicity (PWZ) relations of RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) derived using a hierarchical Bayesian approach and new accurate parallaxes published for these variables in the Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3). In a previous study we obtained Bayesian hierarchically-derived LZ relations from a sample of about four hundred Milky Way field RRLs with G-band light curves and trigonometric parallaxes published in the Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2), using V me…
We calculated the median parallaxes for 47 OB associations including at least 10 stars with known Gaia DR2 parallaxes. A comparison between trigonometric and photometric parallaxes of OB associations reveals a zero-point offset of delta_pi=-0.11 +\- 0.04 mas indicating that Gaia DR2 parallaxes are, on average, underestimated and the distances derived from them are overestimated. The correction of delta_pi=-0.11 mas is consistent with the estimate that Arenou et al. (2018) obtained for bright stars. An analysis of parallaxes of OB associations and high-luminosity field stars confirms our previo…
In recent years, radio interferometric observations have achieved high accuracy in determining the absolute values of trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of maser radiation sources and radio stars. The error in determining the trigonometric parallaxes of these objects averages about 10 microarcseconds, which allows us to confidently study the geometric and kinematic properties of the distribution of stars located at great distances from the Sun, up to the center of the Galaxy. This article provides an overview of the main results of studying the structure and kinematics of the Galaxy, …
We study the kinematics of a sample of classical Cepheids younger than 120 Myr. For these stars, the estimates of distances taken from Skowron et al., which are based on the period-luminosity relation, and the line-of-sight velocities and the proper motions from the Gaia catalog are available. There are also distance estimates derived from the trigonometric parallaxes contained in the Gaia ERD3 catalog. A method, which relies on comparison of the first-order derivative of the Galactic rotation angular velocity, showed the need to lengthen the distance scales determined by Skowron et al. by abo…
We report trigonometric parallax and proper motion measurements of 6.7-GHz CH3OH and 22-GHz H2O masers in eight high-mass star-forming regions (HMSFRs) based on VLBA observations as part of the BeSSeL Survey. The distances of these HMSFRs combined with their Galactic coordinates, radial velocities, and proper motions, allow us to assign them to a segment of the Perseus arm with ~< 70 deg. These HMSFRs are clustered in Galactic longitude from ~30 deg to ~50, neighboring a dirth of such sources between longitudes ~50 deg to ~90 deg.
Classical Cepheids provide the foundation for the empirical extragalactic distance ladder. Milky Way Cepheids are the only stars in this class accessible to trigonometric parallax measurements. However, the parallaxes of Cepheids from the second Gaia data release (GDR2) are affected by systematics because of the absence of chromaticity correction, and occasionally by saturation. As a proxy for the parallaxes of 36 Galactic Cepheids, we adopt either the GDR2 parallaxes of their spatially resolved companions or the GDR2 parallax of their host open cluster. This novel approach allows us to bypass…
Our goal was to compare the open cluster photometric distance scale of the global survey of star clusters in the Milky Way (MWSC) with the distances derived from trigonometric parallaxes from the Gaia DR1/TGAS catalogue and to investigate to which degree and extent both scales agree. We compared the parallax-based and photometry-based distances of 5743 cluster stars selected as members of 1118 clusters based on their kinematic and photometric MWSC membership probabilities. We found good overall agreement between trigonometric and photometric distances of open cluster stars. The residuals betwe…
