STANDARD STAR NEWSLETTER No 35 CONTENTS: Editorial p. 1 Note from the Working Group Chair, Chris Corbally p. 1 Abstracts of Papers (Fekel, Gray et al.) p. 2 Announcements (ELODIE on-line archive) p. 2 Meeting Reports (Working Group on Standard Stars Sydney IAU meeting: Philip et al., Bessell, Peterson, Milone \& Young, Fabregat) p. 3 Websites of Interest p. 7 Meetings p. 7 From the editor It was great to renew my acquaintance with a number of you at the Standard Stars Working Group meeting in Sydney this last July, and receive reconfirmation that our working group and its newsletter are still playing a vital role in the field of stellar astronomy. In this newsletter you will find abstracts for the papers presented at that Working Group meeting as well as a number of other items which I am certain will prove interesting to many of you. A Note From the Chair International Astronomical Union Working Group on Standard Stars (WGSS) In August and back at Steward Observatory, I found a certain glow about those who had managed to go to the 25th IAU-GA in Sydney. It was a very well run General Assembly in a fine city, much conducive to good science and personal meetings, and so all credit and thanks to the many organizers. Those who could not be present at our WGSS's session during the IAU-GA will happily receive some flavor of it through this Newsletter's account of the papers given. It was a good meeting, virtually all devoted to science. The two dozen present obviously felt the importance of working on and communicating about standard stars, for they were there despite the attractions of all the other parallel sessions. I sensed no big move to have an IAU-sponsored conference soon on standard stars, but if you have an issue that would benefit from such a conference, do let me know, and we can work through the appropriate Commissions. Otherwise, I shall see the Working Group's business over the next three years until the IAU-GA in Prague as encouraging individual's to present their work on refining and maintaining standards at other, more general meetings and in journal publications. With my best wishes for your researches, Chris Corbally ccorbally@as.arizona.edu Abstracts Rotational Velocities of B, A, and Early-F Narrow-Lined Stars A. Francis C. Fekel Center of Excellence in Info. Systems, Tennessee State University, 330 10th Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37203 Projected rotational velocities for 58 B, A, and early-F stars have been determined from high-resolution spectroscopic observations made at Kitt Peak National Observatory with the coud\'e feed telescope. All the stars are slowly rotating with vsini < 60 km/s. Because of their low rotational velocities, 15 of the stars have been observed as prospective, early-type, radial-velocity standards. Published in PASP, 115, 807, 2003. For reprints, contact fekel@evans.tsuniv.edu Contributions to the Nearby Stars (NStars) Project: Spectroscopy of Stars Earlier than M0 within 40 parsecs: The Northern Sample I. R.O. Gray^1, C.J. Corbally^2, R.F. Garrison^3, M.T. McFadden^1 & P.E. Robinson^1 1Appalachian State Univ., 2Vatican Obs., 3David Dunlap Obs. We have embarked on a project, under the aegis of the Nearby Stars (NStars)/Space Interferometry Mission Preparatory Science Program, to obtain spectra, spectral types, and, where feasible, basic physical parameters for the 3600 dwarf and giant stars earlier than M0 within 40 pc of the Sun. In this paper we report on the results of this project for the first 664 stars in the northern hemisphere. These results include precise, homogeneous spectral types, basic physical parameters (including the effective temperature, surface gravity, and overall metallicity [M/H]), and measures of the chromospheric activity of our program stars. Observed and derived data presented in this paper are also available on the project's Web site (stellar.phys.appstate.edu). Published in AJ, 126, 2048. For reprints, contact grayro@appstate.edu Announcements An On-line Archive of High-Resolution Stellar Spectra This is to inform you about the availability of the (first generation) ELODIE on-line archive. This dedicated web server hosts most (and soon will host all) of the CCD echelle (R=42000) spectra obtained since 1994 with the Elodie spectrograph using the 1.93-m telescope at Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP). The archive now holds 16000 spectra of approximately 2000 stars. The relevant presentation page is: http://www.obs-hp.fr/www/archive/archive.html. The spectra can be viewed on the screen and downloaded as FITS files. One of the known difficulties with Elodie spectra, as delivered by the data reduction pipeline at the telescope, has been the non-reconnectability of the 67 echelle orders. This problem has now been solved (thanks to the efforts of Philippe Prugniel and Caroline Soubiran) and the products we offer include reconnected spectra (4000-6800A) rebinned with a 0.05A step, available both in ``instrumental flux" (relative to the continuum lamp) and normalized to the continuum. Details are available in the associated help pages and also in the user's guide to our data products (http://www.obs-hp.fr/www/archive/elodie-for-dummies.html). Finally, a word about restrictions. First, OHP spectra are normally released to the astronomical community 2 years after being obtained. Some long-term programs have been granted special protection and their data are not yet available. We expect to be able to release them progressively in the near future, after the relevant data are published. Presently there are 8000 spectra