Katie Morzinski – Page 24 – Extreme Wavefront Control Lab

Multiwavelength Observations of NaSt1 (WR 122): Equatorial Mass Loss and X-rays from an Interacting Wolf-Rayet Binary

Fig 6 — Upper panels: MagAO Ks , L’ , and M’ images of NaSt1 in false color. The images are 2.7 arcsec square in angular size and oriented in detector coordinates. Lower panels: the Ks-band image of NaSt1 with logarithmic intensity contours (left) and the HST [N II] narrowband image with the Ks contours overlaid (right). An ellipsoid of extended Ks emission is clearly resolved, and is approximately aligned with the major axis of the optical nebula. The lower images are oriented with north up and east toward the left.

Abstract: NaSt1 is a peculiar emission-line star embedded in an extended nebula of optical [N II] emission with a compact dusty core. This object has been characterized as a Wolf-Rayet (WR) star cloaked in an opaque nebula of material that shows signs of advanced nuclear processing in the core of a massive star. To discern the morphology of the [N II] nebula we performed narrowband imaging using the Hubble Space Telescope. The images reveal that the nebula has a disk-like geometry, composed of a bright central ellipsoid surrounded by a larger clumpy ring. Near-infrared imaging with Magellan AO resolved a compact ellipsoid of Ks-band emission aligned with the larger [N II] nebula. The source is more compact at L’ and M’, so we suspect the Ks-band emission result of neutral helium emission from the inner stellar wind scattered outward by reflection off of cool dust in the nebula. Observations with the Chandra X-ray Observatory have revealed a hard X-ray point source at the core of the nebula that is consistent with WR stars and massive binaries where powerful stellar winds collide and make X-rays. We suggest that NaSt1 is a WR binary embedded in an equatorial outflow that formed as the result of non-conservative mass transfer (the transfer is not completely efficient, and some material is lost from the binary system through the outer Lagrange points). NaSt1 thus appears to be a rare and important example of a stripped-envelope WR forming through binary interaction.

Mauerhan, J., et al. “Multiwavelength Observations of NaSt1 (WR 122): Equatorial Mass Loss and X-rays from an Interacting Wolf-Rayet Binary”

MNRAS 450, 3, 2551; arxiv preprint

MagAO 2014B Day 42: Coming Home/Party in the USA

We’re home!!!

And we had a good trip back:

Cocina Fusion — Laird, Jared, and I enjoyed cerveza y papas fritas at our new fave spot in La Serena a.k.a. Havana.

Delicioso — Lunch in La Serena yesterday as we got on our way.

after our nice nap and meal at the Hilton. — Laird and I walking to the terminal in Santiago

We took this photo to torment Laird. — Hmm, wouldn’t you know it, the Admiral’s Club in Dallas has wasabi peas.

Bear Down. — A-Mountain in Tucson (exactly centered in this crop) from the plane

My house is in this shot somewhere too! — Tucson!!! From the air, we could see Arizona Stadium, the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab, and the pool where I swim! A little bit up/left of center here.

And look, there are Christmas decorations everywhere! When we left it wasn't even Halloween yet — Jumping for joy to be home!

It was a good run. 37 nights on sky, good weather, good telescope, good AO, good crew, good astronomers… good data! Thanks to all who made this run a success.

42 days away from home is a long time. But from our pre-astronomer lives, Jared and I are both used to long deployments in remote areas. (Although the bottom of the ocean is a lot more remote than Namibia!). Anyway, we quite enjoyed coming home:

and are celebrating being back home in the USA:

2014B Day 40: Switched back over

Yesterday was day 40 and we switched back over to a day schedule, but the blog server was down so here I am posting now. Thanks to the 4th-floor at CAAO for getting us running again!

A few final pix from our last night on-sky — night 39:

Only 1 AU away! — Sunrise on our last night observing — the run ended when the AO loop opened due to confusion with a nearby G2V star. You can see the sunlight coming around the baffles — I snapped this pic just before the loop opened. And then got a couple pictures of the final dome closing on MagAO 2014B.

Pretty — Fog in the morning after our last night.