The present work aims to build a new statistical distance scale for planetary nebulae (PNe) based on a rigorous calibration sample. The distances of the calibration sample are derived from the trigonometric parallax method using the recent measurements of Gaia early third data release (Gaia EDR3). The new distance scale is created by applying the well-known linear relationship between the radio surface brightness temperature and the nebular radius. The calibration sample is made up of 96 PNe of accurately computed distances with uncertainties less than $20\%$. Earlier ground- and space-based t…
We report trigonometric parallax measurements of 22 GHz H$_2$O masers in two massive star-forming regions from VLBA observations as part of the BeSSeL Survey. The distances of $11.11^{+0.79}_{-0.69}$ kpc to W49N (G043.16+0.01) and $10.75^{+0.61}_{-0.55}$ kpc to G048.60+0.02 locate them in a distant section of the Perseus arm near the solar circle in the first Galactic quadrant. This allows us to locate accurately the inner portion of the Perseus arm for the first time. Combining the present results with sources measured in the outer portion of the arm in the second and third quadrants yields a…
Aims. We are searching for new open clusters or moving groups in the Solar neighbourhood. Methods. We used the Gaia-TGAS catalogue, cut it into narrow proper motion and parallax slices and searched for significant spatial over-densities of stars in each slice. We then examined stars forming over-densities in optical and near-infrared colour-magnitude diagrams to determine if they are compatible with isochrones of a cluster. Results. We detected a hitherto unknown moving group or cluster in the Upper Centaurus Lupus (UCL) section of the Sco-Cen OB-association at a distance of 175 pc from the Su…
Based on published data, we have produced a sample of 256 radio sources whose trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions were measured by VLBI. This sample contains Galactic masers associated with massive protostars and stars in active star-forming regions. It also includes young low-mass stars from the Gould Belt region whose radio observations were performed in continuum. Based on this, most complete sample of sources to date, we have estimated the velocities $(U,V,W)_\odot$ and the parameters of the angular velocity of Galactic rotation $Ω_0, Ω^{(1)}_0, ... , Ω^{(4)}_0$ and obtained a new …
We have analyzed the kinematics of OB2 stars with proper motions and parallaxes selected by Xu et al. from the Gaia EDR3 catalog. The relative parallax errors for all the stars in this sample do not exceed 10\%. Based on a sample of 9750 stars, the group velocity components $(U,V,W)_\odot=(7.21,7.46,8.52)\pm(0.13,0.20,0.10)$~km/s were obtained and the parameters of the angular velocity of rotation of the Galaxy: $Ω_0 =29.712\pm0.062$~km/s/kpc, $Ω^{'}_0=-4.014\pm0.018$~km/s/kpc$^{2}$ and $Ω^{''}_0=0.674\pm0.009$~km/s/kpc$^{3}$. The circular velocity of rotation of the solar neighborhood around …
Individual distances to planetary nebulae are of the utmost relevance for our understanding of post-asymptotic giant-branch evolution because they allow a precise determination of stellar and nebular properties. Also, objects with individual distances serve as calibrators for the so-called statistical distances based on secondary nebular properties. With independently known distances, it is possible to check empirically our understanding of the formation and evolution of planetary nebulae as suggested by existing hydrodynamical simulations. We compared the expansion parallaxes that have recent…
A dynamic model of the Galaxy is constructed based on kinematic data for masers with trigonometric parallaxes. Maser data is used to compute the model potential in the Galactic plane. The potential is then generalized to three dimensions assuming the existence of a third quadratic integral of motion. The resulting Galactic model potential is of Stäckel's type. The corresponding space density function is determined from Poisson's equation.