in the archive available for downloading. Second, the spectra are in the topocentric reference frame (i.e. ``as observed") with no allowance made for either the star's own radial velocity or the barycentric correction. Although they can of course be computed from the data available, we plan to include radial velocities in the next version of the archive. The archive is developped and maintained by Jihane Moultaka (Cologne Univ. + Paris Obs.), Philippe Prugniel (CRAL-Lyon Obs.), Caroline Soubiran (Bordeaux Obs.) and myself. We encourage you to visit the site and try it out and will welcome any user input you might care to send us (database@obs-hp.fr). For more information, contact Sergio A. Ilovaisky, Observatoire de Haute-Provence ilovaisky@obs-hp.fr Meeting Reports The Working Group on Standard Stars The working group on Standard Stars met on July 17 in Sydney Australia during the International Astronomical Union General Assembly. The attendance was remarkably good (about 24) showing the continuing interest in our working group. After a short business session during which Chris Corbally agreed to continue as Chair of the Working Group and the editor of the Newsletter was wrestled to the floor and pinned there until he as well agreed to continue, the remainder of the meeting was devoted to science. Five short presentations were given; the abstracts follow:} Setting up Stromvil Standards and Standard Areas A. G. Davis Philip^1, R. Boyle^2, V. Straizys & A. Kaslauskas^3 1ISO & Union College, 2Vatican Obs., 3ITPA, Lithuania In 1996 a new photometric system was proposed, the Stromvil system. It is a combination of the Vilnius and Stromgren systems, employing the four filters in the Stromgren system and the filters P, Z and S of the Vilnius system. Fig. 1, below, displays the filter transmission curves. From photometric measures alone the new system can classify stars as to temperature, gravity, metallicity and reddening. The Vilnius system already does this but the Stromgren system has many times the number of observations. Any star with Stromgren measures can be set up in the Stromvil system with only three extra measures through the Vilnius filters. Active sets of observations are being made in the Stromvil system at a number of observatories. Straizys was awarded a Chretien Grant in 2000 and he has been using this support to send Lithuanian astronomers on three trips, so far, to Arizona to set up primary standards using telescopes on Mt. Lemmon. On Mt. Graham the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope is being used with a CCD photometer to set up standards in some selected areas (M 67 and M 92 are two of the main areas). Observations are being made at CASLEO in Argentina, so far only in the Stromgren system but next year we will be able to make Stromvil observations since by then we will have a complete set of filters. The Kepler Project will be making Stromvil observations from the ground to identify stars of interest to be observed with the Kepler satellite. A set of Stromvil filters has been obtained for some automatic photoelectric telescopes in Arizona and they will soon be involved in Stromvil studies. Many large surveys are in progress and more surveys are planned in the next decade. These surveys will identify multi-thousands of celestial objects for which one would like to obtain astrophysical information. The Stromvil system will be an ideal system to do this work. The Standardization of the Southern Sky Survey M. Bessell Mount Stromlo An abstract is unavailable for this talk. However, Mike Bessell spoke on the standardisation of the Southern Sky Survey, a survey proposed by Brian Schmidt, Paul Francis and Mike Bessell that was to have been undertaken with the Great Melbourne telescope at Mount Stromlo but now with its replacement wide-field 1.8m telescope at Siding Spring Observatory. In addition, Mike demonstrated an excellent agreement between effective temperatures determined from V-I colors and the Infrared Flux Method. Effective Temperatures of Solar-type Stars using Optical and mid-UV spectra R. Peterson Lick Obs. I would like to present the results of a paper establishing effective temperatures of solar-type stars to 50K using optical and mid-UV spectra. The main results are given by Peterson, Dorman, & Rood (2001, ApJ, 559, 372). In section 7 we report, ``For all the metal-poor stars, the excellent match between calculations and observations of both optical and mid-UV spectra and between model and observed colors indicates an uncertainty of +/- 50K in an individual Teff determination and a similar uncertainty in the Teff scale. Moreover, the stellar V magnitudes generally agree to 0.1 mag, and the mid-UV normalization constants to 10%, with those expected from the stellar angular diameter found from the observed parallax and the model log g, assuming reasonable masses. In this process, it was found that these optical diagnostics and the slope of the mid-UV continuum could only be fitted simultaneously when using models of Castelli et al. (1997) in which convective overshoot has been turned off.'' Many people seem to think that non-LTE is essential in matching the spectra of solar-type stars. This work shows that it is not, at least for iron and iron-peak elements. What our work does that most do not is use the Castelli et al. models. Because overshoot has been turned off, the temperature of a given model is lower at depth, which leads to the deduction of a higher Teff in our work than in many previous investigations. Standard star observations in the Near Infrared Passbands of