Or hello — Jared waves goodbye from the Clay catwalk

Day 40 was a short day for me. Laird had gone to bed at midnight on our last observing night, so we saw him at breakfast as he was just getting up but we were just going to bed. He pulled the ASM with the crew in the morning. Then Jared got up after a few hours sleep to help uncable the NAS, which they pulled next. Finally I got up in the afternoon after several hours sleep, to find that Laird Jared and the crew had already pulled Clio too! They were very fast this time!

I think we broke our Sagan Fellow — Such tired

Lovely. Didn't need a flashlight! — I went for a walk after dinner down to the original scopes, and saw the moon rise over the Clay & Baade.

Cuz we're switched back over. — Sunset on Day 40 — not the start of the night, but the end of the day.

She's a bit skittish. — A vizcacha sighting at the clean room! I dub her Vizita.

The staff here have taken such good care of us this run. They sent up my yogurt for breakfast that I had at 7:30pm, and a plate of delicious food for dinner every night. On Day 40, they were concerned that I didn’t go to lunch or dinner but also didn’t ask for una plata at night, so they sent Jared with some pizza. Thanks! It was delicious. My usual observing dinner:

Gracias! — Dinner while observing — Una plata de la cena por favor.

We made it 40 days. I hope I can still swim when I get back!

2014B Day 34: The return of the PI

Tonight… MagAO and the Return of the PI:

We are happy to report that Laird arrived safely today. He ran the AO tonight, and gave Jared and I a break — it was nice to not have to worry about the loop! He made it all the way to sunrise. (Jared and I make it well past sunrise these days… or should I say nights). Laird seemed a bit surprised that Jared and I hadn’t broken more things, and of course he was pleased to see that we are still happy and healthy.

Laird also delivered some goods from home: coffee, and my new credit card after my old one was cancelled by my bank for fraudulent activity in Germany (???). Unfortunately, he apparently missed the other package — wasabi peas that Jared and I were really looking forward to enjoying. Jared loves giving Laird a hard time, so he grabbed this screen to prove that the package was delivered to the Close residence before Laird left on Thanksgiving:

OK 3 jobs... thanks for the coffee and the credit card! — You had 1 job…

However, at least the Close residence is still following the blog… hello!

Tonight started out fine, but unfortunately ended with some pretty thick clouds. Well, in clouds and mediocre seeing, we can still lock on a bright star — Theta1 Ori B — and do astrometry with the Trapezium cluster! Voila:

Poor seeing for VisAO — Clio images of Trapezium stars B, A, and E at M’ in the Narrow camera, nodded around to sample different parts of the chip. Something we can do through clouds and with mediocre seeing!

And now for the pretty pix:

I'm sure it sounded pretty too — Jared captured this cute picture of a bird on the wall by the dining hall

From the Wild Vizcacha side — The Baade (left) and Clay at sunset

In anticipation of Laird’s arrival, we had eaten the last of Graeme’s wasabi peas yesterday… oh well… here is a beautiful music video to enjoy instead — a treat for the eyes, in Cape Town:

2014B Day 27: The air is a-glow

Tonight was great. Good AO loop, good weather, good science. Last night, though, the internet was down for a few hours in the middle of the night, so we weren’t able to investigate the airglow until tonight, which we saw last night as fringing on the all-sky cam. Yuri Beletsky, Magellan Instrument Support Scientist and Astrophotographer, shared with us the following images he took of the airglow at LCO:

https://500px.com/photo/27927395/amazing-airglow-by-yuri-beletsky

https://500px.com/photo/81325491/airglow-and-the-milky-way-by-yuri-beletsky

Check them out, they’re gorgeous pix!

Yuri also shared with us this link describing the phenomenon of airglow.

In our cell-phone-camera pictures, you can see some fog from a couple days ago (the terrible horrible no good very cloudy night) at dawn, reminiscent of some of the fog Yuri saw in his Amazing Airglow pic:

Eerie — Fog rolling in around the Swope and DuPont at dawn 2 days ago

And some more goings-on:

Lovely — The Clay at sunset — Panoramas by Jared

I'm too tired to look up the classification — I know I’m not supposed to like clouds, and I don’t… but these are pretty. (Again from 2 days ago)

He didn't find any :( — The VisAO PI going viscacha hunting at dusk

Typical breakfasts 1 and 2 — like hobbits!