The Galaxy's stellar halo seems to be a tangle of disrupted systems that have been tidally stretched out into streams. Each stream approximately delineates an orbit in the Galactic force-field. In the first paper in this series we showed that all six phase-space coordinates of each point on an orbit can be reconstructed from the orbit's path across the sky and measurements of the line-of-sight velocity along the orbit. In this paper we complement this finding by showing that the orbit can also be reconstructed if we know proper motions along the orbit rather than the radial velocities. We also…
We determine the color excesses, photometric distances, ages, astrometric parallaxes and proper motions for 94 open clusters in the northern part of the Milky Way. We estimate the color excesses and photometric distances based on the data from IPHAS photometric survey of the northern Galactic plane using individual total-to-selective extinction ratios R_r=A_r/E_(r-i) for each cluster computed via the color-difference method based on IPHAS r, i, and H_alpha-band, 2MASS J, H, and K_s-band, WISE W1-band, and Pan-STARRS i, z, and y-band data. The inferred R_r values vary significantly from cluster…
We present results from the analysis of 401 RR Lyrae stars (RRLs) belonging to the field of the Milky Way (MW). For a fraction of them multi-band ($V$, $K_{\rm s}$, $W1$) photometry, metal abundances, extinction values and pulsation periods are available in the literature and accurate trigonometric parallaxes measured by the Gaia mission alongside Gaia $G$-band time-series photometry have become available with the Gaia second data release (DR2) on 2018 April 25. Using a Bayesian fitting approach we derive new near-, mid-infrared period-absolute magnitude-metallicity ($PMZ$) relations and new a…
Astrometry at centimeter wavelengths using Very Long Baseline Interferometry is approaching accuracies of ~1 uas for the angle between a target and a calibrator source separated by <1 degree on the sky. The BeSSeL Survey and the Japanese VERA project are using this to map the spiral structure of the Milky Way by measuring trigonometric parallaxes of hundreds of maser sources associated with massive, young stars. This paper outlines how micro-arcsecond astrometry is done, including details regarding the scheduling of observations, calibration of data, and measuring positions.
Based on published data, we have assembled a sample of 88 radio stars for which there are both trigonometric parallax and proper motion measurements in the Gaia DR2 catalogue and VLBI measurements. A new estimate of the systematic offset between the optical and radio frames has been obtained by analyzing the GaiaDR2-VLBI trigonometric parallax differences: $Δπ=-0.038\pm0.046$ mas (with a dispersion of 0.156 mas). This means that the Gaia DR2 parallaxes should be increased by this correction. The parallax scale factor is shown to be always very close to unity within $\sim$3 kpc of the Sun: $b=1…
We report measurement of the trigonometric parallax of W51 Main/South using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). We measure a value of 0.185 +/- 0.010 mas, corresponding to a distance of 5.41 (+0.31/-0.28) kpc. W51 Main/South is a well-known massive star-forming region near the tangent point of the Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way. Our distance to W51 yields an estimate of the distance to the Galactic center of Ro = 8.3 +/- 0.46 (statistical) +/- 1.0 (systematic) kpc by simple geometry. Combining the parallax and proper motion measurements for W51, we obtained the full-space motion of t…
Two star-forming regions are studied: the young embedded open cluster vdB 130 and the protocluster neighbourhood observed in the head and tail of the cometary molecular cloud located in the wall of the expanding supershell surrounding the Cyg OB1 association. The GAIA DR2 catalogue is employed to verify the stellar composition of the vdB 130 cluster whose members were earlier selected using the UCAC4 catalogue. The new sample of vdB 130 members contains 68 stars with close proper motions (within 1 mas yr$^{-1}$) and close trigonometric parallaxes (ranging from 0.50 to 0.70 mas). The relative p…
A new approach to determining the solar galactocentric distance, $R_0$, from the geometry of spiral-arm segments is proposed. Geometric aspects of the problem are analyzed and a simplified three-point method for estimating $R_0$ from objects in a spiral segment is developed in order to test the proposed approach. An estimate of $R_0 = 8.44 \pm 0.45$ kpc is obtained by applying the method to masers with measured trigonometric parallaxes, and statistical properties of the $R_0$ estimation from spiral segments are analyzed.
We have studied a sample of more than 25 000 young stars with proper motions and trigonometric parallaxes from the Gaia DR2 catalogue. The relative errors of their parallaxes do not exceed 10\%. The selection of stars belonging to active star-forming regions was made by Marton et al. based on data from the Gaia DR2 catalogue by invoking infrared measurements from the WISE and Planck catalogues. Low-mass T Tauri stars constitute the majority of sample stars. The following parameters of the angular velocity of Galactic rotation have been found from them: $Ω_0 =28.40\pm0.11$ km s$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-1}…