the IRWG System E. F. Milone^1 \& A.T. Young^2 1RAO, Univ. of Calgary, 2San Diego State Univ. We describe new simulations and field trials of the new infrared passband system developed and discussed by Young, Milone, and Stagg (1994). The new set of passbands minimizes the dependence of the photometry on the water vapour bands of the atmospheric windows, which defined the edges of many previous infrared passbands, especially when used at sites and under conditions for which they were not designed. Here, we present numerical simulations for three atmospheric models, demonstrate a measure of the signal-to noise ratio in the new passbands for these models, and present observational data obtained at a relatively low-altitude site, the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory, in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. The resulting lists of nightly extinction coefficients and mean magnitudes of bright standard stars demonstrate the utility of this system for most astronomical sites where photometry can be performed, and permit the transformation of observations to this system.} Standard Stars for Stromgren CCD Photometry J. Fabregat Observatorio Astronomico, Universidad de Valencia, 46100 Burjassot, Spain The choice of standard stars for CCD uvby photometry is a critical issue. The primary standards are all bright enough to saturate the CCD chip in a medium-size telescope, even with short exposures. In the case of OB type stars, an additional problem arises. It has been shown that transformations made with unreddened stars introduce large systematic errors when applied to reddened early-type stars, even if the colour range of the standards brackets that of the programme stars (Manfroid & Sterken 1987, A&AS 71, 539; Delgado & Alfaro 1989, A&A 219, 121; Crawford 1994, PASP 106, 397). No reddened early-type stars are included in the primary uvby standard star list. For an on-going project on CCD Stromgren photometry of young open clusters, we have selected, for our secondary standard list, stars in clusters with different reddening values and with photoelectric uvby photometry published by D.L. Crawford and co-workers. The clusters are NGC 869 and 884 (Crawford et al. 1970, AJ 75, 822), NGC 1039 (Canterna et al. 1979, PASP 91, 263), NGC 2169 (Perry et al. 1978, PASP 90, 73), and NGC 6910 and 6913 (Crawford et al. 1977, AJ 82, 606). To check the conformity between our photometric results and the standard system, after the transformation and reddening correction, we compare our resulting m0 and (u-b)0 indices with the mean standard relations obtained from nearby, unreddened B stars, as given by Perry et al. (1987, PASP 99, 1184). Our indices are coincident with the mean intrinsic relations, indicating that our photometry is on the standard system and free of systematic errors. First results have been published by Capilla & Fabregat (2002, A&A 394, 479). We conclude that cluster standards are well suited for Stromgren CCD photometry of reddened OB stars. Work to produce a list of secondary standard stars in young open clusters with different reddening values is in progress. For preprints, contact juan.fabregat@uv.es Websites of Interest I urge everyone to have a look at the ELODIE on-line archive, announced on page 2 of this newsletter. This looks like it will be an extremely valuable resource, and I thank those in charge for putting in so much hard work to make this archive available. Here are two other websites that have recently come to my attention (I invite readers of this newsletter to continue to inform me of new and useful URL's): The latest edition of the General Catalog of Variable Stars is now online (www.sai.msu.su/groups/cluster/gcvs/gcvs/iii/). This has certain advantages over the hardcover edition -- the coordinates are epoch J2000 and much more precise than in the printed edition. In addition, all of the new variables from the various ``name lists'' have been incorporated in this online edition. Thanks to R.L. Hawkins for drawing my attention to this website. Finally, here is a singular little webpage that you might want to take a look at if you use the Landolt standards: it is titled ``Unusual Stars in Landolt Standard Stars'', and you will find it at www.aerith.net/astro/Landolt.html. Meetings Archiving and Digitization of Photographic Plates The AAS-Historical Astronomy Division is cooperating with the IAU Working Group for Preservation and Digitization of Photographic Plates (PDPP), and the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI), in sponsoring a meeting to discuss efforts to manage the future of astronomy's heritage of photographic plates. A new opportunity exists to consolidate archiving (preservation and digitization) of appropriate astronomical plates from institutions across North America in climate-controlled facilities at PARI. The meeting will be held from 7:30pm to 9:30pm on Monday 5 January 2004 in Atlanta. Astronomers interested in participating in, and contributing to, this meeting should contact either Elizabeth Griffin, DAO: Elizabeth.Griffin@nrc.gc.ca; phone 250-363-0031 or Michael Castelaz, PARI: mcastelaz@pari.edu; phone 828-862-5554.} NStars Special Session at the AAS Meeting A special session devoted to the NStars (Nearby Stars) project will take place during the winter AAS meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. There are actually two sessions, both on Tuesday January 6, one from 10 - 11:30am, the other from 2 - 3:30pm. There will be an accompanying poster session. For more information contact Todd Henry at thenry@chara.gsu.edu.